 |
| 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
[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
[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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