The Gold Rose: An Edward of Angoulême timeline
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Will you still make the articles for these, given the "Phase Two" of the TL has already started?
Revolt of the towns: No, I think it's time has passed. It wouldn't have been so much different from the OTL Peasant's Revolt anyway.
Government of the uncles: This is on track to be the next post, tbh. Originally I'd thought of doing it in two halves -- "First government of the uncles" being about Anjou and "Second government of the uncles" being about Burgundy, but it never got the votes. This will now look at the whole minority era, which could potentially be quite long, but I'll try not to go nuts.
Revolt of Ghent: I'll cut what I had in mind way down and stick it in as a subsection of "uncles," considering Burgundy and the French crown's role in it.
Meta: 1377-1384 recap
Now that we've reached the end of Phase 1 of the story, I thought it might be worthwhile to stop and ask: How did we get here?
First, let me say that "The Gold Rose" is a garden work. I planted the seed of my POD—Edward of Anouglême survived the plague—and watched what grew up from there. I spent about a year reading various histories of the era and biographies of key figures involved, and took each in while thinking about how Angoulême's survival may change things. Then, I started writing. Where the timeline went has surprised even me at times. I have a clear idea of where it's going now and where it may end, but I am open to being surprised again and taking it in an entirely different direction.
Year of the Three Edwards, Bad Parliament and King of the Hundred Days
Through spring and summer 2021, my thinking was that Angoulême's reign would be little different from that of OTL Richard II up until about the 1385 Scottish campaign, when it became clear that OTL Richard was anything but a traditional medieval king. It then struck me that Angoulême's survival could produce an immediate butterfly effect on the Black Prince's health. (I posted a PC thread on this in Sep 2021 to gut check my thinking here.) Once I established that the Black Prince may live just a bit longer, a number of butterflies flew out and rewrote much of the early reign.
1. England is in a somewhat better financial situation in 1377. The Black Prince and John of Gaunt are remarkably similar characters. Biographies paint pictures of men of chivalry with great ambitions, high opinions of the English generally and of themselves in particular, and tremendous wealth that they loved to flaunt. They differ hugely in personality, though, with the Black Prince apparently every bit as charming and likable as Gaunt was arrogant and brash. This difference in personality and in popularity would have had a huge effect on the parliament of 1376.
In ATL, the Black Prince gets the tax that Gaunt failed to get in OTL. This doesn't fix the crown's financial crisis, but it does mean that there's an influx of cash before hostilities with France resume in 1377.
2. English Gascony is in much better shape. What remained of English Gascony collapsed in OTL 1377, as the duke of Anjou effectively conquered everything save Bordeaux and Bayonne. Expectations at the time were that he would finish the job in 1378. (It's unclear why he didn't.) Anjou's 1377 campaign wasn't an unstoppable juggernaut, though. It was a series of small, close-fought events that all broke his way. The chronicles say, for instance, that the OTL Battle of Eymet was evenly-matched and only turned into a rout because of a chaotic English retreat.
England being in a somewhat better financial position in ATL allows for a bit of cash to make its way to Bordeaux. This is the boost that the ATL Anglo-Gascons need to flip the outcome of Eymet and hold Anjou off at Bergerac, keeping English Gascony alive for the time being and keeping Bordeaux and Bayonne from being reduced to frontier cities.
3. There is a real regency. In OTL, the Black Prince wrote a will and made sure to secure his son's rights to the throne before his death. (Richard inheriting seems like a no-brainer now, but primogeniture was not set down as the line of succession and Gaunt's claim by proximity of blood to Edward III arguably had greater legal weight than primogeniture in 1377.) This demonstrates that the Black Prince was thinking about the future much more than his father, considering that Edward III died a year later without any plan at all for what was to follow.
The Black Prince living to actually become king in ATL—even for a short time—means that England has a leader who is concerned about and planning for the future. He leaves a blueprint for a regency government before his death.
Conference of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Brittany campaign of 1378, Burgundy's Normandy campaign of 1378 and Battle of Estella:
Once I settled on the Black Prince living to become Edward IV, there was no doubt in my mind that he would pick his brother, John of Gaunt, to be Edward's regent. This produced some interesting butterflies that I was not expecting.
1. Navarre is not crushed. OTL Richard II's first continual council reached out to Charles the Bad very soon after Edward III's death. Anglo-Navarrese negotiations were discovered in 1378, leading France to grab up Charles's estates in Normandy (similar to as happens in ATL) and Castile to invade Navarre and make Charles submit to Enrique II's authority. The Black Prince hated Charles the Bad, though, so these events play out rather differently in ATL.
In ATL, England does not reach out to Navarre during Edward IV's short reign. Gaunt has no issue with Charles the Bad, though, so Anglo-Navarrese talks happen—but months later than in OTL. A later Anglo-Navarrese alliance doesn't allow Castile time to mount an invasion before winter 1378-9. Then, Enrique II dies on schedule in spring 1379. This pushes the invasion back again. By 1380, both England and Navarre have had plenty of time to prepare for the attack. This leads to disaster early in ATL Juan I's reign.
2. Saint-Malo is captured. The OTL Siege of Saint-Malo is a very close thing. In OTL, Gaunt led the siege, which failed when English miners were discovered tunneling under the walls of the city at the very last minute. Indeed, the English were so close to bringing down the walls of the city when counter-miners fired underneath them that contemporaries literally called it a miracle—as in, they believed it was actual divine intervention that saved the city from the English. (The Commons even commended Gaunt for his work on the campaign—despite his failure—which says something about how close he came to victory, considering how intensely unpopular he was with the Commons in this era.) This is an event that, like Gascony in 1377, it would take very little to make go the other way in ATL.
In ATL, Gaunt remains in England as regent. Salisbury leads expedition and wins the Siege of Saint-Malo. It is a big victory in the short-term, but in the medium- and long-term matters little and basically just adds to England's financial burden.
3. The Navarrese princesses are captured. ... Mea culpa, I actually thought they were in Breteuil in OTL 1378, but it doesn't seem that they were—or at least not all of them were. But we're far enough along in ATL that this can just be chalked up to butterflies.
Breton Rebellion of 1379 and Gloucester's chevauchée of 1380:
These events track fairly close to OTL, tbh. I added a lot of minor things for color (like Gloucester's title coming to him earlier and him being Angoulême's favorite uncle at this time, to name a couple).
FWIW, I chose to go with duke of Aumale (and not York) for Langley and duke of Gloucester (same as OTL) for Woodstock because Aumale and Gloucester both had old royal connections. (William the Conquerer made his brother-in-law count of Aumale, which is in Normandy but came to be associated with the count's lands in Yorkshire, and Henry I made his favorite illegitimate son earl of Gloucester.)
