What if Orléans had fallen in 1429?
Joan of Arc's relief of Orléans saved the Valois cause. What if the city had fallen and the English dual monarchy had lasted?
What actually happened
After Henry V's victory at Agincourt in 1415 and his conquest of Normandy, the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 made him heir to the mad Charles VI of France, married him to Charles's daughter Catherine and disinherited the Dauphin. Henry and Charles both died in 1422, leaving the infant Henry VI king of England and, by the treaty, of France. His uncle John, Duke of Bedford, ruled English France in alliance with Burgundy, and won a major victory at Verneuil in 1424.
In October 1428 the English besieged Orléans, the key crossing of the Loire into the Dauphin's lands. The siege was never complete, but by spring 1429 the city was in trouble. In late April Joan of Arc, a peasant girl from Lorraine who had convinced the Dauphin of her mission, entered the city with a relief convoy. Within days the French took the English forts one by one, and on 8 May the siege was lifted.
Victories followed at Patay in June, and on 17 July the Dauphin was crowned Charles VII at Reims. Joan was captured in 1430 and burned at Rouen in 1431. In 1435 Burgundy made peace with Charles; the English lost Normandy in 1450 and Gascony after Castillon in 1453, keeping only Calais.
The turning point
Orléans mattered because its fall would have opened the Loire valley and the Dauphin's base at Bourges. The French court in 1429 was short of money and divided, and some advisers favoured retreating further south.
Historians debate Joan's military role: whether she was mainly an inspiration who restored morale or a real influence on tactics and decisions. Many, including Juliet Barker and Anne Curry, also stress English overstretch, the cost of the war and, above all, the Burgundian alliance, whose end in 1435 made the English position untenable. Orléans was a turning point of morale and momentum, but the dual monarchy faced deep structural problems.
The world that might have been
In Crown & Plough the alternative reads: starving, Orléans opened its gates; when the last bridge on the Loire fell, the Dauphin at Bourges withdrew south; the boy Henry VI was crowned twice, in Paris and at Westminster, and the two kingdoms under one crown were set in stone. In reality Henry VI was indeed crowned in both capitals, in 1429 and 1431.
Beyond the game, a lasting Lancastrian France would have been an odd union: a large, rich France joined to a smaller England, with the king's interests drawn to Paris. Some historians argue that over time it would have become a French monarchy with English lands, rather than the reverse.
Its weaknesses would still have been real. Henry VI's later mental collapse, the rivalry of Lancaster and York, and Burgundy's own ambitions could each have broken the union. A survival in 1429 might have bought decades, not centuries.
Ripples through time
Orléans is shaped by Bouvines: if the Angevins kept Normandy in 1214, the dual monarchy is more likely to survive.
Carried into the Renaissance era (1500), the effect is large: England holds Normandy, Maine, Picardy, Gascony and Aquitaine, the Lancastrian dynasty wears both crowns, and the French kingdom is England's vassal.
- Shaped by What if King John's allies had won at Bouvines?
- Carries into the next era Renaissance and the Age of Discovery
Play this turning point
Start in the Middle Ages, or take the scenario Before Crécy, which begins in 1337 at the start of the war. The Currents of History story Hundred Years' War lets you join the English or the French side; the English side pushes for the alternative.
The war is long, so a house that fights for England across generations can build up a large contribution before 1429.
Play this turning point → Start the scenario “Before Crécy” →
Questions and answers
What was the Treaty of Troyes?
A treaty of 1420 by which Charles VI of France recognised Henry V of England as his heir and regent, disinheriting his son the Dauphin, and created a dual monarchy of England and France.
How important was Joan of Arc at Orléans?
She arrived with the relief convoy and inspired the attacks that broke the siege in May 1429. Historians debate how far she directed the fighting, but her impact on French morale and on the Dauphin's coronation at Reims is not in doubt.
When did the Hundred Years' War end?
Conventionally in 1453, after the French victory at Castillon; England kept Calais until 1558.
Sources and further reading
Journal du siège d'Orléans; the trial records of Joan of Arc. Modern accounts: Jonathan Sumption, The Hundred Years War, vol. 4; Juliet Barker, Conquest; Anne Curry, The Hundred Years War.
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