After the death of Joan of Arc in 1431 the French advance to re-capture it's English held territories stalled in negotiations.
It wasn't until 1435 that an agreement was settled where the Burgundians, under the rule of Philip III switched sides to swear their allegiance with the French, instead of the English. They signed the Treaty of Arras, and returned Paris to the King of France.

Burgundy's allegiance remained fickle for many years to come, but their focus was on expanding their domains into the Low Countries, which left them little energy to intervene in France. The long time of truce gave Charles time to reorganise his army, and government, replacing his feudal levies with a more modern professional army which could put its superior numbers against the English to much better use. He also centralised the French State as a combined country force once again.

Generally, though, the tactical superiority of English forces remained a potent factor; John Talbot, for instance, who specialised in fast attacks, routed French forces at Ry and Avranches in Normandy in 1436 and 1439 respectively. Talbot, one of the most daring warriors of the age, was the victor in 40 battles and skirmishes. This was one of the main reasons the war was so prolonged.

Using a fabled tactic first created by Bertrand Du Guesclin however the French were able to push further and further into taking their territories back from the English. Bertrand was a Breton Knight who specialised in a variety of Fabian Strategy - Harassing the enemy with short fast attacks, petty thief, ambushing trade caravans and the like.
The ultimate goal was to destroy the enemies morale and will to fight - a tactic which was made much easier
after each capture of a city since the people feared they would be the next target.

They repeated this strategy over a number of years ... Right up until the Truce of Tours in 1444 between the English, and the French. The truce was only temporary as Henry VI was growing ever weaker, thus leaving the English without clear leadership.

In 1449 however with once again a significantly improved French army in both training and morale broke the truce, deciding it was time to retake the rest of their lands held by the English. Pont-Audemer, Pont-L'Evêque and Lisieux fell in August and much of Normandy was retaken by October. Cutting north and east afterwards Jean, and his brother Gaspard Bureau oversaw the capture of Rouen in 1449, which was previously captured by the English in 1419.

Harfleur and Fresnoy were both recaptured shortly afterwards before the French Army began it's march towards Caen.
The English had gathered a small army during the winter of 1449 however.
Numbering around 3,000 men, it was dispatched from Portsmouth to Cherbourg under the command of Sir Thomas Kyriell.
Landing on March 15, 1450, the army was reinforced with a further 2,000 men under Sir Matthew Gough in late March.

This army was also to march on Caen to re-enforce the English presence there, knowing an attack was expected.
Kyreill's combined army advanced south and captured Valognes in a bloody clash with it's small garrison,
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 April 12, 1450 and after a few short skirmishes with the French turned east towards Bayeux, reaching the village of Formigny on April 14. At the same time a third French force, under the Condéstable de Richemont had reached St. Lô from the south - while not significant at the time, it soon would be.

On April 15, 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 River, 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 was the first to open the engagement ordering assaults to the English Flanks, their weakest positions.
These attacks however were quickly overcome due to the sheer range and power of the English Longbow.
He then ordered the setup of two Cannons, although they were only fired a few times in a
brief period of fire causing few casualties before the English charged and captured them.

It may have been from the sound of the Cannons that the Breton Army under the command of Arthur de Richemont had decided to investigate - finding the two armies in a battle engagement - the English putting the captured Cannons to use.
Richemont's army numbered only around 1,200 Men but almost all were mounted on horseback.

Seeing this new Army the English drew back from the assault with Clermont and shifted into an "L" shape to defend from two angles, straddling the stream as best they could - However this left much of their army open to attack as they had left their earlier prepared position and defences.

Soon split by the firepower and a series of assaults from the flanks Kyriell's army was soon shattered, and Kyriell himself captured.
The French then matched down on Gascony and managed to capture Cherbourg followed by Bordeaux and Bayonne in 1451.

After these final captures the Hundred Years war appeared to be at an end, however after over 300 years of English rule the citizens of Bordeaux Bordeaux considered themselves English and sent messengers to Henry VI of England demanding he recapture the province - a request soon answered.

On 17 October 1452, the Earl of Shrewsbury, John Talbot, landed near Bordeaux with a force of 3,000 men-at-arms and archers. The French garrison was ejected by the citizens of Bordeaux, who then gleefully opened the gates to the English.
Most of Gascony followed Bordeaux's example and welcomed the English home.

During the winter month Charles VII of France gathered his armies in readiness for the campaigning season to once more recapture these cities and when spring arrived Charles advanced toward Bordeaux simultaneously along three different routes with three different armies each commanded by a seasoned commander.

Talbot received a further 3,000 Men to sway this new French advance, however it was still no where near enough to hold back the coming armies on the borders of Gascony. When the leading French army commanded by Jean Bureau laid siege to Castillon, Talbot was all too eager to relieve the siege and set out with a large bulk of his army.

Jean Bureau, in fear of Talbot's Army, ordered his 7,000 to 10,000 men to encircle their camp with a ditch and palisade,
and deployed his 300 cannon on the parapet. This was an extraordinarily defensive setup by the French who had a large
numerical superiority over the English, and in recent years greatly improved in the way of tactics.

Talbot approached the French camp on 17 July 1453, arriving before his main body of troops with an advance guard of 1,300 mounted men and routed similar sized force of French francs-archers (militia) in the woods before the French encampment,
giving his men a large boost of morale.

Unfortunately for him this morale also proved to be almost a disaster in the sense that he himself was all to eager to begin battle.
A few hours after this short skirmish a massager arrived to the bulk of his troops who were resting after marching through the night. The message was that the French army was in full retreat and that hundreds of horsemen were fleeing the fortifications. From the town walls of Castillon a huge dust cloud could be seen heading off into the distance. Unfortunately for him, they were only camp followers ordered to leave the camp before the upcoming battle.

Talbot hastily reorganised his men and charged down towards the French camp, only to find the parapets defended by thousands of fully armed archers and hundreds of cannon. Surprised but undaunted, he gave the signal to attack the French army.
He did not take part in the battle directly however; since he was recently captured and paroled he was not allowed to take up arms against the French himself.

English troops charged the camp, across a ditch, only to be met with a hail of arrows and bolts, not to mention fierce gun, cannon and small arms fire from the French encampment. The battle was in full swing, and despite a slow thin stream of new troops from his leading footmen he was soon to face the second of the French Army.

Only an hour after the fighting started the Breton army commanded by Richemont arrived on the field. Once again all mounted on horseback they immediately charged the English and attacked at the right flank - It wasn't long before the English gave way and started a slow retreat, only be pursued immediately by the main body of the French Army.

During the battle although not known exactly when Talbot's horse was killed by a cannon ball, and he was trapped beneath it.
Without the strength to pull himself free he was eventually found by a French Militia who recognized who he was and killed him with a small hand axe.

Almost all of the English Army, including Talbot himself was killed or captured on that day with only minimal losses once again to the French. The battle of Castillon was considered the last battle of the Hundred Years War as the previously upraising cities were soon retaken with only a minimal effort on the part of the French, knowing the help they had received was defeated.