Sir Thomas Kyriell, Kt.

Soldier, executed for supporting the Yorkist Party, husband to Cecily Kyriell, and subsequently Elizabeth Chicheley.

Notes:

Commander of The Battle of Formigny (15 April 1450) was a battle of the Hundred Years' War fought between England and France. It was a decisive victory for the French.

The French, under Charles VII, had taken the time offered by the Treaty of Tours in 1444 to reorganize and reinvigorate their armies. The English, without clear leadership from the weak Henry VI, were scattered and dangerously weak. When the French broke the truce in June 1449 they were in a much improved position. Pont-Audemer, Pont-L'Evêque and Lisieux fell in August and much of Normandy was retaken by October. Cutting north and east the Bureau brothers oversaw the capture of Rouen (October 1449), Harfleur (December 1449), Honfleur and Fresnoy (January 1450), before moving on to invade Caen.

The English had gathered a small army during the winter of 1449. Numbering around 3,000 men, it was dispatched from Portsmouth to Cherbourg under the command of Sir Thomas Kyriell. Landing on 15 March 1450, the army was reinforced with a further 2,000 men under Sir Matthew Gough in late March.

Battle

Kyreill advanced south and captured Valognes in a bloody clash, as further south two French armies joined (around 5,000 men under Comte de Clermont) and marched north for Carentan.

The English army circled Carentan on 12 April, the French declined to sally although there were a number of smaller skirmishes. Kyriell turned east towards Bayeux, reaching the village of Formigny on 14 April. At the same time a third French force, under the Connétable de Richemont, had reached St. Lô from the south.

On 15 April, Clermont's forces were sighted by the English. The armies faced each other on the Carentan-Bayeux road, near a small tributary of the Aure, the English with their backs to the stream. The English formation numbered around 4,000 — with a three-to-one preponderance in archers — and gathered in a long line behind a thicket of stakes and low earthworks.

Clermont opened the engagement with attacks against the flanks and small charges; these had little chance of success and were easily turned away. He then advanced two cannons. After a period of fire that caused a few casualties, the English charged and captured the guns.

These initial skirmishes took some three hours. At this time the Breton army under Arthur de Richemont arrived from the south, having crossed the Aure and now approaching the English force from the flank. They numbered almost 1,200 Bretons - almost all mounted judging from the pace of their march.

Kyriell drew back from Clermont and shifted his force into an "L", straddling the steam. With the prepared position abandoned and split by the enemy's firepower the English force was soon overwhelmed in a series of charges. Kyriell was captured and his army shattered.

Aftermath

The English had been dealt a major blow, 2,500 killed or seriously wounded and 900 taken prisoner while French and Breton casualties were no more than 1000 dead and wounded. With no other significant English forces in Normandy, the whole region quickly fell to the victorious French. The advance continued elsewhere, quickly sweeping up all English possessions except Calais.

The battle is often cited as the first in which cannons played a pivotal role (the first decisive use of cannon is generally considered to have been the following battle, at Castillon). This is rather difficult to judge, contemporary accounts are dubious and it can be seen that the arrival of the Breton army of Arthur de Richemont, future duke of Brittany, Arthur III, with his powerful force of cavalry on the flank of the English, forcing them to leave their prepared defensive position, was more significant, although it should be noted that the early artillery fire from the two French guns played a role in that as well.

The cannon may have been decisive, not so much for the effect they had themselves, but in that they alerted Richemont to the fact that there was a battle going on, and so caused his appearance on the field. It was fortunate for Clermont that this was so because one of his captains wrote shortly afterwards that if the Constable (Richemont) had not come when he did, Clermont's army would have suffered "irreparable damage".

• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Formigny
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Source:

• http://www.xenophongroup.com/montjoie/formigny.htm
• http://books.google.com/books?id=yIthoIVk1lgC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=t...
• http://books.google.com/books?id=INmdwCSkvIgC&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq...
• http://books.google.com/books?id=mWQESIuzQy0C&pg=PA299&lpg=PA299&dq...
• http://books.google.com/books?id=7SFdai_9lz8C&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq...
• http://oxfordindex.oup.com/search?q=Sir%20Thomas%20Kyriell
• http://books.google.com/books?id=dL12K__XzoAC&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq...

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Sir Thomas Kyriell (1396–18 February 1461) was an English soldier of the Hundred Years' War and the opening of the Wars of the Roses. He was executed after the Second Battle of St Albans.[1]

Biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kyriell

Background

The de Criol, Kyriel or Kyriell family built up a position in Kent, where they fortified Westenhanger Castle, from the middle of the 14th century.[2]

Military career

Kyriell served under Henry V of England in Normandy, and in 1436 held the fortress at Le Crotoy in Picardy.[3] He served under John, Lord Talbot at this period, around Rouen, and was created knight-banneret by 1443.[1] He led the English forces in the 1450 French victory, the Battle of Formigny.[4]

Released after being captured at Formigny, Kyriell was a Member of Parliament, representing Kent in the Parliaments of 1455-56 and 1460-61.[1] There he showed himself a Yorkist, by his opposition to Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset.[5] He was openly a Yorkist commander by 1460, as heavy fighting began in the Wars of the Roses.[6] Warwick the Kingmaker had Kyriell elected to the Order of the Garter on 8 February 1461, with himself and two others.[7]

At the Second Battle of St Albans, eight days later, Kyriell was on the losing side captured while guarding the king, Henry VI of England, who was a Yorkist prisoner. Margaret of Anjou had Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales pronounce the fate of the Yorkist guard, and they were beheaded.

Family

Kyriel married Cicely, daughter of the Somerset Member of Parliament John Stourton, whose first husband was John Hill of Spaxton.[8]

19. ELIZABETH Chichly married Sir Thomas Kiryol, or Crioll*, of Kent, who by this Marriage became poflefled of Chichele House (as Mr. Stow calls it) where her Father had lived in Harp Lane. This Sir Thomas Crioll was a Perfon of great Valour and Reputation. He w~as made a Knight of the Garter by Hen.Vl. He had great Pofleflions in Kent, and lived chiefly at OJlenhanger. In the Wars in France, where he performed many celebrated Exploits, he had the Misfor- tune to be taken Prifoner, and was detained for feveral Years. At his coining home he married Elizabeth Chichele, and entering afterwards into the Quarrel between the Houfes of York and Lancaster, he fell a Martyr to the Caufe of the former, at the fecond Battle of St. Albans, in the 38 Hen.Vl.

His Wife, according to Stow, was, fecondly, married to Sir Ralph Afoton, Knight-Marfhall ; and thirdly, to Sir Edward Bourchier, Uncle to Bourchier, Earl of EJ/ex ; but, continues he, (he never had a Child h .

It is certain, however, that Sir Thomas Crioll left two Daughters, and as we know of no other Wife that he had, and as the Defcendants of one of them may be eafily traced down to the prefent Times, this Matter may merit a farther Enquiry from thofe who are at leifure, or may think themfelves concerned, to make it '.

References

• https://archive.org/details/stemmatachichele00buckuoft/page/n27/mod...
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_St_Albans
• https://www.britishbattles.com/wars-of-the-roses/second-battle-of-s...
• 8. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/st... ... Stourton left three daughters, each by a different wife, and his estates were divided between them. The eldest, Cecily, the widow of John Hill† of Spaxton (for whom Stourton had acted as executor in 1434), was now the wife of Sir Thomas Kyriel† of Sarrecourt, on the Isle of Thanet, currently making his reputation as a soldier ....
• Jenstad, Janelle, and Cameron Butt. Cite MoEML. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 20, 2018. http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/citing.htm.