Battle of Bourgthéroulde

Rebellions and wars had been occurring in the Duchy of Normandy for over a two decades before the events of the battle. First, Robert Curthose, Henry's brother and Duke of Normandy, fought his brother to gain the throne of England for himself; this prompted Henry to invade Normandy, ending in the battle of Tinchebrey and allowed Henry to usurp the title for himself. Secondly, constant border conflicts with France and external claims by William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, prompted king Louis VI of France to invade Normandy, and ended in the battle of Bremule which was an English victory. Norman rebels who continued to support William's claim to the Duchy continued to cause disorder in the region.[2] One of these rebels, Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, led a force of approximately 40 local knights[1] including Amaury de Monfort to raid the area southwest of Rouen near Vatteville. In response to the raids, Odo Borleng, castellan of Bernay, gathered knights of the king's household known as the Familia Regis[4], and raised a force from the local garrisons. In total, the English army numbered around 300 men.[2] The king himself, however, did not attend the campaign and resided in Caen at the time.[1][5] Other notable members of Odo's party are William of Tancarville the king's chamberlain, and Ralph of Bayeux the castellan of Evreux.[2] Walerian's band of knights were making its way from the rebellion's main headquarters of Beaumont-le-Roger castle when their path was blocked by Odo's army on March 26.[2] The forces met in the Brotonne forest north west of Bourgtheroulde although little is known about the exact details of the landscape of which the battle took place on.[2]

Overview of the battlefield

Odo decided to dismount most of his knights, including himself, contrary to the conventional tactics employed by knights of the time.[2] Furthermore, he placed 40 archers on the front line with his original intent to be to weaken the enemy before they can reach his knights, specifically by shooting the enemies horses from under them.[5] Some primary sources of the battle also claim that the English had mounted horse archers that were used to flank the enemy, however, this was extremely rare in western Europe at the time and can be considered unlikely.[5] Waleran's plan of attack was simply to charge the English line with his knights, which he attempted to do, but with devastating results.[1] The English archers fired their arrows at will and without intervals, thus giving the rebels very little time to close the gap between the two forces.[5] All of the charging rebel knights were unhorsed and routed without even making contact with the English knights.[4] Presumably, the mounted cavalry that were held in reserve were immediately tasked with chasing down the fleeing enemies and were able to capture the rebels, including Waleran himself.[5]

The majority, if not all, of the rebels were captured, and there were no fatalities.[6] Henry brought up the question of the fate of the rebels with his court in Rouen.[7] Two of the rebels, Geoffrey de Tourville and Odo du Pin refused to pay homage to the king and were thus sentenced to losing their eyes[8] while another rebel by the name of Luke of Barre was to serve the same punishment for writing satirical poems about the king, however, on hearing his fate he committed suicide via self inflicted head trauma. Waleran and Amaury were treated well relative to their former rebel allies and passed the days in their respective dungeons in Rouen and Glouchester.[7] Overall, the result of this conflict was massively in favor of the king who brought an end to the few decade chain of rebellions and conflicts in Normandy, and finally suppressed any chance for anyone other than himself to keep the title of Duke of Normandy, including William.[7]

Hill, Paul (2015). The Norman Commanders: Masters of Warfare 911-1135. Pen and Sword. pp. 142, 143. ISBN 978-1783462285.

Freeman, Edward Augustus (1876). The History of the Norman Conquest of England: The effects of the Norman conquest 1876. Clarendon Press. pp. 133,132.

• A Brace of Battles: Bremule (1119) and Bourgtheroulde (1124)
• The Myths of Medieval Warfare (Paragraphs 24 & 25)
• Killing or Clemency? Ransom, Chivalry and Changing Attitudes to Defeated Opponents in Britain and Northern France, 7-12th centuries (Paragraph 28)