The big thing to note in these is that the duke of Brittany's betrayal substantially reduces the strategic value of English Saint-Malo, as I allude to above.
First government of the uncles and Anjou's Crusade:
On the whole, Anjou's disastrous regency of France plays out roughly as it did in OTL, though some of the details are different. The only truly major change here comes in Gascony.
In OTL, the 1380 English campaign to Brittany (which I call "Gloucester's chevauchée" in ATL) ends not long after the English gathered 2,000 reinforcements to support the siege of Nantes. When the siege ends with Brittany's betrayal, they just ... disband this army. Richard II's council did consider sending it to Bordeaux, since the men were gathered, they had been paid for months of service, and all the ships were ready to go. But they didn't. It's unclear why.
In ATL, English Gascony is already in a stronger position than it was in OTL, so the army waiting on the shores of southern England does actually get sent to Bordeaux. This influx of men allows the English to retake Saintonge in 1381.
In ATL, the duke of Anjou's campaign to Naples happens concurrently with Lancaster's Crusade, which brings the religious aspect of it into sharper focus. The two popes really are at war with one another in ATL early to mid 1380s. Naples also gets drawn more directly into the Hundred Years War with the marriage of Edward V and Giovanna of Naples. (With regard to Giovanna and her family's names: French was the first language of the queen of Naples and king of Hungary, and so would have been for Giovanna and her immediate family, but there are already so many Joans/Jeannes and Charleses running around that I went with their Italian equivalents to just make it a bit clearer.)
Third Fernandine War, Lancaster's Crusade, and War of the Portuguese Succession:
Probably the biggest surprise I had in writing this was spending so much time in Iberia. I was not prepared to write so much about this and had to go back and do quite a lot of reading. It led to one of the things that I least suspected when I started out this project. It also led to me fully realize where I think this timeline is going, and why I started referring to this timeline having "phases." (It led to my two biggest regrets in the timeline too.)
1. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance isn't a total waste. In OTL, various issues plagued the early 80s English expedition to Portugal. In ATL, the English have just won a major victory against Castile in Navarre and come in to Portugal ready to fight. So, in ATL, Portugal has a pretty good start to the Third Fernandine War, but it goes sideways regardless because Fernando declines and dies while Castile strikes back.
2. Lancaster's Crusade leads to the downfall of the house of Trastámara. Gaunt's control of the regency, combined with English success in Navarre and the Third Fernandine War (at least in its first year), brings Gaunt to Castile years earlier in ATL. His campaign is slightly more successful in ATL, but still doomed to failure.
It occurred to me while writing the Iberian trilogy that all the failures of Juan I's OTL reign (an 11-year period) were basically still here in ATL, but that they had been compressed into a period of roughly half that time. I really stewed over this. It seemed like this would be hugely destabilizing, but it still seemed just so unlikely that the Lancastrians could win. Then, during my research into late-14th century Iberia, I discovered that one of Juan's cousins had conspired to murder him around this time. (Well, one chronicler claims it was a conspiracy to murder the king, though another chronicler says the conspiracy was not quite so nefarious.) With this, the solution presented itself.
In ATL, Juan I is murdered by his cousin in a conspiracy that includes other dissatisfied members of the royal family and upper nobility. The house of Trastámara collapses in the resulting chaos. The cortes of Castile chooses to settle the crown on the heir of Fernando de la Cerda. (I had absolutely no intention for this when I started out, but I have to say that I quite like bringing this line back to power. I will admit that it may be too cute by half, though.)
3. A different João I comes to power. Honestly, I feel like this is the biggest change to the timeline that needs the least explanation. The only reason João de Castro didn't come to power in OTL was because he was in Castile at the time and Juan I had the good sense to throw Castro in prison after Beatriz was arranged to marry Juan. Otherwise, Castro had kind of everything going for him and I fully expect he would have been king if he hadn't been in prison. In ATL, Beatriz never has the opportunity to wed Juan, so Castro takes the throne.
One of my regrets here is that it took me so long to get a handle on Iberia. I needed to do a lot more reading to get these three updates written and, as other things happened in my life, it led to a months-long gap before the Third Fernandine War got posted. I also feel like the writing on Lancaster's Crusade is not my best, but I just kind of got into a headspace where I wanted to get the F out of Castile and back to England and France, so I posted it even though it probably could have used one more edit.
My other big regret—and really the only regret I have in terms of changes to the timeline itself—is that I decided to wed Elizabeth of Lancaster to Charles (soon-to-be-III) of Navarre. At the time, I was planting a seed that I thought we'd come back to later on (re: Gaunt making such a grand marriage for his own daughter while Edward V remained unmarried) but ultimately it came to nothing. Considering that all three of Gaunt's daughters are Iberian queens, it does make his failure to get a crown for himself kind of hilarious/sad. I guess that's something, but it doesn't really feel like enough to justify this change. (Also, I hate rewriting trees and just wish I could wed Elizabeth to John Holland so I didn't have to look for another bride!) Ultimately, something presented itself that could make Charles and Elizabeth interesting in the future (if we ever get a chance to look at them again), but it would just be a bit of color, not something hugely important to the central narrative.
"Phase 1" in brief
It was writing the Iberian trilogy that it dawned on me that my Angoulême timeline was, to that point, a John of Gaunt story. I went into this project imagining Angoulême as a passive youth (in contrast to OTL Richard II seizing power at 14) and a passive young king really just made this a regent's story for several years. So, I started to think of Gaunt's regency as "Phase 1" of the story. What are its BIG takeaways?
A spoiler-free preview of Phase 2
Edward and his cousin across the Channel both come into their own.
First, let me say that "The Gold Rose" is a garden work. I planted the seed of my POD—Edward of Anouglême survived the plague—and watched what grew up from there. I spent about a year reading various histories of the era and biographies of key figures involved, and took each in while thinking about how Angoulême's survival may change things. Then, I started writing. Where the timeline went has surprised even me at times. I have a clear idea of where it's going now and where it may end, but I am open to being surprised again and taking it in an entirely different direction.
Year of the Three Edwards, Bad Parliament and King of the Hundred Days
Through spring and summer 2021, my thinking was that Angoulême's reign would be little different from that of OTL Richard II up until about the 1385 Scottish campaign, when it became clear that OTL Richard was anything but a traditional medieval king. It then struck me that Angoulême's survival could produce an immediate butterfly effect on the Black Prince's health. (I posted a PC thread on this in Sep 2021 to gut check my thinking here.) Once I established that the Black Prince may live just a bit longer, a number of butterflies flew out and rewrote much of the early reign.
