The siege of Pouancé of 1432 (6 January – 22 February) was undertaken by John V, Duke of Brittany, against his nephew John II, Duke of Alençon, as part of a conflict involving the payment of a dowry. It is at times referred to as the third siege of Pouancé, in succession to other sieges in 1066 and 1379.
Although the siege saw English and French forces fighting against each other, thus being able to set itself in the context of the Hundred Years' War, this conflict has its origins in a family dispute of financial nature.
Origin of the conflict
Mary of Brittany, daughter of John IV, Duke of Brittany, had been married in 1396 to John I, Count of Alençon. But the dowry of 30,000 livres that was to come with this marriage had been paid only in part: it was this financial problem that was at the origin of the dispute between the two houses.
John II, Duke of Alençon, was born of this union in 1409, six years before his father John I was killed during the battle of Agincourt. At the age of fifteen, John II engaged himself in the fight against the English. During the battle of Verneuil (17 August 1424), he was made prisoner. He was only released in 1429 when he agreed to pay a large ransom of 200,000 crowns. To pay for it, he sold his stronghold of Fougères to the son of John IV, his uncle John V, Duke of Brittany, for 120,000 ecus, strengthening the latter's position on the Franco-Breton border. John V shortly after received a visit from his nephew John II at Nantes, on Christmas 1431. The latter, lacking money, hoped to obtain the payment of the unpaid portion of the dowry of his mother, or 15,000 livres. John V was always postponing the payment, and so John II put pressure on his uncle. It was Jean de Malestroit, bishop of Nantes and chancellor of the duke, who was the victim. John II led his hostage to the castle of La Flèche and, after the failure of the negotiations, made him come to Pouancé while waiting for the dowry to be paid.
Unfolding of the siege
Beginning
Faced with the failure of the discussions, John V raised troops in Rennes and its surroundings. He gave the order to his son-in-law, Guy XIV of Laval, to besiege Pouancé, where was the Duke of Alençon, his mother and his wife, and where Jean de Malestroit was imprisoned. He went to Châteaubriant to follow the evolution of the operation more easily.
The Breton forces, half-prepared, marched towards Pouancé, in spite of the rigors of the season: "The cold was so violent that the ice carried horses and wagons." They arrived in sight of the city on the morning of the 6th of January, and commenced the attack on the west side of the fortress, that is, to say, on the side of the enclosure directed towards Brittany. The garrison of the city was defended by a small number of soldiers, insufficient to resist the Breton army. Also, the Duke of Alençon decided to leave the fortress secretly to go and take refuge in Château-Gontier to mount a counterattack. He sent one of his favorite captains, Ambroise de Loré, to La Guerche with the order to help the besieged people of Pouancé. The latter found the opportunity of bringing back by a "false door" forty good soldiers, "of whom those within were very glad."
Breton and English reinforcements
Unhappy to learn that reinforcements could have reached the castle of Pouancé, John V tightened the grip on the city. After having sent men-at-arms to ask the assistance of his English allies, he obtained the support of English companies stationed in Maine and Lower Normandy, to reinforce his army:
George Riguemen, English squire stationed at Vannes, with 240 horses; John Fastolf, with 100 spears and 160 archers; Baron d'Ulby, English captain, with 300 spears and 1,000 archers; the bastard of Salisbury and Jean Herpelay, with "large number of people"; Richard Holland, Thomas Allouin and Robin Geneson, squires of the garrison of Avranches, "with some people"; Baron de Scales.
With these companies reinforcing his army, John V was also given four small copper guns and a large iron one with twenty-four iron balls for the latter one.