Battle of Saint-Mathieu

1512 naval battle during the War of the League of Cambrai

The naval Battle of Saint Mathieu took place on 10 August 1512 during the War of the League of Cambrai, near Brest, France, between an English fleet of 25 ships commanded by Sir Edward Howard and a Franco Breton fleet of 22 ships commanded by René de Clermont. It is possibly the first battle between ships using cannon through ports, although this played a minor role in the fighting. This was one of only two full fledged naval battles fought by King Henry VIII's Tudor navy, along with the later Battle of the Solent. During the battle, each navy's largest and most powerful ship — the Regent and the Marie la Cordelière (or simply Cordelière) – were destroyed in a large explosion aboard the latter.

Although the War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League (among several alternative names), was largely an Italian war, nearly every significant power in Western Europe participated at one point or another, including France, England, and Brittany. The latter was de facto independent of France, although the Dukes of Brittany were vassals to the French King. When war with France broke out in April 1512, England's Edward Howard was appointed admiral of a fleet sent by King Henry VIII to control the sea between Brest and the Thames estuary. Howard seized vessels of various nationalities on the pretext that they were carrying French cargoes. At the beginning of June, he escorted to Brittany an army which Henry sent to France under the command of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, with the hope of recovering Guyenne. Howard then raided Le Conquet and Crozon on the Breton coast. During June and July, Howard effectively controlled the English Channel and is said to have captured more than 60 vessels. By August, a French Breton fleet had assembled at Brest; Howard moved to attack them.

Well informed about the Franco Breton manoeuvres, the English surprised them at anchor. Unprepared and confronted by a superior fleet, all the French and Breton ships cut their anchor cables and spread their sails. – sailed towards the Regent, The Sovereign and the Mary James rushed to rescue the Regent and surrounded the Cordelière, while the superior fire of the Mary Rose badly damaged the Petite Louise which was forced to retreat. Over the next two days, with the French fleet in Brest, the English fleet captured or destroyed thirty two French vessels and recovered the valuable French anchors before returning to England. As a result of the engagement Sir Edward Howard was made Lord High Admiral by Henry VIII.

Brittany and France were still de facto separate states at the time, although the Duchess Anne was a vassal of King Louis XII of France, who she had also recently married. The combination of the French and Breton fleets was thus the first significant military action in which the two countries fought together, twenty four years after the Battle of Saint Aubin du Cormier (1488), the last battle between them. It thus became symbolic within Brittany of the unity between Brittany and France. The destruction of the Breton ship Marie la Cordelière quickly became famous. French poets Humbert de Montmoret and Germain de Brie both wrote poems about it. The latter work presented such an exaggeratedly heroic version of the death of Hervé de Portzmoguer, that it occasioned a satirical response from Thomas More, leading to a literary battle between More and de Brie. The death of de Portzmoguer, on the day of Saint Lawrence (10 August), was later portrayed as a deliberate act of self sacrificing heroism. He is supposed to have said «Nous allons fêter saint Laurent qui périt par le feu!». ("we will celebrate the feast of Saint Lawrence, who died by fire") before blowing up the ship to avoid its capture. In fact, there is no evidence that the explosion was intentional and early literary accounts make no such claims. This version was commemorated by the Breton poet Théodore Botrel. A similar version is portrayed by Alan Simon in the song Marie la Cordelière from Anne de Bretagne (2008). In 2018, the French government was searching for the wrecks of the sunken warships Cordelière and Regent.