1. England is in a somewhat better financial situation in 1377. The Black Prince and John of Gaunt are remarkably similar characters. Biographies paint pictures of men of chivalry with great ambitions, high opinions of the English generally and of themselves in particular, and tremendous wealth that they loved to flaunt. They differ hugely in personality, though, with the Black Prince apparently every bit as charming and likable as Gaunt was arrogant and brash. This difference in personality and in popularity would have had a huge effect on the parliament of 1376.
In ATL, the Black Prince gets the tax that Gaunt failed to get in OTL. This doesn't fix the crown's financial crisis, but it does mean that there's an influx of cash before hostilities with France resume in 1377.
2. English Gascony is in much better shape. What remained of English Gascony collapsed in OTL 1377, as the duke of Anjou effectively conquered everything save Bordeaux and Bayonne. Expectations at the time were that he would finish the job in 1378. (It's unclear why he didn't.) Anjou's 1377 campaign wasn't an unstoppable juggernaut, though. It was a series of small, close-fought events that all broke his way. The chronicles say, for instance, that the OTL Battle of Eymet was evenly-matched and only turned into a rout because of a chaotic English retreat.
England being in a somewhat better financial position in ATL allows for a bit of cash to make its way to Bordeaux. This is the boost that the ATL Anglo-Gascons need to flip the outcome of Eymet and hold Anjou off at Bergerac, keeping English Gascony alive for the time being and keeping Bordeaux and Bayonne from being reduced to frontier cities.
3. There is a real regency. In OTL, the Black Prince wrote a will and made sure to secure his son's rights to the throne before his death. (Richard inheriting seems like a no-brainer now, but primogeniture was not set down as the line of succession and Gaunt's claim by proximity of blood to Edward III arguably had greater legal weight than primogeniture in 1377.) This demonstrates that the Black Prince was thinking about the future much more than his father, considering that Edward III died a year later without any plan at all for what was to follow.
The Black Prince living to actually become king in ATL—even for a short time—means that England has a leader who is concerned about and planning for the future. He leaves a blueprint for a regency government before his death.
Conference of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Brittany campaign of 1378, Burgundy's Normandy campaign of 1378 and Battle of Estella:
Once I settled on the Black Prince living to become Edward IV, there was no doubt in my mind that he would pick his brother, John of Gaunt, to be Edward's regent. This produced some interesting butterflies that I was not expecting.
1. Navarre is not crushed. OTL Richard II's first continual council reached out to Charles the Bad very soon after Edward III's death. Anglo-Navarrese negotiations were discovered in 1378, leading France to grab up Charles's estates in Normandy (similar to as happens in ATL) and Castile to invade Navarre and make Charles submit to Enrique II's authority. The Black Prince hated Charles the Bad, though, so these events play out rather differently in ATL.
In ATL, England does not reach out to Navarre during Edward IV's short reign. Gaunt has no issue with Charles the Bad, though, so Anglo-Navarrese talks happen—but months later than in OTL. A later Anglo-Navarrese alliance doesn't allow Castile time to mount an invasion before winter 1378-9. Then, Enrique II dies on schedule in spring 1379. This pushes the invasion back again. By 1380, both England and Navarre have had plenty of time to prepare for the attack. This leads to disaster early in ATL Juan I's reign.
2. Saint-Malo is captured. The OTL Siege of Saint-Malo is a very close thing. In OTL, Gaunt led the siege, which failed when English miners were discovered tunneling under the walls of the city at the very last minute. Indeed, the English were so close to bringing down the walls of the city when counter-miners fired underneath them that contemporaries literally called it a miracle—as in, they believed it was actual divine intervention that saved the city from the English. (The Commons even commended Gaunt for his work on the campaign—despite his failure—which says something about how close he came to victory, considering how intensely unpopular he was with the Commons in this era.) This is an event that, like Gascony in 1377, it would take very little to make go the other way in ATL.
In ATL, Gaunt remains in England as regent. Salisbury leads expedition and wins the Siege of Saint-Malo. It is a big victory in the short-term, but in the medium- and long-term matters little and basically just adds to England's financial burden.
3. The Navarrese princesses are captured. ... Mea culpa, I actually thought they were in Breteuil in OTL 1378, but it doesn't seem that they were—or at least not all of them were. But we're far enough along in ATL that this can just be chalked up to butterflies.
Breton Rebellion of 1379 and Gloucester's chevauchée of 1380:
These events track fairly close to OTL, tbh. I added a lot of minor things for color (like Gloucester's title coming to him earlier and him being Angoulême's favorite uncle at this time, to name a couple).
FWIW, I chose to go with duke of Aumale (and not York) for Langley and duke of Gloucester (same as OTL) for Woodstock because Aumale and Gloucester both had old royal connections. (William the Conquerer made his brother-in-law count of Aumale, which is in Normandy but came to be associated with the count's lands in Yorkshire, and Henry I made his favorite illegitimate son earl of Gloucester.)
The big thing to note in these is that the duke of Brittany's betrayal substantially reduces the strategic value of English Saint-Malo, as I allude to above.
First government of the uncles and Anjou's Crusade:
On the whole, Anjou's disastrous regency of France plays out roughly as it did in OTL, though some of the details are different. The only truly major change here comes in Gascony.
In OTL, the 1380 English campaign to Brittany (which I call "Gloucester's chevauchée" in ATL) ends not long after the English gathered 2,000 reinforcements to support the siege of Nantes. When the siege ends with Brittany's betrayal, they just ... disband this army. Richard II's council did consider sending it to Bordeaux, since the men were gathered, they had been paid for months of service, and all the ships were ready to go. But they didn't. It's unclear why.
In ATL, English Gascony is already in a stronger position than it was in OTL, so the army waiting on the shores of southern England does actually get sent to Bordeaux. This influx of men allows the English to retake Saintonge in 1381.
In ATL, the duke of Anjou's campaign to Naples happens concurrently with Lancaster's Crusade, which brings the religious aspect of it into sharper focus. The two popes really are at war with one another in ATL early to mid 1380s. Naples also gets drawn more directly into the Hundred Years War with the marriage of Edward V and Giovanna of Naples. (With regard to Giovanna and her family's names: French was the first language of the queen of Naples and king of Hungary, and so would have been for Giovanna and her immediate family, but there are already so many Joans/Jeannes and Charleses running around that I went with their Italian equivalents to just make it a bit clearer.)
