NAVAL POWER
. The naval and maritime history of medieval France dates from the Roman occupation of
Gaul. Roman vessels utilized the rivers and coastal waters to transport merchandise and
military personnel. The early Franks developed fleets for use in trade and war. Their
vessels were propelled by oars and probably a single square sail. Charlemagne used a
fleet against the Slavs, Saxons, Avars, and others. Because of their Italian interests, the
Franks also maintained a small Mediterranean fleet in the 9th century.
The Vikings, who settled in Normandy, influenced the construction of large sailing
warships. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 was possible only because Duke
William organized a large fleet of Viking-style ships with a single square sail. He shipped
horses across the Channel for use by knights in battle against the Anglo-Saxons.
The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England stimulated trade between
Gascony and northern Europe after 1154. The English possessions in France led to
Anglo-French warfare in the 13th and 14th centuries. The French pieced together a navy
for use in the Atlantic and the Channel, often hiring Genoese galleys to fight the English,
especially in the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). France also built a naval base and
shipyard, the Clos des Galées, at Rouen. While the French used galleys in warfare, their
Castilian allies fought with tall sailing ships that used their advantage in height to rain
arrows and stones on their enemies.
Naval power in the Middle Ages did not make possible command of the seas. The
ships were few, poorly provisioned, and difficult to keep at sea for long periods, given
navigational techniques and weather. The French lost a major naval battle to the English
at Sluys in 1340 but were raiding England’s south coast in the following few years. In
1350, the English defeated a large Castilian fleet in the Battle of L’Espagnols-sur-Mer off
the southeast coast of England, but the Castilians won an important battle off La Rochelle
in 1372, a victory that aided the French reconquest of Poitou.
France eventually won the Hundred Years’ War, driving the English from all but the
port town of Calais by 1453. French fleets consisted mainly of merchant vessels recruited
for royal service. Galleys were built or hired to fight, but by the 15th century these were
replaced by large sailing ships over a hundred feet in length with carrying capacities of
up to 1,000 tons. These included carracks with one or two square sails on a main and
foremast and a lateen sail on a mizzenmast. Caravels carried two lateen sails, later a
square sail, and were important for Atlantic seafaring.
Ships throughout the medieval period were armed with a combination of weapons.
Early open rowing or sailing boats could serve as platforms for shooting arrows or
throwing spears. Ships were sometimes used as amphibious assault vessels. During his
crusades, Louis IX had towers built on ships so they could be used to bridge town or
castle walls adjacent to the water. These evolved into fore-castles and aftercastles, which
became integrated into a ship’s lines over the next two centuries. Topcastles were added
to the masts. Guns and cannon appeared aboard ships as they developed in the 14th
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