Battle
of Poitiers was a major English victory in the first phase of the Hundred
Years' War with France. It was fought on 19th September 1356 near the village
of Poitiers in Aquitaine, France. The army of England led by Edward the Black Prince
defeated a larger French army led by King John II of France, leading to the
capture of the king! King John II was taken as captive to England. Edward the
Black Prince was also the Prince of Wales. (Currently, Charles is the Prince of
Wales while Camilla is and Lady Diana was Princess of Wales because of their
marriage to Charles.)
France
had not only lost its King as captive but also a lot of its nobility in the
battle. This threw the French kingdom into chaos. The reins came in the hands
of John's son Dauphin Charles. Charles began to raise additional funds to pay
ransom for his father and carry out war efforts by imposing taxes. He faced
rebellion by the masses. French nobles brutally repressed the rebellions,
robbing and despoiling the peasants' goods.
Capitalising
on the discontent in France, English King Edward III assembled his army and
decided to attack again. On 5th April 1360, King Edward III led his army of
10,000 men to the gates of Paris. The defenders of Paris led by the Dauphine
Charles refused battle and defended the fort. Unable to breach the defenses,
the English left Paris after destroying the countryside, and marched towards
the French Cathedral City of Chartres.
On
Easter Monday, April 13, 1360, Edward's army arrived at the gates of Chartres.
The French defenders again refused battle and a siege ensued. That night, the
English army made camp outside Chartres in an open plain. Then a huge freak
hailstorm struck and killed an estimated 1000 English soldiers, 6000 horses and
destroyed all the tents, arrangements and resources. The storm was so
devastating that it caused more English military casualties than any of the
previous battles of the war. It is called "Black Monday" of 1360.
King
Edward III saw it as a sign from God against his endeavors. He agreed to the
peace negotiations and began the withdrawal of his army. The French called the
storm as a divine intervention because of the English looting of French
countryside during the religiously observant week of Lent.
The
Treaty of Brétigny was drafted on 8th May 1360 and ratified in October. The
treaty set ransom for King John II's release at 3 million Crowns and allowed
for hostages including two of his sons to be held in his place. King John
returned to France to try and raise funds to pay the ransom.
In
1363 one of King John's son Louis of Anjou, a hostage, escaped captivity. To
the surprise of the masses, King John announced that he would return to
captivity in England to protect his "honor". He returned to London
and was greeted with parade and feasts. But within a few months he became ill
and died while still in English captivity. His body was returned to France,
where he was buried in the royal chambers at Saint Denis Basilica. Basilica of
St Denis in Saint-Denis, now a suburb of Paris, is a large Church where nearly
every King of France from 10th to 18th century are buried.
John's
son le Dauphin Charles succeeded him as King of France as "Charles
V".
Charles
V had suffered from an attempted poisoning in 1359. It had caused him an
abscess in his left arm. Charles was an intelligent ruler. To pay ransom for
his captured father, he had to raise taxes and hence faced revolts by the
peasants as well as hostility from some of the nobility. Charles overcame all
of these rebellions. By 1375, Charles recovered much of the English territories
in France except Calais and Gascony, effectively nullifying the Treaty of
Brétigny! He also replenished the royal treasury and restored the prestige of
the House of Valois to which he belonged. But in 1380 his old ailment of
abscess returned and he became ill. On his deathbed he announced abolition of a
harsh tax which was imposed on people. Charles V was called "the Wise"
(French: "le Sage"). He died on 16th September 1380 at the age of 42
and was succeeded by his 11-year-old son, Charles VI. After his death, people
sparked the Maillotin revolt in 1381.
On
English side, Edward the Black Prince became ill after 1366. During a campaign
in Spain, his army had suffered so badly from dysentery that 20% soldiers had
died. Edward the Black Prince contracted an illness on this expedition in Spain
which prevented his participating on the battlefield. This illness ailed him
until his death in 1376 at the age of 46. Edward the Black Prince died one year
before his father, becoming the first English Prince of Wales not to become
King of England. His father King Edward III died of a stroke 21st June, 1377 at
the age of 64. He was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, King Richard II,
son of the Black Prince.
It
is also interesting to see what happened when the successors Charles VI ruled
France and Richard II ruled England.
In
France, since Charles VI was only 11 when he got the throne, his uncles took
the power as dukes and misruled the country. The financial resources so
painstakingly built up by his father, Charles V, were wasted by his uncles. New
taxes had to be raised which caused revolts by people. In 1388 Charles VI
dismissed his uncles and brought back his father's former advisers in power and
then the political and economic condition of the kingdom improved. But Charles
VI turned "mad" afterwards and his misrule made the English win back
most of what his father Charles V had earned.
In
England, King Richard II's rule turned out to be disaster. He was
"over-thrown" and died in captivity. William Shakespeare wrote his
play Richard II which portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition as
responsible for the 15th century Wars of the Roses.
In
order to make peace between them, one daughter of Charles VI of France -
Isabella - was married with King Richard II of England. On 31st October 1396
Isabella of Valois married the widower King Richard II of England at the early
age of "7". Historical accounts reveal that she was happy with the
marriage as she thought she would become a "great queen". She was
placed at the famous Windsor Castle and she and King Richard developed a
mutually respectful relationship. But just 3 years afterwards, King Richard
lost a battle and died in captivity; making her widow.
New
English King Henry IV decided that Queen Isabella should marry his son, the
future Henry V of England, but she refused and the French supported her
decision. Later, at the age of 17, she married her cousin Charles, Duke of
Orleans, but died in her first childbirth at the age of 19 on September 13,
1409. Her newborn child was a daughter and survived - called Joan of Valois.
In
1424 at Blois, France, Joan of Valois married John II of Alençon, but they
remained childless. She died in 1432 at the age of 22.
John
II of Alençon was a famed general in the last phase of the Hundred Years' War
and a "comrade-in-arms" of Joan of Arc, who called him "le beau
duc" ("the fair duke"/"the gentle duke"). He had a
troubled life. He fought with Joan of Arc in her attempt to liberate France
from the English. On 30th of May 1431, Joan of Arc was burnt alive by the
British in Rouen, a city on the River Seine in the north of France. John was
devastated by it. He was held captive, sentenced to death, his Duchy was
confiscated and died in prison in the Louvre in 1476 at the age of 56.
Such
was the fate of the royalties; sealed by the Hundred Years of War between
England and France.
-
Rahul
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