Military history
Patay is the product of a window of time, distinct from an isolated miraculous charge. After the French successes on the Loire, Chartier and Wavrin describe an English force marching towards Patay and Janville, preceded by its train and followed by a rearguard. The French catch it before hedges, missile troops and stakes form a coherent defence. The stag and cry said to have revealed the column belong to several chronicle narratives; the robust mechanism is discovery followed by contact rapid enough to prevent the force from forming up.
After Jargeau, the bridge at Meung and Beaugency, the French royal army retains the initiative. Beaugency’s surrender and the abandonment of Meung make a pursuit into the Beauce possible; Patay is where the English relief column is caught, distinct from a battle long prepared in advance.
Chartier distinguishes the vanguard, artillery, provisions and merchants, then the main body and rearguard. Wavrin likewise describes a column that stops near Patay after pursuers are reported. This organisation explains the vulnerability of a hurried halt without allowing every subunit to be drawn.
Wavrin reports that Talbot dismounts with about five hundred elite archers to hold a passage between hedges while awaiting the main body and rearguard. Cugnac and Soyer emphasise that the French arrive before preparations are complete. The precise type and continuity of the obstacles remain reconstructed. Exact measurement lies beyond the dossier’s scope.
Chartier places the French vanguard, with La Hire and Poton de Xaintrailles, in contact before the English bodies have joined among the hedges. Wavrin then reports Talbot’s capture, Fastolf’s flight and an English defeat; totals of dead and prisoners differ among the chronicles.
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Military history
PDF, chap. 44, pp. 152–154 : nouvelles après Beaugency, marche vers Patay, avant-garde nommée, lisière boisée près d'un village, capture de Talbot et poursuite ; OCR consultable aux lignes 3271–3319.
Primary narrative source for the chain retreat → pursuit → vanguard → woodland edge → defeat; strengths and losses are retained as the chronicle’s version, with a function distinct from measurement.
View ↗Quicherat, Procès de Jeanne d'Arc, t. IV (1847), pp. 421–423 ; transcription Wikisource, pages 436–438 : ordre de marche et arrêt près de Patay p. 421, haies et cinq cents archers p. 422, cerf, choc, capture de Talbot et chiffres de la version p. 423.
Burgundian perspective on the column, hedges, Talbot’s role and the divergent outcomes of Talbot and Fastolf; the transcription is checked against the printed reference on pp. 421–423.
View ↗PDF de la Historical Association, section 14 “Battle of Patay 18 June 1429”, pp. 25–26, lignes 767–814 : éclaireurs, cerf et cri, haies, préparation interrompue, choc, captures et chiffres de cette version.
Cross-check of Wavrin’s account against another chronicle; the translation and figures are explicitly treated as a narrative version, distinct from a final count.
View ↗Revue historique des Armées, 22-4 (1966), pp. 5–16, DOI 10.3406/rharm.1966.5997 ; p. 5, lignes 37–54 pour le contexte de Loire et la géographie générale de la campagne.
Specialised military framework for the campaign and check of the relationship between the Loire bridges and pursuit into the Beauce; location details remain bounded.
View ↗Revue historique des Armées, 13-4 (1957), pp. 29–58, DOI 10.3406/rharm.1957.10168 ; p. 29, lignes 47–53 : avant-garde en poursuite, bois, haies, archers à pied et attaque avant l'ordonnance.
Specialised cross-check of the tempo and close-contact mechanism; used for causality. Establishing an exhaustive topographical plan lies beyond the documentary use made here.
View ↗Notice Persée, Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, t. 76 (1915), p. 172 : présentation d'un discours de onze pages fondé sur les documents contemporains et annoncé comme un récit technique.
Identification of the late, archival nature of Soyer’s reconstruction; its figures and terrain identification are never elevated to independent contemporary evidence.
View ↗Sections du texte, lignes 65–86 : retraite vers Janville, organisation de la colonne, Retrève, Lignerolles, haies, pieux, poursuite et pertes ; lignes 99–105 : plan cadastral et citation de Wavrin, pp. 421–422. Lignerolles y est explicitement une inférence, à distinguer d’un nom présent dans le texte de Chartier.
Toponymy and cadastral plan used to support a relational reconstruction; the source is dated, local and secondary, and its precision is separated from facts attested by the chronicles.
View ↗BnF, manuscrit Français 5054, fol. 58v ; notice Biblissima, image Gallica f. 128. Manuscrit enluminé postérieur aux faits : utile pour l'histoire de la mémoire. Les positions et les effectifs reposent sur les autres documents du dossier.
Institutional check of Patay iconography and safeguard against using a late representation as a map or direct testimony.
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