# The battle of Patay breaks an English field force on the road toward Reims

Date: 1429

## The fact

On 18 June 1429 Valois forces routed an English army at Patay. The victory belongs to the same 1429 campaign as Orléans and Reims.

## Context

Without a field army, the English occupation of the Loire corridor held. Patay is a military-political instrument. It is not a democratic election.

[Joan of Arc](/people/joan-of-arc) is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

## Evidence and sources

French archival portals and Britannica independently date Patay 18 June 1429.

Official or archival record: Archives nationales (France) (https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/; Archives nationales).

## Significance

Dynastic-legitimacy path. High confidence on the battle date.

A route is not a crown. Reims 17 July is the coronation Fact.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Patay 18 June 1429 as a Valois victory in Joan’s campaign season. Not established: that she personally commanded the decisive charge as a unique author.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

## People

- Joan of Arc: https://factrail.ai/people/joan-of-arc

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc
- https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/joa-patay-1429