Siege of Carlisle (1385)

The Siege of Carlisle (1385) was the failed culmination of a French and Scottish raid into northern England, in which Jean de Carrouges took part. The attackers reached Carlisle after a destructive march through enemy territory, but the town’s defenses resisted their assault. Their retreat did not end the danger: Sir Henry Percy struck from behind at night, and Carrouges and Robert de Thibouville were fortunate to escape capture or death.

Background and approach

The siege came during a second French incursion into England. While King Richard’s forces were occupied elsewhere, the French and some of their still-loyal Scottish allies raided Cumberland, hoping to increase their gains through plunder and prisoners. Carrouges and his men joined the campaign with the same prospect of enrichment.

Moving down the coast, the invaders encountered little opposition because the country’s men-at-arms were away with the English king. They destroyed what lay in their path before circling back to Carlisle. The town had an older military history as a Roman frontier fort and an anchor of Hadrian’s Wall; by 1385 it was an English stronghold.

The assault and its failure

On September 7, the French and Scots attacked Carlisle with ladders, attempting to scale its walls. Their aim was either to destroy the town or take it by storm. Carlisle’s walls, towers, and ditches, together with its ample provisions, made it a difficult target, and the vigorous assault failed.

Unable to penetrate the defenses or achieve the pillage and destruction they had sought, and concerned about remaining deep in enemy territory, the attackers abandoned the siege. The episode marked the limit of their advance: they could devastate exposed countryside, but the fortified town stopped them.

Retreat and aftermath

As the French and Scots turned north, their large haul of plunder slowed their movement. Sir Henry Percy, heir to the Earl of Northumberland and known as Hotspur for his speed and ferocity on horseback, attacked them from the rear at night. His sudden assault killed many and put others to flight; he also took twenty-six prisoners described as persons of substance.

Carrouges and Robert de Thibouville were not among those captured or killed. A review of the admiral’s army on October 28 recorded that Carrouges had lost five of his nine comrades. The record does not establish when or how each man was lost: some may have died in earlier fighting or from disease, while some may have fallen in Percy’s attack. That ambush proved the campaign’s last battle.