Third Fernandine War, Lancaster's Crusade, and War of the Portuguese Succession:
Probably the biggest surprise I had in writing this was spending so much time in Iberia. I was not prepared to write so much about this and had to go back and do quite a lot of reading. It led to one of the things that I least suspected when I started out this project. It also led to me fully realize where I think this timeline is going, and why I started referring to this timeline having "phases." (It led to my two biggest regrets in the timeline too.)
1. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance isn't a total waste. In OTL, various issues plagued the early 80s English expedition to Portugal. In ATL, the English have just won a major victory against Castile in Navarre and come in to Portugal ready to fight. So, in ATL, Portugal has a pretty good start to the Third Fernandine War, but it goes sideways regardless because Fernando declines and dies while Castile strikes back.
2. Lancaster's Crusade leads to the downfall of the house of Trastámara. Gaunt's control of the regency, combined with English success in Navarre and the Third Fernandine War (at least in its first year), brings Gaunt to Castile years earlier in ATL. His campaign is slightly more successful in ATL, but still doomed to failure.
It occurred to me while writing the Iberian trilogy that all the failures of Juan I's OTL reign (an 11-year period) were basically still here in ATL, but that they had been compressed into a period of roughly half that time. I really stewed over this. It seemed like this would be hugely destabilizing, but it still seemed just so unlikely that the Lancastrians could win. Then, during my research into late-14th century Iberia, I discovered that one of Juan's cousins had conspired to murder him around this time. (Well, one chronicler claims it was a conspiracy to murder the king, though another chronicler says the conspiracy was not quite so nefarious.) With this, the solution presented itself.
In ATL, Juan I is murdered by his cousin in a conspiracy that includes other dissatisfied members of the royal family and upper nobility. The house of Trastámara collapses in the resulting chaos. The cortes of Castile chooses to settle the crown on the heir of Fernando de la Cerda. (I had absolutely no intention for this when I started out, but I have to say that I quite like bringing this line back to power. I will admit that it may be too cute by half, though.)
3. A different João I comes to power. Honestly, I feel like this is the biggest change to the timeline that needs the least explanation. The only reason João de Castro didn't come to power in OTL was because he was in Castile at the time and Juan I had the good sense to throw Castro in prison after Beatriz was arranged to marry Juan. Otherwise, Castro had kind of everything going for him and I fully expect he would have been king if he hadn't been in prison. In ATL, Beatriz never has the opportunity to wed Juan, so Castro takes the throne.
One of my regrets here is that it took me so long to get a handle on Iberia. I needed to do a lot more reading to get these three updates written and, as other things happened in my life, it led to a months-long gap before the Third Fernandine War got posted. I also feel like the writing on Lancaster's Crusade is not my best, but I just kind of got into a headspace where I wanted to get the F out of Castile and back to England and France, so I posted it even though it probably could have used one more edit.
My other big regret—and really the only regret I have in terms of changes to the timeline itself—is that I decided to wed Elizabeth of Lancaster to Charles (soon-to-be-III) of Navarre. At the time, I was planting a seed that I thought we'd come back to later on (re: Gaunt making such a grand marriage for his own daughter while Edward V remained unmarried) but ultimately it came to nothing. Considering that all three of Gaunt's daughters are Iberian queens, it does make his failure to get a crown for himself kind of hilarious/sad. I guess that's something, but it doesn't really feel like enough to justify this change. (Also, I hate rewriting trees and just wish I could wed Elizabeth to John Holland so I didn't have to look for another bride!) Ultimately, something presented itself that could make Charles and Elizabeth interesting in the future (if we ever get a chance to look at them again), but it would just be a bit of color, not something hugely important to the central narrative.
"Phase 1" in brief
It was writing the Iberian trilogy that it dawned on me that my Angoulême timeline was, to that point, a John of Gaunt story. I went into this project imagining Angoulême as a passive youth (in contrast to OTL Richard II seizing power at 14) and a passive young king really just made this a regent's story for several years. So, I started to think of Gaunt's regency as "Phase 1" of the story. What are its BIG takeaways?
- 1377 to mid 1380 goes better for England than in OTL (English Gascony survives, Navarre allies with them and wins a battle, Saint-Malo is captured)
- Mid to late 1380 sees a major turnaround for France (Brittany betrays England, Guesclin grinds down Gloucester's chevaucée in a campaign of attrition)
- Late 1380 to 1382 brings stalemate (Charles V dies, Charles VI's regents struggle to govern, and both England and France have to deal with major revolts)
- 1381 to 1384 sees the major action move to Iberia and Italy (Anjou flames out in Naples, Castile initially struggles in wars with Portugal and Gaunt then slowly and painfully fights to win both, the house of Trastámara falls to a conspiracy from within, Bernardo de Bearne comes to power jure uxoris in Castile, João de Castro comes to power in Portugal)
- 1383 and 1384 has England and France agree to a truce, but Scotland causes problems on England's northern border
A spoiler-free preview of Phase 2
Edward and his cousin across the Channel both come into their own.
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I really enjoyed the recap! Both to see the thoughts behind the various events in the story but it was also nice to just get a bit of a refresher hahah 
Channel campaign of 1386
Channel campaign of 1386
The Channel campaign of 1386 consisted of a series of raids conducted by the kingdom of England on the northern ports of and trade vessels from the kingdom of France and the county of Flanders. It ran through the summer and fall of 1386, culminating in the Battle of Écluse.
Background
Cross-Channel raids were a regular feature of the Hundred Years War. French naval supremacy left mainland England vulnerable to attack in the early years of the war, but the balance of naval power was tipped toward the English in the 1340 Battle of Sluys. This remained the case through the Edwardian War, which ended in 1360. The outbreak of the Caroline War in 1369 saw the kingdom of Castile join France in a new conflict against England. Castile was the greatest naval power in western Europe and struck a devastating blow against the English in the 1372 Battle of La Rochelle.
The decline of English naval power is well-documented. At the height of English naval supremacy in the Edwardian War, King Edward III of England was able to gather more than 700 vessels to move his armies across the Channel in 1346. By 1378, it took a major requisitioning effort to assemble just 150 vessels. The crown directly owned 21 ships and barges in 1369, including five high-tonnage vessels. That was reduced to just eight after the Battle of La Rochelle and to one by the late 1370s as a result of decay. The crown's final vessel was sold in the early 1380s to cover its debts. French naval power, on the other hand, significantly grew through the 1360s and 70s. King Charles V of France invested heavily in the construction of a new fleet while the French knight Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, reorganized the navy and also tightly regulated the building and selling of commercial ships.
