Philip the Bold IV

Philip the Bold

Family

Philip was prone to wearing gorgeous outfits, often in an attempt to outshine his brother the Duke of Berry, but also for political purposes. Philip’s hats were decked with feathers from ostriches, pheasants and one with feathers reputed to come from a bird from far off India.

Like Berry Philip was a passionate collector and was a dedicated hunter, moving from estate to estate, often sleeping outdoors. He also played tennis and was in addition a prolific traveller who frequently went on pilgrimages, taking a portable reliquary and rosary with him at all times.

Philip and Marguerite had nine children;

• John the Fearless born on 28^th May 1371, was made Count of Nevers[i] in 1384
• Charles born in 1372[ii]
• Marguerite of Burgundy born in October 1374
• Louis born in 1377[iii]
• Catherine of Burgundy was born in April 1378 at Montbard
• Bonne born in 1379 at Arras
• Antoine, Duke of Brabant born in August 1384[iv]
• Mary of Burgundy born in September 1386 at Dijon[v]
• Philip Count of Rethel[vi] born at Villaines-en-Duesmois in October 1389

Marguerite bore at least another two children of whom there are no records.

Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk

John of Gaunt

From 1375-7 there was a series of on-off peace conferences between the French and English at Bruges, conducted with great magnificence and at great expense by John of Gaunt, Philip[vii] and numerous cardinals acting as mediators.

‘When the feast of All-Saints was drawing near, the duke of Burgundy, the count de Saltzbourg, the bishops of Amiens, and of Bayeux, came to Bruges by orders of the king of France, to hold a conference.’[viii]

To avoid the 1375 meetings from being a complete waste of time and money a one year truce was agreed. The parties never came to a permanent agreement as Edward was determined to keep sovereignty of the Plantagenet possessions in France and Charles V was equally determined to regain sovereignty over Guyennne[ix]. The truce resulted in the free companies taking out their angst once again on the French countryside. Enguerrand de Coucy was ordered by Charles to deal with the pests.

de Coucy arms

Once he had undertaken this commission he was given another; having feet in both camps and torn between the two[x], de Coucy was sent on an embassy to London in an attempt to extend the temporary truce. According to Froissart;

‘He [de Coucy] was regarded as one of the wisest and prudent of nobles….in whom one could not want more of all good and all loyalty.’[xi]

De Coucy arrived in England to find the Black Prince dying and his father in his dotage. John of Gaunt had taken over the running of the country and popular opinion was resentful of corrupt royal officials, the war which was dragging on to no end, military mismanagement and the wasting and embezzlement of tax monies. It was now England’s turn to suffer; soldiers returning from the war were taking to pillaging the countryside with a vengeance.

End of an Era

Edward III & the Black Prince

The Black Prince died, at the age of forty-six, in June 1376 leaving his son Richard as his father’s heir.

‘In this year, on Trinity-Sunday, that flower of English knighthood the lord Edward of England, prince of Wales and of Aquitaine….His body was embalmed, placed in a leaden coffin and kept until the ensuing Michaelmas, in order that he might be buried with greater pomp and magnificence when the parliament assembled in London.’[xii]

He left behind a country in turmoil. King Edward was being ruled by his mistress Alice Perrers who used her position to advance her circle of friends into high positions, and she became Edward’s principal adviser on all matters relating to the country. He finally died on 21^st June 1377, leaving behind his ten year old grandson to inherit his country and his war with France.

Rye

By 1377, imitating Spanish maritime excellence, the French had created a navy that dominated the English Channel. In that year the navy went so far as to raid the English coast causing consternation among the enemy, so used to going on the attack abroad. The raids followed the ending of yet another truce.

Admiral Jean de Vienne landed at Rye on 29^th June and emulated the English savagery imposed on French towns.

‘The French landed in Sussex near the borders of Kent, in a fairly large town on fishermen and sailors called Rye. They pillaged and plundered it and burnt it completely.’[xiii]

The raids continued down the coast attacking Folkestone, Weymouth, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Dartmouth. A month later the fleet returned to overrun the Isle of Wight. One reason for the attacks, as well as retaliation against English devastation of France, was to stop reinforcements being sent to Calais.

