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.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

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.

Guichard IV d'Angle, earl of Huntingdon (d. 1380)

Guichard IV d'Angle (c. 1308-15 - 1380), earl of Huntingdon; son of Guichard III d'Angle and Marguerite Maubert. He was born as a subject of the king of France in Poitou, and his family were lords of Angle-sur-l'Anglin and Pleumartin in France. Guichard d'Angle played an important part in the battle of Poitiers, where he was captured by the English. He became a subject of the king of England after the treaty of Bretigny in 1360.

London

London, England.

Westminster

Westminster, to the west of London, England, where the royal palace was located.

Philippa of Hainault, queen of England (d. 1369)

She was born as the daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault and Holland and countess Jeanne, either in 1310 or in 1315. Froissart’ statement in the ‘Rome’ redaction of Book I (SHF § 39) that she was thirteen years old when she married on 25 January 1328 supports the later of these two dates. Jean le Bel and Froissart state that negotiations for her marriage to king Edward III of England started in 1327, after the Scottish campaign of that year. In reality, there had already been plans for a wedding between the young Edward and a daughter of count William, possibly Philippa, from as early as 1319, and there were negotiations for a marriage between Edward and Philippa’ eldest sister, Margaret in 1320 and 1321. Edward and Philippa first met in 1325 in Paris and were engaged in August 1326, while Queen Isabella and her son Edward were staying in Hainault. On 27 August 1326 Edward signed a promise that he would marry Philippa within two years; Queen Isabella and her supporters, Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer, stood sureties. Papal dispensation for the marriage was first refused but then granted on 30 August 1327. Philippa married Edward by procuration in Valenciennes, after which she travelled to England, where she married her husband on 24 January 1328 in York. She was crowned queen of England on 25 February 1330. She died shortly before 14 August 1369.

King Richard II of England (d. 1400)

Richard was born on 6 January 1367 in Bordeaux. Froissart called him Richard of Bordeaux after his place of birth. He was the second son of Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales and Aquitaine, and Joan of Kent. After the death of his elder brother Edward in 1372, and of his father, in 1376, Richard was created prince of Wales, duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester on 20 November 1376. He succeeded to his grandfather, King Edward III the following year, and became king on 22 June 1377. He reigned as king of England until 1399, when he was forced to abdicate by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Richard married his first wife, Anne of Bohemia, on 14 January 1382. In 1396, two years after the death of his first wife, he married Isabella, daughter of the French king, Charles VI.

Palace of Westminster

Thomas of Woodstock, earl of Buckingham, duke of Gloucester (d. 1397)

Thomas of Woodstock (1355 - 1397), earl of Buckingham, later the duke of Gloucester; son of king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was uncle to Richard II.

Guichard IV d'Angle, earl of Huntingdon (d. 1380)

Guichard IV d'Angle (c. 1308-15 - 1380), earl of Huntingdon; son of Guichard III d'Angle and Marguerite Maubert. He was born as a subject of the king of France in Poitou, and his family were lords of Angle-sur-l'Anglin and Pleumartin in France. Guichard d'Angle played an important part in the battle of Poitiers, where he was captured by the English. He became a subject of the king of England after the treaty of Bretigny in 1360.

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.

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.

Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)

Philippe, known as 'the Bold', duke of Burgundy (1342 - 1404), fourth son of Jean II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg. The duke of Burgundy was a prominent figure in the government of France during the reign of his nephew Charles VI, especially after 1392 when the king began to suffer from recurring bouts of insanity that gave the dukes of Berry and Burgundy the opportunity to seize power from Charles VI's trusted administrators, known as the Marmousets. Philippe married Margaret de Male, countess of Flanders, and this marriage eventually not only reunited the duchy of Burgundy with the 'free' counties of Burgundy and Artois, but also brought the wealthy counties of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel under the control of the duke of Burgundy. Thus this marriage alliance, and the consequent marriages of the duke of Burgundy's children, created the basis for the Grand Duchy of the West, a quasi-independent state rather than a mere fief of the French crown.

Calais