John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was among the first figures in England to speak out on the overwhelming might of the Franco-Castilian alliance. In the early 1380s, he launched a crusade against Castile to install himself as king. He failed to take the Castilian crown, but succeeded in breaking Castile's alliance with France, which was a major victory for the English. Unfortunately, the death of Louis II, count of Flanders, brought one of the great naval powers of northern Europe under more direct French control and offset the gains England won on Lancaster's Crusade.
By the mid 1380s, England was faced with the threat of invasion from France in the south and Scotland in the north. King Edward V of England reasoned that an attack on Scotland was necessary, as the cost to defend the northern border was unsustainable in the long term. The 1385 English invasion of Scotland resulted in the devastation of Lothian and the capture of the heir to the Scottish throne in battle. This overwhelming victory restored peace to the north of England and allowed Edward to turn his attention toward France.
Diplomatic interlude
Talks between England and France had been purely bilateral since 1378. The Catholic Church had been the primary arbiter of disputes between the two countries through the early stages of the Hundred Years War, but the Western Schism had robbed the church of its authority, as the two countries supported different popes. Emperor Karel IV's death soon after the onset of the schism took the only secular figure who could bring England and France together off the political stage. King Václav IV of Bohemia, who was Karel's eldest son and successor, was too weak to bring the warring parties together or resolve the schism.
Over the winter of 1385-6, King Levon V of Armenia stepped into the diplomatic vacuum created by the schism in the church and the weakness of the Empire. Levon had lost his kingdom to Mamluk conquest in the mid 1370s. He spent the better part of a decade as a prisoner in Cairo before finally gaining his freedom thanks to the charity of King Juan of Castile, an intensely pious figure who was moved by stories of Levon's plight. Levon was showered with lordships by Juan, but Levon fled Castile for France after his benefactor's murder and the collapse of the Trastámaran dynasty. He joined the court of the French king in June 1385.
Levon's personal charms and his firsthand knowledge of the political situation in the east quickly drew many admirers in Paris. Chief among them were the young King Charles VI of France and the king's regent and uncle, Philippe II, duke of Burgundy. Stories of Levon's life made their way across the Channel and he gained an invitation to celebrate Christmas in England as a guest of Edward V.
Charles and Edward were both moved by Levon's calls for peace between Christians and for a new crusade to recover Armenia. A peace conference was hastily arranged at Leulinghem. By the time that peace talks were underway in March, though, war hawks on both sides had pressed the two young kings into taking positions that made peace impossible. The English would not accept a simple truce, even a long-term one, and demanded land and money to bring the war to an end once and for all. The French would only consider a truce, determined to avoid the enormous financial burden that would come with buying out English claims to Aquitaine. Negotiations foundered in just a few weeks and the conference broke up on 19 March 1386.
Preparations for war
On 28 March 1386, the terms of a defensive pact between England and Portugal were read out to Edward V at Saint George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. It committed the two countries to come to one another's aid in the event of an invasion, a significant concern for both at the time, as King João of Portugal feared that a border dispute with his much more powerful neighbor, King Bernardo of Castile, could spiral into an all-out war. João was so worried that he offered to send a fleet of 10 war galleys to support English naval action in the Channel that summer just to sweeten the deal. The fleet, its officers, and a full contingent of Portuguese crossbowmen were to be paid for at João's expense. A week later, on 4 April, Edward convened a great council at Westminster. The terms of the new treaty were read out to the lords, emboldening them to consider taking preemptive action against the French.
On 24 April, the French gathered their own war council around the 17-year-old Charles VI. Burgundy, who led the council as regent, had become the kingdom's most prominent war hawk in recent years. He was determined to strike a crushing blow to the English on their own soil and the council quickly agreed to invasion plans that had been made the previous year, but on a much larger scale. Charles proposed to command the expedition himself and wanted his three uncles at his side on campaign. As this was to be Charles's first time leading an army abroad, the council agreed that 20,000 fighting men were to be raised and another 10,000 likely needed to support the army on campaign. At 30,000 men total, it was twice the size of the force that the French had gathered ahead of their abortive attempt to invade England in 1385.
France's extraordinary plans could not be kept secret for long, as not even the combined might of the French and Flemish fleets could move such a force. French officials fanned out across Europe to charter additional ships for Charles's grand invasion. The English could not miss that French commissioners had appeared everywhere from Castile to Genoa to Germany to Scotland in search of any available vessel.
In England, Edward gave responsibility for the coming campaign to Richard Fitzalan, 4th earl of Arundel, and Philip Darcy, 4th baron Darcy de Knayth, as admirals of the west and north, respectively. Arundel had gained fame as admiral in 1378, leading a cruise along northern France that devastated towns and villages along the coast from Harfleur to Berck before launching a daring raid on Sluys. The campaign brought the earl fame, but it achieved nothing strategically and created major logistical problems for an expedition to Brittany that Arundel was supposed to be helping launch. Arundel's thirst for glory would come back to complicate matters for the English again in 1386.
Early action
Arundel put to sea in late May with two dozen cogs, far fewer than the 50-60 ships he had been expected to assemble. Recognizing that he had far too small a force to attack any significant military target, he satisfied himself with simple piracy. The fleet cruised the coast of Flanders for more than two months, attacking any ships that were thought to be carrying French or Flemish goods. A substantial fortune was made in booty, but Arundel's loose oversight of his men triggered a major diplomatic incident.
In July, three Castilian ships taken on Arundel's campaign drew the attention of officials at Westminster. The king's uncle, Gaunt, feared that attacks on Castilian shipping violated the treaty he had negotiated with the king of Castile and warned that they may draw the country back into the war. Edward demanded a closer accounting of the loot Arundel's campaign had brought in and discovered that the earl had stolen about as much from Castile and other neutral countries as it had from France and Flanders. Outraged, Edward called a great council to deal with the matter.
On 8 August, the lords met at Oxford, barely four months after their meeting at Westminster. Arundel was ordered to compensate the Casilians whose ships he had boarded and loot he had stolen. In a remarkable rebuke from the young king, Arundel and Darcy were then dismissed from their positions. It was humiliating for Arundel, who was the wealthiest and most powerful man in the kingdom outside of the royal family. The earl likely expected that he would keep his position until his term in office expired, but his removal sent a clear message that rank alone could not guarantee a role in Edward V's government. The king's half-brothers, Thomas Holland, 5th earl of Kent, and Sir John Holland, were then named admirals of the north and west, respectively.
French armada
In early July, France began mustering troops for its grand invasion. The effort drew men from across the whole of the kingdom and beyond, as government records note companies from Lorraine and Savoy. The response was overwhelming. The embarkation date had been set at 27 August, but some 9,000 men were assembled at Arras as early as 19 July. Their number swelled to 15,000 by the first week of August. Local officials were unprepared to host such a large number of men for so long and begged the king's financial officers for help.
