Battle of Tinchebray

On 28th September 1106 King Henry I "Beauclerc" England (age 38) defeated his older brother Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy (age 55) at the Battle of Tinchebray at Tinchebray, Orne.

William Warenne 2nd Earl of Surrey and Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 66). Elias La Flèche De Baugency I Count Maine commanded the reserve. The following fought for Henry:

William "Brito aka Breton" D'Aubigny (age 20).

Alan Canhiart IV Duke Brittany (age 43).

Raoul Tosny (age 26).

William "Pincerna aka Butler" D'Aubigny (age 42).

Robert Grandesmil (age 28), and.

William Normandy I Count Évreux.

Robert Curthose III Duke Normandy was captured and spent the next twenty-eight years in prison; never released.

William Mortain Count Mortain 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 22) was also captured. He spent the next thirty or more years in prison before becoming a monk. Earl Cornwall forfeit.

King Edgar Ætheling II of England (age 55) was captured and subsequently released; Henry had married to Edgar's niece Edith aka Matilda Dunkeld Queen Consort England (age 26) in 1100.

Robert II Belleme 2nd Count Ponthieu 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury (age 50) escaped.

Robert Stuteville was captured.

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. Robert, Duke of Normandy, was captured by his brother, King Henry, at Tinchebray¹ on the Vigil of Saint Michael [28th September 1106], along with William, Count of Mortain, Robert de Stuteville, and many others. From that day, all of Normandy was subjected to King Henry. Duke Robert was imprisoned in a tower and remained there until the day of his death.

Robertus, dux Normanniæ, apud Tenerchebrai, vigilia Sancti Michaelis, a fratre suo Henrico capitur, et cum eo comes Guillelmus de Moretonio, et Robertus de Stutevile, et plures alii, et sic ab illo die tota Normannia regi Henrico subjecta est. Dux vero Robertus in quadam turri relegatus est usque diem obitus sui.

Note 1. See letter in Eadmer from King Henry to Anselm: "Henry, king of the English, to Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, greeting and friendship. To your paternity and sanctity we signify that Robert, count of Normandy, with all the forces of knights and foot soldiers which he could assemble by entreaty and by payment, on the appointed and determined day, fought fiercely with me before Tinchebray. And at last, by the mercy of God, we conquered, and without great slaughter of our men. What more? By divine mercy the duke of Normandy and the count of Mortain, and William Crispin, and William de Ferrers, and Robert de Stuteville the elder, and others, up to four hundred knights and ten thousand foot soldiers, together with Normandy, were delivered into our hands. Of those whom the sword destroyed, there is no number. But this I attribute not to pride or arrogance, nor to my own strength, but to the gift of divine ordering. Therefore, venerable father, humbly and devoutly prostrate at the knees of your sanctity, I beseech you to implore the Supreme Judge, by whose judgment and will this triumph, so glorious and so useful to me, has been granted, that it may not turn to my loss or detriment, but to the beginning of good works and of the service of God, and to the condition of God's holy Church, to be maintained and strengthened in tranquil peace, so that henceforth she may live free and be shaken by no storm of wars."

And anonymous letter Jesus College, Oxford, MS. li. fo. 104: "To his lord the priest of Sagy, the priest of Fécamp, greetings and prayers. I bring good news, my lord, since I know how eager you are for such tidings. Our lord the king fought with his brother at Tinchebray on the third day before the Kalends of October (29 September), at the third hour; and the battle was drawn up in this order. In the first line were the men of Bayeux, Avranches, and Coutances, all on foot. To these were added seven hundred knights arrayed for each battle-line; besides this, the Count of Maine and the Count of the Bretons, Alan Fergant, encircled the army with up to a thousand knights, all gildones (mercenaries) and servants having been removed. For the king's whole army was reckoned at nearly forty thousand men of this sort. The count, however, had six thousand, with seven hundred knights; and the battle scarcely lasted one hour, when Robert of Bellême at once turned his back, by whose flight all the rest were scattered. The count himself was taken prisoner, and also the Count of Mortain with his barons, and Robert of Stuteville, my friend; all the others were broken and put to flight. Moreover the land was brought under the king's sway; and so that I pass nothing by, this marvel: the king in the battle lost scarcely two men. One alone was wounded, Robert of Bonesbot. When I came to the king he received me kindly at Caen, and freely remitted all that he was demanding of our land. And now peace is restored in the land, thanks be to God. Pray too that it may remain everlasting, and that God may grant us health of mind and body. Farewell."

