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).

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).

Philip VI of Valois, king of France (d. 1350)

Philip was born in 1293 as the eldest son of Charles I, count of Valois and Anjou, and Margaret of Anjou. He was engaged to Jeanne of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Robert II of Burgundy in 1303 and married her in July 1313. In that year he became count of Maine. After his father’s death in 1325, he also became count of Valois and Anjou. He married his second wife, Blanche of Évreux, princess of Navarre, in 1350.

King John II of France (d. 1364)

Jean II (1319 - 1364), king of France (1350 - 1364), known as Jean le Bon or John the Good; son of Philip VI of Valois, king of France, and of Jeanne de Bourgogne. He was knighted on 2 October 1332 in Paris. He married 1) Bonne de Luxemburg 2) Jeanne d’Auvergne, countess of Auvergne and Boulogne. He was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Poitiers in 1356.

John the Blind of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia (d. 1346)

John was born on 10 August 1296 as the eldest child of Henry VII, count of Luxemburg, who was later to become King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor, and Margaret of Brabant. He was named after his maternal grandfather, John I, duke of Brabant. He married his first wife, Elisabeth of Bohemia, on 31 August 1310. She was the heir of the kingdom of Bohemia, which passed on first to John and then to his eldest son, Charles. Elisabeth died in 1330 after bearing her husband several children. In 1334 John remarried to a Capetian princess, Beatrix of Bourbon, daughter of Duke Louis I of Bourbon, by whom he had a further son, Wenceslas. John was considered a paladin of chivalry in his day and his death at the battle of Crécy is legendary. Froissart nearly refers to John as ‘Charles of Bohemia’. In the ‘Rome’ redaction of Book I, however, he explains: ‘qui se nonma Jehans, et li auqun dient que il fu rebaptisiés a avoir nom Carles’ (§ 279).

Charles II of Valois, count of Alençon (d. 1346)

Charles II (1297 - 1346 at the battle of Crécy), count of Alençon. Second son of Charles I, count of Valois and Anjou, and his first wife Marguerite of Anjou. He was the brother of king Philip VI of France. He married 1) Jeanne de Joigny 2) Maria de la Cerda.

Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix (d. 1391)

Gaston III, count of Foix, known as Fébus (1331 - 1391), son of Gaston II of Foix and Aliénor de Comminges, whose court the chronicler visited in 1388. Gaston was born in 1331 and succeeded his father in 1343. On 4th August 1348 he married Agnès de Navarre, the daughter of Philippe, count of Évreux and of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, who herself was the daughter of Louis X of France known as the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn. Gaston died in 1391. He was the author of a celebrated treatise on hunting entitled Livre de chasse, or the Book of the hunt.

Jean de Saintré

Jean de Saintré, seneschal of Poitou.

Arnoul d’Audrehem (d. 1370)

Arnoul d’Audrehem (c. 1305 - 1370), one of the greatest of the French captains, named Marshal of France in 1351.

Jean I le Meingre, called ‘Boucicaut’ (d. 1367)

Jean I le Meingre called ‘Boucicaut’ (? - 1367), a celebrated military leader and marshal of France.

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.

The lords of Beaujeu, father and son

This refers to Edward of Beaujeu and his son Antoine of Beaujeu.

Manuscript reading: missire

Emended reading: messire

Manuscript reading: missire

Emended reading: messire

Manuscript reading: d’Augdrehen

Emended reading: d’Audrehen

Manuscript reading: missire

Emended reading: messire

Manuscript reading: missire

Emended reading: messire

Manuscript reading: preux

Emended reading: preux tenir