 |
| Bruges Market Square |
Trouble in Bruges
Philip spent
Christmas 1436 in Bruges without serious incident, although his seven hundred
strong bodyguard were called out one night when news arrived that some of the
crafts guilds were assembling in the market place. The news was false, but
showed how on edge Philip was. The discontent in his lands had not died down.
In April one
of the Burgomasters of Bruges and his brother were murdered because;
‘He
worked with the prince to keep down the common people of Bruges.’[i]
 |
| Jehan de Villiers de L'isle Adam |
Many of
Bruges wealthy citizens fled and Ghent too saw riots in April 1437. Philip
decided to frighten his subjects into obedience by marching his army through Bruges.
The attempt to overawe failed and on 22nd May Philip escaped death
by a hairs-breath when his troops fired on the townspeople in the Fridaymarket.
‘The prince stationed
himself on the higher ground of the Fridaymarket….there he was with his nobles,
armed, holding a drawn sword in his hand, sitting up on his horse while his men
either shot at the common people of Bruges or laid about them with their swords
and wounded many.’[ii]
Philip’s
most trusted captain, Jehan de Villiers de L’isle Adam was not so fortunate and died on the
streets of Bruges. The people turned on Philip’s troops killing seventy-two of
them. Philip escaped the town and left for Lille. Twenty-two of Philip’s men
were captured and were executed by the citizens of Bruges.
The Aftermath
.JPG/800px-0_Sluis_-_Stenen_Kade_(1).JPG) |
| Sluys |
Philip was
now at war with his own people. He attempted to starve Bruges into submission. The
Zwin[iii] was staked meaning that no ships
could travel up to Bruges and the town’s mercantile privileges were given to Sluys. Bruges responded in July by besieging Sluys; Philip raised the siege
before the end of the month. Ghent was drawn into the maelstrom with its
attempts to mediate which almost resulted in a war between Bruges and Ghent.
Flanders was
riven by rebellion, warfare and civil chaos and it was not until February 1438
that agreement was reached at Arras. Bruges agreed to peace terms with her duke
that were humiliating in the extreme. The civic authorities were to meet Philip
outside the town, bare-headed and bare-foot and kneel in apology to him.
The gates
that had been barred against Philip were to be torn down and in its place a
chapel was to be erected to hear a perpetual mass for those killed in the
fighting. Bruges was also fined among many other penalties. Philip required
forty citizens to be nominated for execution before he could bring himself to
forgive Bruges. Ten of the citizens suffered the ultimate penalty and their
heads adorned the city gates.
Things were
no better as famine stalked the land elsewhere. Rotterdam rioted in 1439, the riots linked to a shortage of corn. Holland found
itself fighting the Hanseatic League and the Duke of Holstein in a mercantile war.
‘[We] have consented and
agreed on behalf of our gracious lord Burgundy, count of Holland, that the Duke
of Holstein’s subjects and those of the six Wendish
towns[iv]
may be damages, seized and injured in lives and goods wherever they can be
found.’[v]
The war
lasted nearly three years as the Hollanders attacked all Hanseatic shipping. The
war was inconclusive and netted no gains whatsoever, bar a few attacks on
neutral shipping.
Allies and Enemies
 |
| Nuits St Georges |
Meanwhile
Philip’s southern lands were increasingly attacked by écorcheurs or flayers, so-called because they stripped their
victims of everything. Encouraged by Charles VII, the écorcheurs ensconced themselves in the heart of Philip’s duchy,
concentrating around Nuits St Georges and Beaune.
The governor
of Burgundy Jehan de Fribourg levied troops to defend the duchy. These troops
were as much a menace to the local population as the écorcheurs and the local population rose up in revolt in the winter
of 1437-8. Towns throughout the duchy refused aid to the troops which were
ostensibly meant to protect them. In September 1438 Charles VII ordered the écorcheurs out of southern Burgundian
lands; he was ignored and the écorcheurs stayed
until the mid-1440s[vi]
creating havoc throughout Philip’s southern domains.
