Editing Battle of Formigny (section)

==Background==
[[Charles VII of France]] used the time afforded by the 1444 [[Treaty of Tours]] to reorganise and reinvigorate his armies.{{sfn|Roberts|2004|p=206}} In contrast, the English were divided by the internal struggle for power that would lead to the [[Wars of the Roses]] in 1455. Inability to agree a coherent strategy left their forces in Normandy scattered and dangerously weak.{{sfn|Bradbury|1992|p=176}}

As a result, the French were in a much stronger position when they broke the truce in June 1449. By August, they had taken [[Pont-Audemer]], [[Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados|Pont-L'Evêque]] and [[Lisieux]], and by October had occupied much of [[Normandy]]. Cutting north and east, the [[Jean Bureau|Bureau]] brothers captured [[Rouen]] in October, [[Harfleur]] in December, then [[Honfleur]] and [[Fresnoy]] in January 1450, before investing [[Caen]].{{sfn|Rogers|2010|p=54}}

During the winter of 1449, the English assembled an expeditionary force in [[Portsmouth]] to relieve Caen. It was led by [[Sir Thomas Kyriell]], a relatively unknown commander who would be comprehensively out manoeuvred by his French opponents.{{sfn|Royle|2010|p=192}} Lack of money and supplies hampered recruiting and lowered morale; in January 1450 the troops [[Lynching|lynched]] an official sent to negotiate with them over pay.{{sfn|Royle|2010|p=192}}

On 15 March 1450, Kyriell and some 2,500 men landed in [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]], where they were reinforced by another 1,800 collected by [[Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset]], English commander in Normandy. He did so by taking them from English garrisons in [[Bayeux]], Caen, and [[Vire]], under Sir [[Matthew Gough]], Sir [[Robert Vere (died 1461)|Robert Vere]] and Sir [[Henry Norbury]] respectively.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|p=54}}