On 18 August, Charles VI arrived in Arras. A thousand transport vessels were anchored at Sluys, waiting to take the king and his army across the sea, but it was not enough. Military organizers guessed that another 200 ships were still needed to carry the king's huge army. The embarkation date was pushed back to late September. The delay created new logistical problems, as food stores meant for the campaign would need to be tapped to tide the army over until its new embarkation date, and then they would need to be restocked.
On 21 August, the leaders of Arras convinced the king to move on from the town, much to the relief of the local population. Charles led the army on to Lille, where the problems that had been present at Arras soon repeated themselves. The men, many already waiting for weeks, were bored and drank heavily to pass the time. Captains struggled to control the drunken masses, who fought with and robbed from the locals almost as much as they did one another.
On 27 August, Charles led the army to Bruges in hopes that his presence there would hurry along efforts at the outlying port of Sluys. Local officials at Bruges, having heard of the problems at Arras and Lille, barred the gates behind the king. They refused to allow anyone from outside his household, including even the duke of Berry and his entourage, to enter the town for fear of a breakdown in law and order.
On 2 September, French military organizers reported to the king that the additional vessels had been procured more quickly than expected. It would take a week to move the army, including the horses and supplies needed for the campaign, onto the ships. This seemed to surprise the king's council and many began to lose their nerve, understanding that if a week was needed to embark, then a week was likely needed to disembark in England. This was a long period of time in which the French forces would be exposed to attack by the English.
One of the king's uncles, Jean, duke of Berry, was among the men who feared that the long disembarkation period put the army at serious risk. In particular, Berry was worried that Charles himself could be captured by the English before the full might of the French army could land. Giving voice to these concerns set off days of bitter arguments. The new sail date, 9 September, was missed. On 13 September, the French council met in the presence of the king to discuss these concerns. Charles himself ordered that the campaign move forward. The sail date was set for 25 September.
Battle of Écluse
Edward V's Holland half-brothers proved to be a highly effective duo at managing the English response to the French threat. Kent was a particularly competent man. He had decades of experience in Castile and France and had led the defense of England when it faced the threat of French invasion the previous year. As admiral in 1386, he managed the requisitioning of ships while his hot-headed younger brother, John, recruited men with fiery calls to action. In this, John Holland was incredibly successful. The king's victory at Arkinholm in 1385 had inspired a whole new generation of English warriors, who rushed to sign up for service in the campaign. As a result, the 5,000 men who volunteered to fight were not the typical lowborn wretches forced into naval service by press gangs, but men-at-arms largely drawn from the lower nobility.
By 10 September, more than 150 ships, including 10 Portuguese war galleys, were assembled at Sandwich. Squadrons of ships were running reconnaissance missions, making regular cruises to Middelburg to spot activity around Sluys, but there seemed little to report. The embarkation had not yet begun and large numbers of men and horses could not be kept on ships for prolonged periods of time. The ships were generally undermanned as a result. The French armada was vulnerable to attack. Edward ordered the English fleet put to sea at once.
On 19 September, the English descended upon Sluys. The French had known of England's naval buildup, but had not expected a direct assault. The embarkation effort had only just begun, moving horses onto broad barges and equipment and provisions onto ships. The men were unarmed and unarmored so as to avoid overheating in the late summer sun. They were easy prey for the English.
The range of England's longbowmen put the French at an early disadvantage, causing chaos in the French fleet. The highly maneuverable Portuguese war galleys quickly exploited this, taking a number of enemy vessels early in the fighting. The Anglo-Portuguese fleet captured more than 100 French and Flemish vessels—upward of 200 by one account's reckoning—in just the initial stage of the battle. At least three dozen more were damaged or sunk.
Jan Buuc, admiral of Flanders, who was leading the French armada as Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, was still being held prisoner by the English, organized a counterattack once the French and Flemish had recovered from the initial shock of the attack. The English, already having struck a massive blow to the French, had begun to withdraw. Buuc pursued at the head of some 300 ships. The English fleet, now swollen by the large number of ships they had captured, turned to attack. The second stage of the battle was noted for its intense fighting and brutality. French prisoners taken during the initial assault joined in the fighting on John Holland's ship. The hot-tempered Holland decried the dishonor and began executing his prisoners. Buuc himself was taken as a hostage elsewhere in the fighting, as the better-armed English eventually prevailed.
The French armada was devastated. More than 250 ships were captured by the English. The total number damaged or sunk is unknown, but was at least in the dozens. It is estimated that more than 6,000 Frenchmen were captured or killed. English and Portuguese casualties are estimated around 600. Charles VI was given a full report on the losses on 25 September, the day on which he had expected to sail to England. The king had no choice but to call off the campaign, disbanding the greatest army that France had assembled since the Crécy campaign.
Later action
The Battle of Écluse, as it came to be known by its French name, only whetted John Holland's appetite for destruction. Just weeks later, he packed more than 2,000 men onto 50 ships and set sail to kick the French while they were down. He led a reckless attack on the island of Cadzand, which sat just 10 miles off the coast from Sluys, but was repulsed. He then sailed to the continent and razed the village of Sint Anna ter Muiden to the ground, barely a mile and a half from Sluys. They raided other coastal villages, taking many valuable prisoners and capturing several more ships before heading back across the Channel.
English raids on French and Flemish commercial shipping through the fall and winter brought fresh financial pain to the French king and his uncle, Burgundy. Combined with the massive costs that the failed invasion had incurred, the French pressed for a new round of talks under the mediation of Levon V.
Aftermath
On 25 September, Edward returned to London as a hero. The English had largely been spared the terrors of the war, but several contemporary accounts attest to the fears and paranoia of the people of London in the run-up to the failed French invasion. The buildings outside London's walls were demolished so that they could not be used by the enemy during a siege and levies from inland towns were called in to help defend the city. The news that the king had crushed the threat was hugely celebrated. The anonymous author of the Westminster Chronicle recalled that the celebrations in London upon Edward's return were so extraordinary that "had the Lord Jesus Christ himself arrived, he could not have been greeted with more pleasure by the people."
On 29 September, the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel, to whom Edward was intensely devoted, the king himself celebrated his victory over the French by staging an unusual second coronation to mark his having attained his majority earlier in the year. It was a double coronation with his young queen, Giovanna of Naples. Among the victuals captured at Écluse was more than 8,000 tuns of wine, much of which Edward ordered flow free through London's fountains for the coronation. The rest was gifted to coastal towns similarly terrorized by the prospect of French invasion.
