Battle of Auberoche

Battle context

The Battle of Auberoche, fought near Périgueux in northern Aquitaine on 21 October 1345, was a significant engagement of the Gascon campaign of 1345 during the Hundred Years' War. An Anglo-Gascon force of 1,200 men under Henry, Earl of Derby, confronted a French army of 7,000 commanded by Louis of Poitiers — a disparity of nearly six to one — and inflicted a heavy defeat. French casualties were described as very high, and their leaders were killed or captured. The outcome demonstrated the vulnerability of numerically superior French forces to the Anglo-Gascon forces operating in Aquitaine, a territory of the English Crown that drew substantially on native Gascon troops. The defeat of a force of this size, combined with the loss of French commanders, disrupted French military capacity in northern Aquitaine and reinforced English control over the region during a critical phase of the broader conflict.