French victory at the Battle of Bonchurch

The Battle of Bonchurch was a minor conflict during the Italian War of 1542-1546 and was fought on the Isle of Wight off the south Coast of England. This battle took place around the same time as the Battle of the Solent ((when the Mary Rose sank)).

A French invasion force marched in land, burning crops and building as they went and encountered local militia under Captain Robert Fyssher at Bonchurch.

Conflicting accounts of what little is known of the battle claim that the French had around 500 men while the English opposing them had between 200 and 2,800 ((the first is the English account the sencond is French)).

Both sides suffered heavy casualties but in the end it the French were repelled.

In terms of the Italian War this was a minor battle but I wonder what would be the long standing effect of a French Victory at Bonchurch and then the capture of the Isle of Wight as a French Base.

Claude d'Annebault, commander of the French armada, recorded that "having it under our control, we could then dominate Portsmouth... and so put the enemy to extraordinary expense in maintaining a standing army and navy to contain us."

But would the French, following the end of the Italian War, just hand the Isle of Wight back to the English or would they keep hold of it? Would a French Base on the Isle of Wight prevent Portsmouth from becoming one of Britains major Naval bases and the home of the Royal Navy? And what would be the effect of future Anglo-French conflicts/relationships with a French Port so close to England?

I know it's all irrelivant and France is unlikely to be able to keep hold of an island so close to the British mainland for long but I thought the idea was interesting...
 
Response to conjecture

My name is EasyPeasy21. I believe that your post, Nytram01, incorporates information from the article on Wikipedia entitled 'Battle of Bonchurch'. I state this because I am the proud writer of that article, and I am very happy to see that my information is being used in a historical discussion. :)

Francis I of France ordered an invasion of England because he wanted to gain territory that he could then exchange with the English for Boulogne, a French settlement which had been captured by the English. Considering that that was his aim it is likely, in my opinion, that Francis I would have given up the Isle of Wight for Boulogne.

The French capture of the Isle of Wight would have been a means by which the French could affect significantly the English naval presense around Portsmouth. As a result, a French capture could have provoked a determined military response by the English in order to re-capture the Isle of Wight. The Italian War of 1542-1546 was a war that had cost both Francis I and Henry VIII of England a lot of money. Both might not well have been willing to fight a hard campaign over the Isle of Wight, because of financial considerations, but Henry VIII would have perhaps have been able to win a campaign due to logistical advantages. As a result of the drawbacks of a French occupation of the Isle of Wight, I do not believe that that Francis I would have decided to keep the Isle of Wight. However, considering that France had declared peace with all its other enemies in the war, Francis I may have found the resources to maintain an occupation of the Isle of Wight.

In conclusion, I believe that the decision to retain the Isle of Wight would be based on Francis I's determination, and the French resources available. If Francis wanted to keep the Isle of Wight, and he had the resources to do so, then England would have had a French island right off its southern coast, presenting major problems to its navy based at Portsmouth. I believe I am right when I say that, had the French retained the island, it would have provided a major motive for England to wage another war against France, because it didn't want to allow a French presense so close to its mainland, and because it didn't want the Royal Navy's presense in the English Channel to be affected by France.
 

randomkeith

Banned
Got me thinking if France had won and conquered the island then decided to keep it. Wouldn't we see an escalating arms race between Britain and France as both sought to create more and better ships to defend reconquer the Isle??? Could it be that Francious Rules the Waves, rather than Britania???

Having said that France would have to be feeling pretty secure about her land borders to consider getting into a naval race with Engalnd, and i just don't know enough about the situation in Europe at the time. But hell thats why im here!!!!!!!!!!
 
Wouldn't the French prefer to change the island for something else? The Channel Islands or Calais if it is still English.
 
If the French could hold it, it'd mean they were already dominant at sea, which meant they could use it as a staging post for invasion, but the CHannel isn't that big in the first place.

Otherwise, it'd risk losing a lot of troops to garrison it. If it was a small garrison, it'd die out - or be bribed - or otherwise forced to surrender. It'd be an irritant.

And it'd be possible to get out of Portsmouth Harbour and into the Channel whilst outside of effective cannon fire range of the IOW.
 
Lack of French resources

Francis I had been fighting a relatively major war, the Italian War of 1542-1546, which left France economically signficantly poorer than it was compared to when the war started. I doubt that Francis I could have found the resources to maintain the occupation of an island so close to enemy-controlled territory (i.e. England), but I cannot be sure.
 
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