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French troops (left) engage with the
English over wooden defenses in this
15th-century illustration of the Battle of
Castillon, from a French chronicle of
King Charles VII’s life.See also: The signing of the Magna Carta 100–01 ■ The outbreak of the Black Death in Europe 118–19 ■
The fall of Constantinople 138–41 ■ Christopher Columbus reaches America 142–47 ■ The Defenestration of Prague 164–69THE EARLY MODERN ERA
fired, their bowmen followed suit,
and the English were mowed down
en masse. It was the first field battle
in European history to be decided
by gunpowder.Hundred Years’ War ends
The Battle of Castillon was the
climax of the Hundred Years’ War,
fought since 1337 by England and
France, countries that had long
been closely linked by their ruling
families. By the time of Castillon,
great changes had taken place in
the fabric of European life, which
profoundly altered the armies with
which the French and English
monarchs fought.
The Europe of the 15th century
was principally a money economy,
and everyone, including soldiers,
expected to be paid. Kings were
thus increasingly reliant on
mercenaries who fought for pay. This
was a sharp contrast to the feudal
system that had existed previously,
in which fighting men were provided
by the nobility in exchange for land.
Eventually, rulers began employing
mercenaries on a permanent basis:
a standing army. But it wasn’t until
the later 17th century that this
model became the norm.Cannons and guns
The kings who fought for control of
France relied increasingly on large
armies and expensive artillery.
Cannons, like those that secured
the French victory at Castillon,
transformed warfare. The stout
walls of medieval castles provided
little defense against a cannonball.
To better resist artillery rulers began,
from the 16th century, to build a
new type of fortification, the star
fort. These forts had walls sunk into
ditches to strengthen them against
direct fire and also used cannons
themselves in an active defense.
At the same time, hand firearms
that fired projectiles that smashed
through the armor of mounted
knights and required little skill to
wield, gradually replaced the bow.
Drilled infantry—wielding pikes
and firearms—replaced massed
ranks of archers, and formed the
core of the new line of battle.
To pay for their new armies,
rulers steadily began to centralize
their domains. More efficienttaxation systems and bureaucracies
were established, curbing the
power of an aristocracy whose
influence was already diminished
by the decline of the feudal system.
Victory at Castillon, guaranteed
by gunpowder, ensured the survival
of an independent France that was
becoming more like a centralized
state and less like a feudal country.
As a result of the French triumph,
France was able to consolidate the
territory under its control and the
map of this part of western Europe
began to take on its modern form.
England, bereft of its European
possessions, also became more
centralized, and its rulers turned
away from contintental Europe,
leveraging the country’s resources
to begin maritime exploration of
the Atlantic and North America. ■There is no wall, whatever its
thickness that, artillery will
not destroy in only a few days.
Machiavelli, 1519US_156-157_Battle_of_Castillion.indd 157 15/02/2016 16:42