Midpoint Miniseries Three
Transcript:
Midpoint Catch-Up:
I hope you’re all enjoying the mid-week informative episodes. Please send me any feedback you have, I really want to make this useful and fun for all of you! This week I’ll be catching you all up on the timeline of the Hundred Years’ War after our visit to Brittany. Plus, I’m sure we all need a refresher after the holidays. I found two great academic papers to help with this and the following episode: Who Were the Marmousets?, by John Bell Henneman Jr. and The French Monarchy in Crisis 1392-1415, and the Political Role of the Dauphin, Louis of France, Duke of Guyenne, by Richard Carl Famiglietti.
When we left the sons of Edward III Henry IV had usurped his cousin Richard II, with a tiny bit of help from their uncle Edmund in 1399. Richard II had been married to Isabella of Valois, who was ten at the time of his deposition. And you may remember that Isabella was the daughter of the French king, Charles VI. Her marriage had been arranged to establish peace between the two countries. After his ascension and the death of Richard II in 1400, Henry IV suggested that Isabella marry his oldest son and heir, Henry of Monmouth (sometimes referred to as Hal, thanks Shakespeare). Isabella turned down this match, she had really appreciated her husband (who despite his poor record at being a king was actually really kind to most of the women in his life). The French court also declined this suggestion.
Over in France Isabella’s father, Charles VI, had been king since 1380. He had succeeded to the throne at only eleven years old. Unlike Richard II, Charles’ uncles did act as his regents. Interestingly Charles had three surviving uncles at the time of his coronation. These three men (or their sons) will come up a lot in next week’s episode, so I want to make sure to introduce them here. Remember, all of these men were at the Battle of Poitier.
The oldest, Louis, Duke of Anjou will pretty much leave this story as soon as he enters, dying in 1384. He claimed the kingdom of Naples, but was unsuccessful and died on his way to press his claim. Louis was the son who had been traded as a hostage on his father’s behalf who escaped. This led to John II returning to England, where he would die. Louis’ oldest son, also named Louis, would inherit the claim. While the House of Anjou wasn’t as active as the other houses I’ll be going through next, they’re important to remember.
Next came John, Duke of Berry. He would be the hostage son of John II who didn’t escape. He was moderately active as a regent in Charles VI’s early reign, but he would become much more active when Charles had his first mental attack. John would convince his nephew and great-nephews to not be present at the Battle of Agincourt.
The power of the final uncle cannot be understate. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, while the youngest, was likely the most powerful of Charles’ uncles. He would earn the soubriquet ‘The Bold’ at the age of 14 and chart a course to eventually see Burgundy almost create a kingdom of its own to rival France. I’m not joking when I say that I have to stop myself from getting distracted by the Burgundians. This family is fascinating in a huge ‘what if’ way. You may remember that Philip was captured with his father at the Battle of Poitier. I have no doubt that he was already his father’s favourite at this point, but sticking with his dad until they were both taken shows a level of confidence his brother’s lacked. His oldest son, John the Fearless (yes, the Burgundians really did sobriquets well) will also play an important role in upcoming episodes. so remember his name.
There was one more regent, who I should mention, Louis, Duke of Bourbon. This Louis was the brother of Charles’ mother and it’s through their shared father, Peter, Duke of Bourbon, that Charles VI (as well as his mother and maternal uncle) likely inherited his mental health issues. Issues that wouldn’t impact any of his children, but would greatly impact on of his grandchildren.
While we left England in 1399, 1400, I need to roll the clock back a bit further in France to better give an idea of what our next two subjects were facing. The first eight years of Charles VI’s rule were controlled by his regents. They financially abused their position and were politically focused on their own aims, not helping France. Charles married Isabeau of Bavaria in July of 1385. They would have 12 children together, seven who would survive into adulthood, including the subjects of next week’s episodes Louis and John.
By 1388 when Charles VI took power he would already have had an uphill battle restoring French prestige had he not had any complications, but sadly he had a huge complication. In 1392, on his way to Amiens to meet with Henry Bolingbroke Charles VI became unwell. He was bedridden for a month from the 7th or 8th of April with what could have been typhoid fever, later that year his mental illness would begin to emerge. Now, even today the full understanding of the causes of mental illness isn’t known. For example, those with a predisposition to schizophrenia are shown to be more at risk if they say smoke marijuana. But plenty of people smoke marijuana without any ill-effects and plenty of people have schizophrenia without ever having smoked. So, typhoid fever could have caused Charles’ symptoms to begin, but he had to be predisposed in the first place. He did have a strong family history on his mother’s side, it can actually be traced back at least three generations. Charles’ only sibling to survive into adulthood, his brother Louis, didn’t show signs of the same mental health issues. Charles’ issues though didn’t appear immediately after his illness, it took a few weeks. On the 13th of June an attempt was made on the life of the Constable of France, Olivier de Clisson, by Pierre de Craon. Charles considered this an insult to both him personally and the prestige of the French crown. Craon was a royal chamberlain, so had been in a trusted position. Craon was banished and his house was destroyed, Craon took refuge with the Duke of Brittany, at this time John IV, sometimes referred to as John V, the son of John of Montfort and Joanna of Flanders from last week’s episode. It appears that Charles might have been hoping Craon’s banishment would lead to his death, so the Bretons harbouring him did not please the king. He set off with his army (and two of his uncles) to try to fix this oversight. Oh, and since I know you’re all worried, Clisson survived and would live another 15 years.
Now, this decision might have been the first minor sign that something was wrong with the king, but the first obvious event came in early-August. From The French Monarchy in Crisis ‘the king began to utter ‘silly’ words and make gestures ‘unbecoming of the royalty’, as if he were not of sound mind.’ The king sent knights ahead to ask the duke of Brittany for Craon, and the duke responded that he had left already. The king refused to believe this even though his uncles agreed that is was certainly true. A few days later, after setting out from Le Mans, the king was followed by a beggar who told him ‘go no further, great king, for you are to be quickly betrayed!’, and eventually grabbed the reigns of the king’s mount. The beggar was hit and chased off and the group continued. Charles rode in front of his troops with two pages. One of these pages dropped his spear onto the other’s helmet and this sound seems to have set off the king. He quickly pulled his sword and shouted ‘Advance! Advance on these traitors!’ The traitor he was aiming at was his brother, Louis, Duke of Orleans, who despite having his own agenda does not actually appear to have ever betrayed his own brother (at least at this time). Charles killed five men before breaking his sword with a heavy blow. His favourite chamberlain was finally able to tackle the king from behind to stop his attack. He didn’t recognise his uncles or his brother when they finally approached and had to be returned to Le Mans in a litter. This was just a small taste of things to come. Charles would struggle with episodes throughout his entire life. His regency would be handled by his wife, his uncles, and his brother. There were rumours that the kings brother, Louis of Orleans was actually the queen’s lover.
The French king’s mental illness would have been the perfect time for the English to try their hand again at claiming the French throne. Richard II wouldn’t have given it a go, due to the French king being his father-in-law. By 1399 though England had a new king, sadly for Henry IV, despite being ready for battle he was forced to stick to England to protect his claim. Plus, he was rather unwell for the final years of his reign. This delayed the resumption of war between the two countries until Henry V came to the throne of England. And this is where I’ll be stopping for now. Henry V becomes king in 1413 at the age of 26. His attempted to gain the French throne using his great-grandfather’s claim will play a major role in the lives of Louis and John. So, without further delay you’ll get to hear all about these two next.