In May 1438
Hue de Lannoy, in his role as Stadtholder of Holland, led a Burgundian embassy to England to discuss
mercantile matters. By August Flemish economic interests were also under
discussion. A conference in Gravelines in December 1438, headed by Isabella for Burgundy and her uncle,
Cardinal Henry Beaufort, for the English and a follow-up the
next year led to an Anglo-Burgundian trade treaty[vii] in September 1439[viii]. From now on Philip was
to remain neutral between the English and the French.
 |
| James II of Scotland |
Philip was
careful to arrange treaties with his neighbours and this included Scotland. The Burgundians had been treating
with the Scots since 1426 when Philip sent his first embassy which resulted in
a commercial treaty signed the following year. In 1449 the daughter[ix] of the Duke of Guelders was sent as the bride of the young
King James II. James wanted grooms for his sisters
and, lacking in legitimate daughters Philip made use of the daughters of his
nobility or of nobles indebted to him.
Relations
between France and Burgundy were not as friendly and Philip frequently had
cause to complain to Charles VII about anti-Burgundian actions by the French.
Even after Philip requested and obtained a French princess as bride for his son
Charles, matters were still often fraught. The Paris Parlement had directions from the king to ignore Burgundian cases
brought before them. There was little or no attempt to deal with the écorcheurs who were referred to by the
Burgundians as ‘les gens du roi’[x].
Early in 1441 Isabella
was sent to Paris on Philip’s behalf to present a series of complaints to
Charles, none of which were accepted. She returned back to Burgundy to report
on her failure; from now on Philip and his councillors were seldom without
worries about possible invasion from France.
Dealings With France
.jpg/397px-SOAOTO_-_Jean_de_Bourgogne_(1415-1491).jpg) |
| Jehan de Burgoyne |
There was a noisy group of courtiers at the French court who
proselytised for war with Burgundy; they included Philip’s brother-in-law
Arthur de Richemont. The causes of complaint ranged from fishermen’s attacks on
Flemish commerce to claims on the county of Étampes which Philip had granted to his cousin Jehan de Burgoyne[xi].
From 1442 onwards the Dauphin Louis led troops
into his cousin’s lands. In 1442 he attacked the countryside around Dieppe, in 1443 it was the area around Montbéliard that suffered his depredations. His father besieged Metz while Louis attacked the Swiss with the assistance of the écorcheurs. The French had been freed
up to attack Burgundy by the Anglo-French truce signed in Tours on 28th
May 1444.
In March
1445 Isabella met with Charles VII at Rheims and produced a list of thirty-two
complaints. In May a further set of complaints were presented. Charles and his
son meanwhile were attacking Burgundy and the Marshal of Burgundy Thibaud de
Neuchâtel reported to Isabella that;
 |
| Rene of Anjou |
‘The king and my lord the
dauphin had secretly ordered these troops to live off Burgundian territory
until the conference at Rheims…..and to act in such a way as to ensure that
complaints were made about them.’[xii]
The ravages
continued after the end of the conference at Châlons in July 1445. A French
captain attacked Mâcon and Charolais. Philip was forced onto the defensive and
found himself making concessions to the French crown, concessions supported by
his French leaning councillors, in particular the de Croys who like many others
were on the French payroll.
The major
concession Philip made was the release of René of Anjou from all his
obligations towards Philip, including the ransom of 400,000 gold crowns[xiii] which he could not
afford to pay. The treaty was signed on 6th July but Philip got
nothing in return for his virtual surrender to Charles VII bar Charles agreeing
to evacuate his troops from Montbéliard.
Bibliography
The Hundred
Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005
The Reign of
Henry VI – RA Griffiths, Sutton Publishing Ltd 1998
Europe:
Hierarchy and Revolt 1320-1450 – George Holmes, Fontana 1984
The
Fifteenth Century – EF Jacob, Oxford University Press 1997
Louis XI –
Paul Murray Kendall, Sphere Books Ltd 1974
Isabel of
Burgundy – Aline S Taylor, Madison Books 2001
Philip the
Good – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2014
Charles the
Bold – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2002
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
Philip the Good - Vaughan
[ii]
Ibid
[iii]
A tidal inlet connecting Bruges to the sea
[v]
Philip the Good - Vaughan
[vi]
When the Dauphin led them against the Swiss
[vii]
The Anglo-Dutch treaty took until 1445 to settle outstanding issues and the
Dutch had to pay reparations.
[ix]
Philip’s great niece
[x]
The king’s people
[xii]
Philip the Good - Vaughan
[xiii]
In 2015 the relative: historic standard of
living value of that income or
wealth is £321,200,000.00 labour earnings of
that income or wealth is £2,360,000,000.00 economic status value of that income or wealth is £11,310,000,000.00 economic power value of that income or wealth is £210,000,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com
a person less deserving of the epithet 'the good' it would be hard to find
ReplyDelete