 |
| Battle of Monteil |
Returning to
Castile Henry took the city of Leon. Desperate for French assistance against
his brother in 1368 Henry signed the Treaty of Toledo; in return for land forces he agreed to furnish the
French with a naval force by the summer of 1369. Pedro meanwhile was very much
aware that the Black Prince was in secret negotiations with Pedro’s other
adversary Peter of Aragon.
Pedro
marched his troops to the relief of Toledo; the armies of the two brothers
faced off against each other on 14th March 1369 at the battle of Montiel. Henry’s forces were led by Bertrand, while Pedro led
his own army. His tactics with his nobility had disgusted the Black Prince
sufficiently that he threw over his erstwhile ally. No doubt the fact that
Pedro had failed to pay the English costs of the 1367 campaign, as he had
promised, did not help his cause with the English. His only major ally now was
the Moorish king Mohammed V of Granada[i].
After
suffering defeat at the hands of his brother’s army Pedro fled to the castle at
Montiel. The castle was ill-prepared and had only sufficient provisions for
four days according to Froissart. Accordingly Pedro and a handpicked group of
supporters departed the castle in great secrecy at night. They were picked up
by Pierre la Bègue de Villaines[ii] and taken to his quarters. Henry
arrived shortly thereafter and Pedro attacked;
‘He got his hand to his dagger
and would certainly have killed him [Henry] if the Viscount of Rocaberti[iii]
had not caught hold of his foot and twisted him over so that King Peter was
underneath and King Henry was on top. The latter drew a long Castilian
knife……and drove it upwards into his brother’s body.’[iv]
Confirmed on
his throne, on 4th May 1369 Henry made Bertrand Duke of Molina to
replace his lost Duchy of Trastamara. In June and July Bertrand assisted the
Castilians in repelling a Portuguese invasion.
A Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
 |
| Limoges |
The tide had
turned against the English in France. At a skirmish near Lussac, on 1st
January 1370, Sir John Chandos was killed; the Black Prince’s illness meant
that he could no longer take an active role in the fighting. His irascible
temper suffered and at the siege of Limoges in September, commanding the fighting from a litter, the
Black Prince ordered a massacre of the inhabitants when the city fell on 9th
September. When the inhabitants begged for mercy
‘He was so inflamed with ire
that he took no heed to them. Neither man nor woman was heeded, but all who
could be found were put to the sword, including many who were in no way to
blame.’[v]
The prince’s
ire had been raised by the turncoat Bishop of Limoges[vi], who had sworn fealty to
the English and then swapped sides, bribed by the Duc de Berry[vii].  |
| Edward III gives Aquitaine to the Black Prince |
The Black
Prince was now too ill to undergo the exigencies of rule and turned over his
fief of Aquitaine to his brother, John of Gaunt, to govern; finally leaving France
in January 1371. His subjects were not sorry to see him go; the cost of his
rule had been extortionate even before his intervention in Spain;
‘The Prince maintained his
household in such great estate and excessive spending that no king now living
could have borne such costs, and because of that he levied grievous ransoms and
tallages on the whole country.’[viii]
Many of the
prince’s vassals had strong ties with the King of France and the Black Prince’s
arrogance did much to foster resentment; even the great lords were kept waiting
four or five days at a time and were then kept kneeling when granted an
audience.
An appeal
over the question of inheritance was referred to Charles V as suzerain lord of
John, Count of Armagnac[ix]. On 2nd May 1369 Edward
the Prince of Wales was cited to appear before the Paris Parlement; the envoys
were arrested and thrown in prison[x].
‘When the Prince of Wales
had heard this letter read, he was more astonished than before. He shook his
head; and after having eyed the said Frenchmen, and considered awhile, he
replied as follows:
“We shall willingly attend
on the appointed day at Paris, since the king of France sends for us; but it
will be with our helmet on our head, and accompanied by sixty thousand men.”’[xi]
 |
| Aveyron River |
The Paris
Parlement finally legally confiscated Aquitaine on the 14th May
1370. Meanwhile Edward III had resuscitated his claim to the crown of France.
But Louis d’Anjou had been busy fomenting trouble in Aquitaine; fortresses commanding
the Lot and Aveyron valleys were seized and more than 900 towns and castles
changed their allegiance.
