Wish I'd kept a save game for the year, but only had it as a quicksave, so now it's erased. I had a horrible feeling at the start of the battle that I was going to get one of those messages -- "The English King has died from an illness" but he survived a few more years!

On the fort assault, I've noticed that units attacking walls often show up "through" the wall before they've actually broken through. Another reason your peasants may have died is crossfire from your central fort, as they would have walked into the line of fire. If you'd left them by the gate, all would have been well...