Battle of Cravant

Following the death of Henry V in 1422, the English crown passed to the infant Henry VI, with the Hundred Years' War still raging across France. John, Duke of Bedford, brother of the late king, served as regent and commander of English forces in France, continuing the campaign to secure the English claim to the French throne against the supporters of the Dauphin Charles.

In July 1423 a combined Franco-Scottish army laid siege to the town of Cravant in Burgundy, on the river Yonne. An Anglo-Burgundian relief force advanced to break the siege. On 31 July 1423 the two armies met at the Battle of Cravant, where English archers and Burgundian troops crossed the river under fire and routed the besiegers, inflicting heavy casualties and capturing many Scottish soldiers who had come to France to aid the Dauphin's cause.

The victory at Cravant reinforced the dominance of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance in northern and central France during the regency of Bedford. It was one of a series of English successes in the early 1420s that consolidated their hold over much of France. This ascendancy would persist until the emergence of Joan of Arc and the relief of Orleans in 1429 turned the tide of the war in favor of the French.