Monday 5 February 2018

Philip the Bold II


the Jacquerie

Outside Paris the Free Companies were creating havoc; their manpower was provided by English soldiers released from service by the Black Prince after Poitiers[i]. Support from the provinces for the Dauphin, allied with public disgust at their failure to deal with the scourge of the free companies meant that, in August 1357, the Dauphin felt emboldened to dismiss his council of twenty-eight. And it was now that Marcel allied with Charles of Navarre who arrived in Paris to press his own claim to the throne.

In January 1358, on the pretext of rescuing a man accused of murdering the Dauphin’s treasurer Marcel unleashed a wave of terror, starting with the murder of two of the Dauphin’s marshals in front of the Dauphin himself, along with the killing of another of Charles’ councillors. These killings cost Marcel what little support he had from the nobility.

Captal de Buch
By May 1358 the Jacquerie revolt had begun at Marcel’s instigation, allegedly started because of the Dauphin’s order that the nobles in the environs of Paris should fortify and provision their castles in an attempt to forestall any action by Marcel. The peasants blamed the nobility for the miseries of their own lives and the capture of the king, claiming that;

‘They shamed and despoiled the realm, and it would be a good thing to destroy them all.’[ii]

Marcel encouraged the enraged peasantry to attack the propertied, an action which promptly lost him the support of those who owned property, noble or not. His next action, that of sending a gang to attack the royal family sheltering at Meaux, lost him a lot more.

The Dauphin’s wife and children were rescued by an English noble, the Captal de Buch and his French cousin, the Count of Foix. Along with a company of forty lances[iii] the two men engaged the peasantry as they attacked the fortress. This outrage brought the nobility back in line and the revolt was swiftly crushed and led to the fall of Marcel.

Upsetting the Treaty

Rheims cathedral
The turmoil in Paris and its environs meant that collecting monies to pay John’s ransom was problematical. The Treaty of London[iv] in January 1358, in which John traded half his kingdom for his freedom, set John’s ransom at four million gold eçus[v], payment of which in fixed instalments was to be guaranteed by forty noble French hostages. If there was any obstruction to the ceding of the agreed territories[vi] John was to pay for Edward’s cost of sending in his army.

The Dauphin, who had done a lot of growing up since Poitiers, and his council were loath to agree to the terms that John had conceded to the enemy. The Estates General were convened and their answer to the treaty was disparaging;

‘The Treaty was displeasing at all the people of France and intolerable, and for this ordered war to be made on England.’[vii]

Edward was outraged at the French response and in October 1359 he and his four sons embarked on a no expenses spared campaign on the continent. The English made for Rheims[viii] where Edward was determined to be crowned king of France. Intending to live off the land, the English found poor pickings in a countryside already devastated by war and the ravages of the free companies. The French were unhelpful in that they failed to field an army against them.

A Winter Campaign

Coin of Philip de Rouvre
Edward arrived in Rheims in December, but the city was closed against him and stoutly defended. The countryside around had been denuded of anything that could succour the English and buildings had been destroyed to prevent their usage by Edward’s army. The siege was lifted after forty days, as the English ran out of provisions and instead headed for the rich pickings to be found in Burgundy.

After two months Philip de Rouvres, Duke of Burgundy, paid Edward large sums of money to have the scourge of the English army directed elsewhere. Edward then turned his attention to Paris, having heard the news that the French had attacked Winchelsea in a botched attempt to rescue John who had been transferred to the Tower of London[ix].

the Strand Gate Winchelsea
Early in April the English heralds called for the French to come out of their besieged city and do battle, knowing full well that a pitched battle was to England’s advantage. The Dauphin refused to comply and after a week Edward turned his army in the direction of Chartres where the English army was struck by the heavens, causing more havoc than the French had; men and horses were killed by outsize hailstones, tents torn up by the wind, the baggage train dragged through mud and the resultant floods.

‘Wherfor unto thys day many men callen it Black Monday.’[x]

Papal envoys and the Dauphin had been requesting terms for some time and now, with this sign from God, Edward accepted the advice of John of Gaunt, that it was time to come to an agreement.

