He was defeated and killed on 17 July 1453 at the Battle of Castillon near Bordeaux, which effectively ended English rule in Aquitaine, a principal cause of the Hundred Years' War. It was reported at the time that when his horse was fatally struck by enemy ordinance, it fell on top of Talbot and pinned him down, enabling a French soldier to finish him off with a battleaxe. His heart was buried in the doorway of St Alkmund's Church, Whitchurch, Shropshire.