La Hire

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La Hire (lä ēr), c.1390–c.1443, French commander in the Hundred Years War, whose real name was Étienne de Vignoles or Vignolles. He entered (1418) the service of the dauphin (later King Charles VII) and was a loyal companion of Joan of Arc, with whom he helped to defeat (1429) the English at Orléans and Patay. For a time La Hire ravaged N France at the head of a marauding band of soldiers, but in 1437 he resumed the fight against the English.

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