Return to France

France at the Treaty of Bretigny
On 8th May 1360 the Treaty of Brétigny[xi] was agreed between Edward and John; it was to end the first phase of what was to become known as the Hundred Years’ War. The treaty was signed by the Black Prince and the Dauphin. The part of the agreement whereby the English agreed to drop their claim to the throne of France was dropped from the treaty, thereby causing much resentment in France.

Desperate for money to pay his ransom John hit on the idea of selling his daughter Isabelle to Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the nine year old son of Galeazzo II Visconti, Duke of Milan, for the sum of 600,000 gold florins[xii]. In return for his release a number of the French nobility were taken as hostages against payment of John’s ransom, including Philip of Orléans.

After father and son finally returned home John was moved to grant his son the duchy of Touraine, a relatively minor duchy. John had remained popular with his people, despite his capture by the English which the French blamed on traitors who sold out France to the enemy.

When Philip de Rouvres died on 21st November 1361 leaving no heirs, John laid claim to the dukedom[xiii]. He may have planned to incorporate Burgundy into the royal domains, but the Burgundians were not predisposed to this idea. Instead John on 27th June 1363 appointed his youngest son as his Lieutenant-General and granted him the apanage in perpetuity of the duchy, making Philip first peer of France.

Battle of Cocherel
Philip surrendered his duchy of Touraine back to his father. John planned to marry Philip to Joanna of Naples in the hope of extending French influence in Italy, but Joanna was not interested in the offer despite support from Pope Urban V.

One of the side effects of John’s gift of the duchy of Burgundy to Philip was to drive Charles of Navarre to declare war on France[xiv]. He launched his attacks on Burgundy and from his strongholds outside of Paris[xv]. He was joined by English soldiers laid off by the peace of Brétigny. The two sides met at Cocherel where a new star was born; Bertrand du Guesclin[xvi] was hailed as the ‘best knight in the field.’ Du Guesclin led the French to victory, crushing Navarrese hopes again.

In the spring of 1361 the plague erupted again in Europe and England. No respecter of rank, the plague hit common man and noble alike. The Count of St Pol, one of Edward’s hostages, died as did John of Gaunt’s father-in-law, the Duke of Lancaster whose dukedom was promptly granted to John of Gaunt.

Bibliography

Edward III – Bryan Bevan, the Rubicon Press 1992

The Hundred Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005

Chronicles – Froissart, Penguin Books 1968

Europe: Hierarchy and Revolt 1320-1450 – George Holmes, Fontana 1984

The Fourteenth Century – May McKisack, Oxford University Press 1997

The Perfect King – Ian Mortimer, Vintage Books 2008

A Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman, Papermac 1989

Philip the Bold – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2011

The Flower of Chivalry – Richard Vernier, Boydell Press 2003

www.wikipedia.en


[i] To avoid having to pay them further
[ii] A Distant Mirror - Tuchman
[iii] Totalling about 120 men
[iv] The treaty gave Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Aquitaine and Calais to the English
[v] In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £2,558,000,000.00; labour earnings of that income or wealth is £35,420,000,000.00; economic status value of that income or wealth is £69,190,000,000.00; economic power value of that income or wealth is £1,385,000,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com
[vi] Stretching from Calais to the Pyrenees
[vii] A Distant Mirror - Tuchman
[viii] The traditional site for the coronation of French kings
[ix] Following rumours of the possibility of a rescue attempt
[x] A Distant Mirror - Tuchman
[xi] Handing Aquitaine to the English without French suzerainty over the region
[xii] Half the monies to be paid upfront. In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £401,100,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £4,976,000,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £10,380,000,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £207,800,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com  
[xiii] De Rouvres had been a nephew of John’s wife
[xiv] He had a valid claim on the duchy
[xv] Charles was also Count of Évreux and held the fortresses of Melun, Mantes and Rolleboise all within close proximity of the capital
[xvi] An employee of the Duke of Orléans

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