On 17th July 1453 the last battle of the Hundred Years' War took place here.
Hemmed in by French forces John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, was killed at the age of nearly 80 years, along with his son, John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle. This incident was dramatised by Shakespeare in Henry VI.
The result of Talbot's defeat and death was the capture of Bordeaux from the English, and their final expulsion from Guyenne (the old French province that encapsulated the Aquitaine).
On 27th November 1953, to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of this battle the name of the town was changed from Castillon-sur-Dordogne to Castillon-la-Bataille.