be comprehensively out manoeuvred by his French opponents. Lack of money and supplies hampered recruiting and lowered morale; in January 1450 the troops lynched an official sent to negotiate with them over pay.

On 15 March 1450, Kyriell and some 2,500 men landed in Cherbourg, where they were reinforced by another 1,800 collected by Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander in Normandy.