Then, Joan and John II, Duke of Alençon marched to capture Jargeau from the Earl of Suffolk.

Suffolk entered surrender nominations with a minor French captain, La Hire.

Joan of Arc initiated an assault on the town walls, surviving a stone projectile that split in two against her helmet as she climbed a scaling ladder.

Estimates of numerical strength vary with the Journal du Siège d'Orléans citing 6000 - 7000 for the French.

Bypassing the city and the castle, they staged a frontal assault on the bridge fortifications, conquered it in one day, and installed a garrison.

Breaking with siege warfare custom, the French army followed the 15 June capture of the bridge at Meung-sur-Loire not with an attack on that town or its castle but with an assault on neighboring Beaugency the next day.

An English reinforcement army under Sir John Fastolf departed from Paris following the defeat at Orléans.

The French had moved swiftly, capturing three bridges and accepting the English surrender at Beaugency the day before Fastolf's army arrived.

The English excelled at open battles; they took up a position whose exact location is unknown but traditionally believed to be near the tiny village of Patay.

The standard defensive tactic of the English longbowmen was to drive pointed stakes into the ground near their positions.

This prevented cavalry charges and slowed infantry long enough for the longbows to take a decisive toll on the enemy line.

The battle swiftly turned into a rout, with every Englishman on a horse fleeing while the infantry, consisting mostly of longbowmen, were cut down in droves.

For once the French tactic of a large frontal cavalry assault had succeeded, with decisive results.