Siege of Brest (1342)
As France and England had been fighting the Hundred Years' War since 1337 Joanna appealed to Edward III, the English king, for military assistance, which was promised.
By July 1342 Joanna was besieged in Brest, the last Breton fortification held for the Montfort cause, by Charles and a large army.
Joan's claim was exercised through her husband, Charles of Blois, a well-connected and militarily oriented French nobleman who was also a nephew of the King of France.
She acted decisively, recalled the field army from western Brittany, took command[12][13] and moved to Hennebont, a small but strongly walled town with access to the sea.
From there Joanna retained control of most of western Brittany[12] and set up her two-year-old son, also named John, as the faction's figurehead and heir to his father's claim to the duchy.
[15][16] Edward saw the opportunity to set up a ruler in Brittany at least partly under his control; this could provide access to Breton ports which would greatly aid England's naval war and give ready entry to France for English armies.
A force of French and mercenary galleys cruised off the north Breton coast, but there was so little English naval activity that they were beached and their crews went ashore to fight as infantry.
Edward planned to land in Brittany himself in June with a substantial force, but extreme difficulty in assembling ships,[note 2] despite draconian measures taken by Admiral Robert Morley, and then contrary winds, caused this date to be repeatedly put back.
[22] By July Joanna was besieged in the western port of Brest, the only remaining fortified place held by the Montfortists,[23] by Charles of Blois and a large army.
[26] In late July ships carrying an English force of 110 men put into a port in western Brittany while sailing to English-held Gascony.
Their leader, Hugh Despenser was so concerned that the Montfortist cause was on the verge of collapse that he stayed in Brittany with either part or all of his force and reinforced the garrison of Brest.
Being shallow-draught vessels propelled by banks of oars they could penetrate shallow harbours and were highly manoeuvrable, making them effective for raiding and ship-to-ship combat in meeting engagements.
Their high freeboard made them superior to the oared vessels in close combat, and arrows or bolts could be fired into or stones dropped onto enemy craft alongside.
The warships were largely converted cogs but included an unknown number of galleys from Bayonne, an English-controlled town in south-west France which owed fealty to Edward.
[40] The English were familiar with Brest and how to approach it from the sea as just two years earlier a squadron under Morley had attacked the port and captured a fortune in merchant shipping.
His captains realised this, and with their only passage to the open sea filled with yet more English ships, made for the nearest rivers, where the galleys' shallow draught might allow them to find at least temporary safety.
[44] Northampton was reinforced and marched on Morlaix, a town on the north coast with strong fortifications and a secure harbour 50 kilometres (30 mi) from Brest, and besieged it.
The next year his widow, Joan of Penthièvre, signed the Treaty of Guérande, recognising John of Montfort's son as Duke of Brittany, which ended the war.
