John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (d. 1399)

John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.

Brest

Brest (Brittany), France.

La Coruña

La Coruña, or Corunna, Spain.

John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (d. 1399)

John of Gaunt (1340-99): duke of Lancaster, son of Philippa of Hainault and Edward III, king of England, who was a pretender to the Castilian throne by right of his marriage to Constanza, eldest daughter of Pedro I, king of Castile, who died in 1369. John of Gaunt was an important person in English political and military life during the last quarter of the fourteenth century, exercising great influence in domestic and foreign policy in England during the reign of Richard II, despite periods of unpopularity and strife with his royal nephew.

Castle of Brest

Brest harbour

Brest harbour

Castle of Brest

John Holland, earl of Huntingdon (d. 1400)

John Holland (c. 1352 - executed in 1400), earl of Huntingdon and duke of Exeter; second son of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, and Joan of Kent. He was Richard II's half-brother through his mother Joan of Kent. He married Elizabeth of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.

Thomas Morieux

Sir Thomas Morieux, marshal of the Lancastrian army in Spain. Morieux married Blanche Plantagenet, natural daughter of John of Gaunt and Marie de St. Hilaire.

Castle of Brest

England

Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.

English

The people of England; subjects of the English crown; English troops or populations, etc.

Bretons

Brest

Brest (Brittany), France.

Bretons

Jean de Châteaugiron, 'Malestroit'

Jean de Châteaugiron, called Malestroit, viscount of Combor and Morfouace, son of Jeanne de Dol, lady of Combourg, and Jean de Châteaugiron. Although mentioned by Froissart as two individuals, Jean de Malestroit and the viscount of Combor are actually one and the same person.

Jean de Châteaugiron, 'Malestroit'

Jean de Châteaugiron, called Malestroit, viscount of Combor and Morfouace, son of Jeanne de Dol, lady of Combourg, and Jean de Châteaugiron. Although mentioned by Froissart as two individuals, Jean de Malestroit and the viscount of Combor are actually one and the same person.

Bretons

Brest

Brest (Brittany), France.

English

The people of England; subjects of the English crown; English troops or populations, etc.

Bretons

It should be noted here, before we embark on Froissart's narration of the duke of Lancaster's expedition to Castile in 1386-7, that Froissart is considered a hopelessly inaccurate and ill-informed commentator on the affairs of the Iberian peninsula by several historians. Russell has noted that the chronicler's persistent and inconsequential mishandling of Iberian geography and topography often makes it impossible to make sense of his narrative: '[Froissart's] treatment of the Lancastrian campaign in Galicia allows him to make the Lancastrian marshal, Thomas Morieux, capture a town in the heart of León and then return in the evening to Santiago de Compostela'; see P. E. Russell, 'The War in Spain and Portugal', in Froissart: Historian, ed. by J. J. N. Palmer (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1981), 83-100 (p. 87). Palmer continues by speculating that the cause for such confusions could be that Froissart mixed up his notes for the 1386 campaign in Galicia with those covering the Anglo-Portuguese invasion of Leon in the following year; see ibid, p. 87. Perroy has also estimated the value of Froissart's account: 'Froissart, qui dit avoir recueilli ses renseignements à la cour d'Orthez en 1388, et plus tard à Middleburgh lorsqu'il recontra Jean Fernandez Pacheco, donne le récit le plus détaillé. Mais ignorant complètement la topographie de l'Espagne et la chronologie des faits d'armes qu'il a retenus, il accumule les invraisemblances et les erreurs à tel point que sa narration est proprement inutilisable, si ce n'est pour quelques détails pittoresques' ; see Perroy, L'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme d'Occident: Étude sur la Politique Religieuse de l'Angleterre sous Richard II 1378 - 1399 (Paris : Monnier, 1933), p. 242. Nevertheless, Froissart's account of the Lancastrian occupation of Galicia is not completely unreliable, and one should not forget the entertainment value of this work.

P. E. Russell, 'The War in Spain and Portugal', in Froissart: Historian, ed. by J. J. N. Palmer (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1981), 83-100 (p. 87) Perroy, L'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme d'Occident: Étude sur la Politique Religieuse de l'Angleterre sous Richard II 1378 - 1399 (Paris : Monnier, 1933), p. 242

The duke of Brittany had raised two fortifications on the shores of the river Penfeld, one of stone named Dufhouse that was flanked by seven towers and defended by Jean de Malestroit and three hundred men, and another, less important, unfinished and made of wood that was named Kerneguez; see SHF, t. 12, p. LXXV.