Historia Novorum by Eadmer. [28th September 1106] Henry, king of the English, to Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, greeting and friendship.

To your paternity and sanctity we signify that Robert, count of Normandy, with all the forces of knights and foot soldiers which he could assemble by entreaty and by payment, on the appointed and determined day, fought fiercely with me before Tinchebray. And at last, by the mercy of God, we conquered, and without great slaughter of our men. What more? By divine mercy the duke of Normandy and the count of Mortain, and William Crispin, and William de Ferrers, and Robert de Stuteville the elder, and others, up to four hundred knights and ten thousand foot soldiers, together with Normandy, were delivered into our hands. Of those whom the sword destroyed, there is no number. But this I attribute not to pride or arrogance, nor to my own strength, but to the gift of divine ordering. Therefore, venerable father, humbly and devoutly prostrate at the knees of your sanctity, I beseech you to implore the Supreme Judge, by whose judgment and will this triumph, so glorious and so useful to me, has been granted, that it may not turn to my loss or detriment, but to the beginning of good works and of the service of God, and to the condition of God’s holy Church, to be maintained and strengthened in tranquil peace, so that henceforth she may live free and be shaken by no storm of wars.

Henricus rex Anglorum, Anselmo Oantuariensi archiepiscopo, salutem et amicitiam.

Paternitati et sanotitati vestræ s ignincamus Robertum comitem Normanniae cum omnibus copiis militum et peditum quos prece et pretio adunare potuit die nominata et determinata mecum ante Tenerchebraium acriter pugnasse; et tandem sub misericordia Dei vicimus, et sine multa cæde nostrorum. Quid plura? Divina misericordia ducem Normanniæ et comitem Moritonii, et Willelmum Crispinum, et Willelmum de Ferreris et Robertum de Stutevilla senem, et alios usque quadringentos milites, et decem millia peditum in manus nostras et Normanniam dedit. De illis autem quos gladius peremit non est numerus. Hoc autem non elationi vel arrogantiæ nec viribus meis, sed dono Divinæ dispositionis attribuo. Quocirca, pater venerande, supplex et devotus genibus tuæ sanctitatis advolutus te deprecor, ut supenum Judicem, cujus arbitrio et voluntate triumphus iste tam gloriosus et utilis mihi contigit, depreceris, ut non sit mihi ad damnum et detrimentum, sed ad initium bonorum operum et servitii Dei, et ad sanctæ Dei ecclesiæ statum tranquilla pace tenendum et corroborandum, ut amodo libera vivat et nulla concutiatur tempestate bellorum.

English Historical Review Volume 24 1909. A Contemporary Account of the Battle of Tinchebrai.

[28th September 1106] Few battles of English medieval history can vie in importance with that of Tinchebrai. Yet the accounts of the chroniclers are unsatisfactory to the last degree. We depend entirely upon Henry of Huntingdon and Orderic for our knowledge of the tactics adopted on the one side and the other. Neither of these writers had military experience; neither was an eye-witness; and they wrote at least fifteen years after the event. Even if they were in agreement we should still be free to doubt whether their descriptions of the battle were correct. But they appear to disagree, and it is difficult to see how they can be reconciled. Professor Oman, who has examined the evidence more thoroughly than any other modern writer, believes that the discrepancies of Orderic and Huntingdon only exist in the imaginations of critics.¹ He holds that Huntingdon supplies the clue to the truth of the matter, and interprets Orderic in such a sense as to make him harmonise with Huntingdon. On the other hand Sir James Ramsay² adopts the more drastic course of treating Huntingdon’s account as worthless, and develops his own theory on the lines suggested by the words of Orderic. The result is that two radically different accounts of the battle are in circulation. To Sir James Ramsay the battle is essentially an affair of cavalry; while Mr. Oman is convinced that the main armies fought on foot, and that the only mounted men in the field were the king’s auxiliaries from Brittany and Maine, who are admitted on all hands to have settled the fortune of the day. A new source, which I print below, suggests a third interpretation of the evidence, midway between the two existing theories. This document is a letter describing the battle, which was written within a few days of the event. It shows that neither Huntingdon nor Orderic is completely right, but that each has some ground for his statements. For the fact is that the king at all events used cavalry and infantry in close combination.

Note 1. Art of War in the Middle Ages (1898), p. 379.

Note 2. The'Foundations of England, ii. 254.