Extending Influence



Margaret of Bavaria 

Both Louis de Male and his son-in-law Philip were interested in extending their influence across Europe; Philip used his children as pawns in marriage alliances as well as gaining lands by treaty and military acquisition. Philip first turned to the house of Hapsburg in 1377 to find husbands for his daughters. He negotiated with the Wittelsbach princes Albert[xiv] and Leopold[xv].

Philip arranged for Albert’s son William VI, Count of Holland and Duke of Bavaria-Straubing to marry Margaret with a dowry of 100,000 francs[xvi]. In addition Margaret of Bavaria[xvii] was to marry John in a double wedding that took place in Cambrai on 12^th April 1385 and Philip splurged on a magnificent wedding, borrowing jewels from his cousin Charles who graced the weddings with his presence.

Philip organised a great tournament in honour of the two young couples and provided a thousand lances for the occasion. The liveries for his staff and court alone cost 34,000 livres[xviii] and the prizes for the tournament cost another 78,000[xix].

Leopold of Austria

Catherine was to marry Leopold of Austria[xx], son of Prince Leopold. The couple didn’t marry until 1387 due to Catherine’s youth. The festivities stretched for three days from 14^th-17^th September 1387. Her parents kept her at home despite the marriage treaty allowing for her to live with her in-laws; the marriage was not consummated until May 1392. Even then she did not depart from her family until the following year when she was fifteen, taking with her gifts from her family including a gold chess set, a present from her sister Mary.

In 1382 Bonne was affianced to John, the Count of Clermont and son of the Duke of Bourbon, but she died before the wedding could take place[xxi].

Bibliography

Chronicles – Froissart, Penguin Books 1968

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

The Fourteenth Century – May McKisack, Oxford University Press 1997

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.maisonstclaire.org

www.wikipedia.en

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[i] He ceded the title to his brother Philip when their father died

[ii] Died at the age of two

[iii] Died the following year

[iv] Died at Agincourt

[v] Married Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy

[vi] Also died at Agincourt

[vii] Who was paid 5,000 francs a month for his pains; In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £2,884,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £34,210,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £96,040,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £1,979,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com   

[viii] http://www.maisonstclaire.org/resources/chronicles/froissart/book_1/ch_301-331/fc_b1_chap325.html

[ix] His lawyers claimed that the yielding of sovereignty violated the oath of homage given to the kings of France by the kings of England for their French possessions

[x] He was Edward’s son-in-law, bring married to Princess Isabella when a hostage for King John. De Coucy had been given the earldom of Bedford. Isabella was the apple of her father’s eye and was loath to live away from his court

[xi] A Distant Mirror - Tuchman

[xii] http://www.maisonstclaire.org/resources/chronicles/froissart/book_1/ch_301-331/fc_b1_chap325.html

[xiii] Chronicles - Froissart

[xiv][xiv] Known as Albert with the pigtail

[xv] Both men called themselves Duke of Austria although they shared the duchy

[xvi] In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £76,410,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £702,600,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £1,959,000,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £41,270,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com     

[xvii] Whose dowry was 200,000 francs while Philip gave his daughter no dowry at all. Margaret of Bavaria’s dowry was worth the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £149,900,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £1,387,000,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £3,842,000,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £84,330,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com  

[xviii] In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £25,480,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £235,700,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £653,100,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £14,340,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com  

[xix] In 2016 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is £58,460,000.00, labour earnings of that income or wealth is £540,800,000.00, economic status value of that income or wealth is £1,498,000,000.00, economic power value of that income or wealth is £32,890,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com  

[xx] Leopold had originally been promised Margaret for his son, but he accepted the substitution of Catherine

[xxi] She died in 1399

A Duchess of Burgundy

John I of Portugal

The Portuguese-English Alliance

Isabella of Portugal was the only daughter of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster[i]. King John gained his throne following the death, in 1383, of his brother Ferdinand. Ferdinand’s only surviving child, the ten year old Beatrice, was married to King John of Castile. The Portuguese had no desire to be swallowed up by the Castilians, whose king was hungry to expand his domains. An interregnum followed the king’s death in October 1383 as the two John’s fought it out.