In the parliament that followed Edward's coronation, an exuberant Commons granted taxation for a third straight year. Combined with the sales of the many ships captured on campaign, the English crown began servicing its monumental debts and began to emerge from a financial crisis that had been running since the early 1380s.
In late November, the English received the French offer to negotiate under the mediation of Levon V. Edward had already shown support for Levon's calls to crusade and was quick to accept. The political establishment generally supported this, recognizing that the king was in an excellent negotiating position after victories at Arkinholm in 1385 and Écluse in 1386. The decision was not universally popular, though. Edward's uncle Thomas of Woodstock, 1st duke of Gloucester, was among those who disapproved, advocating for the king to strike while the iron was hot and crush the French.
The Battle of Écluse was nothing short of a disaster for the French. Decades of investment in the French fleet had been lost in a single day, as the French could no longer claim supremacy over the Channel. The cost of the aborted invasion was staggering and the crown sank into debt, despite having raised more than one extraordinary tax earlier in the year.
The government of the uncles began to break down as a result of the failure to launch the invasion. The duke of Berry was made a convenient scapegoat, blamed by many for sewing doubts in the campaign and causing the delays that led to its failure. The duke of Burgundy became a target of major criticism for the first time since the duke of Anjou's departure four years earlier. Uncoincidentally, supporters of the late duke of Anjou had come to Paris to air their grievances for having been left to rot on Anjou's failed expedition to Naples. Fiercely loyal to Anjou even in death, they openly accused Burgundy of using the regency to advance his own interests in the Low Countries. The king himself turned cold toward his uncles. He was more interested in the accusations of rape that Jean de Carrouges had levied against Jacques le Gris and the two knights' duel of justice, which was scheduled to take place between Christmas and New Years.
Levon of Armenia's attempts to broker a peace over the winter of 1386-7 failed for exactly the same reasons as his attempts a year prior. English ambassadors pushed for a permanent resolution to the war as French ambassadors pushed instead for a long truce. Edward V and Charles VI were both disappointed with the result.
Despite the failures of 1385 and 1386, the French again turned to the idea of invading England after Levon's diplomatic mission came to naught. Their ambitions were significantly smaller for 1387. Neither the king nor his uncles planned to participate, as something more to the scale of Jean de Vienne's 1377 campaign was envisioned. Plans for an invasion of 3,000-4,000 were drawn up, but did not progress far, as a pair of crises in Brittany and the Low Countries derailed the campaign.
English naval efforts in the Channel returned to commercial raiding after the pause brought on by Levon's diplomatic mission. French maritime strategy was in total disarray with both the admirals of France and Flanders in English custody. Trading vessels proved to be softer targets for the newly robust English fleet. According to royal accounts, another 68 French and Flemish vessels were captured in the Channel over the course of 1387.
The Channel campaign of 1386 consisted of a series of raids conducted by the kingdom of England on the northern ports of and trade vessels from the kingdom of France and the county of Flanders. It ran through the summer and fall of 1386, culminating in the Battle of Écluse.
Background
Cross-Channel raids were a regular feature of the Hundred Years War. French naval supremacy left mainland England vulnerable to attack in the early years of the war, but the balance of naval power was tipped toward the English in the 1340 Battle of Sluys. This remained the case through the Edwardian War, which ended in 1360. The outbreak of the Caroline War in 1369 saw the kingdom of Castile join France in a new conflict against England. Castile was the greatest naval power in western Europe and struck a devastating blow against the English in the 1372 Battle of La Rochelle.
The decline of English naval power is well-documented. At the height of English naval supremacy in the Edwardian War, King Edward III of England was able to gather more than 700 vessels to move his armies across the Channel in 1346. By 1378, it took a major requisitioning effort to assemble just 150 vessels. The crown directly owned 21 ships and barges in 1369, including five high-tonnage vessels. That was reduced to just eight after the Battle of La Rochelle and to one by the late 1370s as a result of decay. The crown's final vessel was sold in the early 1380s to cover its debts. French naval power, on the other hand, significantly grew through the 1360s and 70s. King Charles V of France invested heavily in the construction of a new fleet while the French knight Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, reorganized the navy and also tightly regulated the building and selling of commercial ships.
John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was among the first figures in England to speak out on the overwhelming might of the Franco-Castilian alliance. In the early 1380s, he launched a crusade against Castile to install himself as king. He failed to take the Castilian crown, but succeeded in breaking Castile's alliance with France, which was a major victory for the English. Unfortunately, the death of Louis II, count of Flanders, brought one of the great naval powers of northern Europe under more direct French control and offset the gains England won on Lancaster's Crusade.
By the mid 1380s, England was faced with the threat of invasion from France in the south and Scotland in the north. King Edward V of England reasoned that an attack on Scotland was necessary, as the cost to defend the northern border was unsustainable in the long term. The 1385 English invasion of Scotland resulted in the devastation of Lothian and the capture of the heir to the Scottish throne in battle. This overwhelming victory restored peace to the north of England and allowed Edward to turn his attention toward France.
Diplomatic interlude
Talks between England and France had been purely bilateral since 1378. The Catholic Church had been the primary arbiter of disputes between the two countries through the early stages of the Hundred Years War, but the Western Schism had robbed the church of its authority, as the two countries supported different popes. Emperor Karel IV's death soon after the onset of the schism took the only secular figure who could bring England and France together off the political stage. King Václav IV of Bohemia, who was Karel's eldest son and successor, was too weak to bring the warring parties together or resolve the schism.
Over the winter of 1385-6, King Levon V of Armenia stepped into the diplomatic vacuum created by the schism in the church and the weakness of the Empire. Levon had lost his kingdom to Mamluk conquest in the mid 1370s. He spent the better part of a decade as a prisoner in Cairo before finally gaining his freedom thanks to the charity of King Juan of Castile, an intensely pious figure who was moved by stories of Levon's plight. Levon was showered with lordships by Juan, but Levon fled Castile for France after his benefactor's murder and the collapse of the Trastámaran dynasty. He joined the court of the French king in June 1385.
Levon's personal charms and his firsthand knowledge of the political situation in the east quickly drew many admirers in Paris. Chief among them were the young King Charles VI of France and the king's regent and uncle, Philippe II, duke of Burgundy. Stories of Levon's life made their way across the Channel and he gained an invitation to celebrate Christmas in England as a guest of Edward V.