Constable of France
The King of
Aragon was attempting to persuade Bertrand to undertake a campaign in Sardinia.
But as his overlord Charles was unlikely to give permission to undertake such a
mission when he needed Bertrand’s talents at home.
At the
beginning of June Henry II paid Bertrand the balance of 120,000 gold doubles[xii] promised and Monteil and
by the end of July Bertrand and his men had joined Louis d’Anjou northwest of
Toulouse. Early autumn found Bertrand operating in Quercy and the Périgord.
On 2nd
October 1370 Charles V chose Bertrand to be Constable of France[xiii], replacing the aged Robert de Fiennes who had
recently retired. Charles’ choice was backed by all the royal dukes; important
as the Constable was the penultimate authority on the field of battle, second
only to the king if present. Bertrand was the first knight of obscure lineage
to take the role; the author of the Grandes Chroniques de France pointedly noting that Bertrand was
chosen;
‘Because of his valour, for
he was of lesser lineage than other Constables……..before him; but by his valour
he had acquired several great estates and fiefs.’[xiv]
.jpg) |
| Charles V gives Bertrand the sword Joyeuse |
Froissart
informs us that;
‘Sir Bertrand, finding that
no excuse nor any thing he could say would be listened to, accepted the king’s
offer, but it was much against his inclination. He was invested with the office
of constable; and the king, to show him greater affection, made him be seated
at his table, and gave him, besides his office, many rich gifts and large
domains in land, for him and his heirs. The duke of Anjou was very active in
forwarding this promotion.’[xv]
Bertrand was
to receive a regular salary of 2,000 francs per month in gold[xvi]; when the army was
mustered he was too keep a day’s pay for every soldier on the rolls. To finance
the war effort the burghers of Paris and Rouen and magistrates and officers of
the crown were forced to subscribe to an emergency loan to the crown.
Bertrand’s
first action was to conclude a personal pact with Olivier de Clisson[xvii]. At a meeting with de
Clisson[xviii] on 24th
October it was decided that de Clisson was to harry Sir Robert Knolles and
his soldiers.
Bibliography
Edward III –
Bryan Bevan, The Rubicon Press 1992
The Hundred
Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005
Chronicles –
Froissart, Penguin Books Ltd 1968
Edward III –
WM Ormrod, Tempus Publishing Ltd 2005
The Monks of
War – Desmond Seward, Folio Society 2000
A Distant
Mirror – Barbara Tuchman, Pan MacMillan Publishers Ltd 1989
The Flower
of Chivalry – Richard Vernier, The Boydell Press 2003
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
He may have seen this as a chance to reverse the Moorish losses of recent times
[ii]
Charles V’s Chamberlain
[iii]
An Aragonese knight
[iv]
Chronicles - Froissart
[v]
Chronicles - Froissart
[vi]
One of the few not to be massacred the Bishop was handed over to the Pope in
Avignon by the Duke of Lancaster,
[viii]
The Flower of Chivalry - Vernier
[ix]
The Black Prince was threatening to disinherit him and his family
[x]
And reported to have died in suspicious circumstances
[xii]
On the assumption that a gold double was roughly equivalent to the pound or
eçu; in 2011 this would be worth £49,500,000.00
using the retail price index or £819,000,000.00
using average earnings www.measuringworth.com
[xiv]
The Flower of Chivalry - Vernier
[xv]
Ibid
[xvi]
In 2011 worth £825,000.00
using the retail price index or £13,600,000.00
using average earnings www.measuringworth.com
[xvii]
Known as the Butcher from his habit of cutting off arms and legs during battle
[xviii]
De Clisson turned down an offer to join the Black Prince who offered him the
Countship of Armagnac
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