On 6^th April 1685 the Portuguese Cortes pronounced John, Master of the Order of Aviz[ii], king of Portugal. The Battle of Aljubarrota, fought on 14^th August 1385, between the Castilians and the Portuguese, resulted in a resounding victory for the Portuguese commanded by John and his general Nuno Alvarez Piera. More than 5,000 Castilian soldiers were killed after the battle. In October the Battle of Valverde merely served to confirm Portuguese independence from Spain.

John of Gaunt

The following year the newly crowned King John came to the aid of his father-in-law John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, when he attempted to take the throne of Castile by right of marriage[iii]. The Duchess of Lancaster and her daughter followed the army who were unimpressed. According to Froissart’s Chronicles the men grumbled;

‘What was the Duke of Lancaster thinking of….when he planned a big campaign yet brought his wife and daughter with him? It has held us back all to no purpose….As for the campaign and the capture of towns, cities and castles, the ladies are not much help there.’[iv]

Eventually John of Gaunt returned home having lost a large part of his army to sickness.

The Royal Family

Born in Évora, on 17^th January 1397, Isabella was one of six children and the only girl. Her oldest brother Edward was born in 1391, Peter[v] in 1392, Henry[vi] in March 1394, after Isabella came John[vii] born in January 1400[viii]. The last child, of what was to become known as the Illustrious Generation, was Ferdinand born in September 1402. The children had an older half-brother Don Alfonso[ix], the result of King John’s liaison with his mistress Inês Peres.

Don Alfonso

Although John is viewed by historians as not particularly bright he was an effective leader and a warrior who had a dream of recreating the Arthurian legend in Portugal. His sons were taught to venerate him as the saviour of Portuguese independence. John used the younger and lower ranking nobility to counter-balance the power of the older nobles and clergy, something that was viewed by the old aristocracy with disdain;

‘Another and new world then arose and a new generation of men; for the sons of people of such low degree that it would not be fitting to name them were, at that time, made knights for their good services to the king, and for their courage.’[x]

John also kept control of the machinery of government solely in his hands.

Philippa was a contrast to her husband imbued with the spirit of pragmatism. She was in control of the children’s education and instilled in them a strong religious faith and the sense of royal duty. Henry was dedicated to biblical and theological studies[xi] with an interest in liturgical matters, an interest inherited from his mother.

Philippa also involved herself in the affairs of the home she left behind her; intervening with her brother Henry IV, when he usurped the throne from their cousin Richard II, to help Richard’s followers. She also arranged the marriage of the Earl of Arundel[xii] to marry John’s illegitimate daughter Beatriz[xiii].

An Unusual Childhood

Philippa of Lancaster

Isabella was allowed to play with her older brothers, despite the formalities of the queen’s nursery. Isabella also helped to look after her younger brothers John and Ferdinand when they were small. John was to become a private and retiring person as an adult, while Ferdinand adored his adventurous brother Henry and dreamed of following in his footsteps.

The children were tutored to read in several languages including Latin, French, English and Italian, and were also taught science and mathematics. The royal children’s education, probably managed by Philippa, was of high quality as evidenced by their literary writings in adult life. Philippa imbued her children with admiration for the Plantagenet ancestry. In the spirit of her parents’ renaissance court Isabella was an avid reader and the siblings all enjoyed horse riding and hunting.

Edward was more suited to be a scholar than a king while his brother Charles had a temperament better suited for ruling; his advice to his brother on delaying decision making was very sensible;

‘Neither grant nor decide them [unclarified issues] at once; and those that certainly do not appear bad and unreasoned , do not deny them, but put them off so as later, with more repose and less fatigue, to determine them as you ought.’[xiv]

Isabella was sometimes allowed to join her brothers when they were tutored by their father in statecraft. Alongside them Isabella was schooled in diplomatic negotiations and the vagaries of politics, something that was to be of use to her later in life.

