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The Battle of Mauron was fought in 1352 between an Anglo-Breton force and France. The Anglo-Bretons were victorious.

The battle took place in the context of the Hundred Years War. With the Franco-Breton claimant, Charles de Blois, a prisoner, and the Anglo-Breton claimant (de Montfort) a minor, the English were attemptiong to rule Brittany in the name of their protege.

In 1352 a French army, commanded by Marshal de Nesle,invaded Brittany, and after recaptureing Rennes was advancing west, towards Brest. On August 14th, 1352, it encountered an Anglo-Breton force, under the command of Sir William Bentley, at Mauron.

Sir William had succeeded Sir Thomas Dagworth, the former keeper of Brittany who had been killed in a French ambush.

With only a minute force, Sir William took up one of those strong defensive positions favoured by the English of the time, with men-at-arms, on foot, in a line with archers in the customary "wedge" formation on the wings.

The French attacked late in the afternoon and, as usual, the English longbowmen caused the usual carnage with theb French horses, their dismounted riders being dispatched by the men-at-arms as they struggled to get to their feet under the weight of their armour. Although pushed back on their right, the Anglo-Bretons, under the command of Sir Robert Knollys (later to be a notorious commander of "Routiers", stood with their back to a belt of trees and put up such a fight that the French were routed.

The French leader, de Nesle, was amongst the slain, and at least six hundred French knights and nobles were taken prisoner, vastly enriching the victors. The battle gave the English mastery of Brittany, and was another example of the power of the English longbow in the warfare of the period.

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