Real Politique

Walls of Ceuta

On 19^th June 1415 the eighteen year old Isabella was grief stricken when her mother Philippa died at the age of fifty three. Philippa caught the plague and died at Sacavém after bidding her children farewell. Her three older boys, about to be knighted, were presented with jewelled swords by the queen. John, whose marriage to Philippa had been based on the alliance with England, had grown quite fond of his wife and was;

‘So grieved by [her] mortal illness… that he could neither eat nor sleep.’[xv]

Mother and daughter had a close and affectionate relationship and after Philippa’s death Isabella withdrew from the world for a while. She spent her time with her ladies-in-waiting, keeping herself amused with needlework, singing and indulging her passion for reading.

Six days after their mother’s death the princes joined their father who led a fleet to north Africa in an attack on the port of Ceuta[xvi]. Philippa had coordinated the expedition. The battle of Ceuta in August resulted in the Portuguese taking the town, their first foothold in what was to become their empire in Africa. Edward was placed in charge of the town which was to become a drain on the Portuguese treasury[xvii].

Battle of Agincourt

Nine days before King John and his sons' attack on Ceuta, a momentous event was happening in the English Channel as Henry V led an army across to France to press his somewhat nebulous claims to the French throne. It did not take long for him to cut a swathe through France and by October had sealed his bid with victory at the battle of Agincourt[xviii].

This victory was to overturn the status quo; the Hundred Years War had been stagnating for some time, but Henry’s audacious feat was the start of the English domination of the last stages of the war.

Following the victory in France and with dreams of further military glories yet to come Henry V, hoping to create an anti-French alliance, looked to Portugal for a wife. Isabella received an offer of marriage from her maternal cousin of England. The Portuguese and English had been allies in trade for a long time and Henry’s grandfather had helped King John gain his kingdom. John’s marriage to Philippa had helped strengthen the ties between the two countries, but the negotiations failed.

Bibliography

The Fifteenth Century – Margaret Aston, WW Norton and Company 1979

The Hundred Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005

Chronicles – Froissart, Penguin Books 1968

The Reign of Henry VI – RA Griffiths, Sutton Publishing Ltd 1998

Agincourt – Christopher Hibbert, Pan Books 1964

The Fifteenth Century – EF Jacob, Oxford University Press 1997

Prince Henry – Peter Russell, Yale University Press 2000

Isabel of Burgundy – Aline S Taylor, Madison Books 2001

www.wikipedia.en

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[i] Eldest child of John of Gaunt and cousin of King Richard II of England

[ii] A chivalric order

[iii] See http://wolfgang20.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/bertrand-du-guesclin-v.html

[iv] Chronicles - Froissart

[v] Duke of Coimbra

[vi] One of Portugal’s most famous sons, Duke of Viseu, he became known as Henry the Navigator and is regarded as the main force behind the Age of Discoveries

[vii] Later Constable of Portugal

[viii] Two children, possibly girls, died at birth in the years between Isabella’s birth and the birth of Prince John

[ix] Later Duke of Braganza

[x] Prince Henry - Russell

[xi] In later life he was to found a chair of theology at Lisbon University

[xii] One of her brother’s principal supporters

[xiii] Born in 1386, Beatriz was the youngest child of John’s relationship with Inês Perez

[xiv] Isabel of Burgundy - Taylor

[xv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_of_Lancaster

[xvi] The town was part of the Kingdom of Fez captured from the Hafsids with the assistance of the King of Aragon

[xvii] It was later decided that the port of Tangiers was essential for their expansionist plans but the city was not taken until 1471. Tangiers was handed over to England in 1662 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza when she married Charles II

[xviii] See http://wolfgang20.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/charles-duke-of-orleans.html and http://wolfgang20.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/shakespeares-buffoon-ii.html