Charles and Edward were both moved by Levon's calls for peace between Christians and for a new crusade to recover Armenia. A peace conference was hastily arranged at Leulinghem. By the time that peace talks were underway in March, though, war hawks on both sides had pressed the two young kings into taking positions that made peace impossible. The English would not accept a simple truce, even a long-term one, and demanded land and money to bring the war to an end once and for all. The French would only consider a truce, determined to avoid the enormous financial burden that would come with buying out English claims to Aquitaine. Negotiations foundered in just a few weeks and the conference broke up on 19 March 1386.
Preparations for war
On 28 March 1386, the terms of a defensive pact between England and Portugal were read out to Edward V at Saint George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. It committed the two countries to come to one another's aid in the event of an invasion, a significant concern for both at the time, as King João of Portugal feared that a border dispute with his much more powerful neighbor, King Bernardo of Castile, could spiral into an all-out war. João was so worried that he offered to send a fleet of 10 war galleys to support English naval action in the Channel that summer just to sweeten the deal. The fleet, its officers, and a full contingent of Portuguese crossbowmen were to be paid for at João's expense. A week later, on 4 April, Edward convened a great council at Westminster. The terms of the new treaty were read out to the lords, emboldening them to consider taking preemptive action against the French.
On 24 April, the French gathered their own war council around the 17-year-old Charles VI. Burgundy, who led the council as regent, had become the kingdom's most prominent war hawk in recent years. He was determined to strike a crushing blow to the English on their own soil and the council quickly agreed to invasion plans that had been made the previous year, but on a much larger scale. Charles proposed to command the expedition himself and wanted his three uncles at his side on campaign. As this was to be Charles's first time leading an army abroad, the council agreed that 20,000 fighting men were to be raised and another 10,000 likely needed to support the army on campaign. At 30,000 men total, it was twice the size of the force that the French had gathered ahead of their abortive attempt to invade England in 1385.
France's extraordinary plans could not be kept secret for long, as not even the combined might of the French and Flemish fleets could move such a force. French officials fanned out across Europe to charter additional ships for Charles's grand invasion. The English could not miss that French commissioners had appeared everywhere from Castile to Genoa to Germany to Scotland in search of any available vessel.
In England, Edward gave responsibility for the coming campaign to Richard Fitzalan, 4th earl of Arundel, and Philip Darcy, 4th baron Darcy de Knayth, as admirals of the west and north, respectively. Arundel had gained fame as admiral in 1378, leading a cruise along northern France that devastated towns and villages along the coast from Harfleur to Berck before launching a daring raid on Sluys. The campaign brought the earl fame, but it achieved nothing strategically and created major logistical problems for an expedition to Brittany that Arundel was supposed to be helping launch. Arundel's thirst for glory would come back to complicate matters for the English again in 1386.
Early action
Arundel put to sea in late May with two dozen cogs, far fewer than the 50-60 ships he had been expected to assemble. Recognizing that he had far too small a force to attack any significant military target, he satisfied himself with simple piracy. The fleet cruised the coast of Flanders for more than two months, attacking any ships that were thought to be carrying French or Flemish goods. A substantial fortune was made in booty, but Arundel's loose oversight of his men triggered a major diplomatic incident.
In July, three Castilian ships taken on Arundel's campaign drew the attention of officials at Westminster. The king's uncle, Gaunt, feared that attacks on Castilian shipping violated the treaty he had negotiated with the king of Castile and warned that they may draw the country back into the war. Edward demanded a closer accounting of the loot Arundel's campaign had brought in and discovered that the earl had stolen about as much from Castile and other neutral countries as it had from France and Flanders. Outraged, Edward called a great council to deal with the matter.
On 8 August, the lords met at Oxford, barely four months after their meeting at Westminster. Arundel was ordered to compensate the Casilians whose ships he had boarded and loot he had stolen. In a remarkable rebuke from the young king, Arundel and Darcy were then dismissed from their positions. It was humiliating for Arundel, who was the wealthiest and most powerful man in the kingdom outside of the royal family. The earl likely expected that he would keep his position until his term in office expired, but his removal sent a clear message that rank alone could not guarantee a role in Edward V's government. The king's half-brothers, Thomas Holland, 5th earl of Kent, and Sir John Holland, were then named admirals of the north and west, respectively.
French armada
In early July, France began mustering troops for its grand invasion. The effort drew men from across the whole of the kingdom and beyond, as government records note companies from Lorraine and Savoy. The response was overwhelming. The embarkation date had been set at 27 August, but some 9,000 men were assembled at Arras as early as 19 July. Their number swelled to 15,000 by the first week of August. Local officials were unprepared to host such a large number of men for so long and begged the king's financial officers for help.
On 18 August, Charles VI arrived in Arras. A thousand transport vessels were anchored at Sluys, waiting to take the king and his army across the sea, but it was not enough. Military organizers guessed that another 200 ships were still needed to carry the king's huge army. The embarkation date was pushed back to late September. The delay created new logistical problems, as food stores meant for the campaign would need to be tapped to tide the army over until its new embarkation date, and then they would need to be restocked.
On 21 August, the leaders of Arras convinced the king to move on from the town, much to the relief of the local population. Charles led the army on to Lille, where the problems that had been present at Arras soon repeated themselves. The men, many already waiting for weeks, were bored and drank heavily to pass the time. Captains struggled to control the drunken masses, who fought with and robbed from the locals almost as much as they did one another.
On 27 August, Charles led the army to Bruges in hopes that his presence there would hurry along efforts at the outlying port of Sluys. Local officials at Bruges, having heard of the problems at Arras and Lille, barred the gates behind the king. They refused to allow anyone from outside his household, including even the duke of Berry and his entourage, to enter the town for fear of a breakdown in law and order.
On 2 September, French military organizers reported to the king that the additional vessels had been procured more quickly than expected. It would take a week to move the army, including the horses and supplies needed for the campaign, onto the ships. This seemed to surprise the king's council and many began to lose their nerve, understanding that if a week was needed to embark, then a week was likely needed to disembark in England. This was a long period of time in which the French forces would be exposed to attack by the English.
One of the king's uncles, Jean, duke of Berry, was among the men who feared that the long disembarkation period put the army at serious risk. In particular, Berry was worried that Charles himself could be captured by the English before the full might of the French army could land. Giving voice to these concerns set off days of bitter arguments. The new sail date, 9 September, was missed. On 13 September, the French council met in the presence of the king to discuss these concerns. Charles himself ordered that the campaign move forward. The sail date was set for 25 September.
Battle of Écluse
Edward V's Holland half-brothers proved to be a highly effective duo at managing the English response to the French threat. Kent was a particularly competent man. He had decades of experience in Castile and France and had led the defense of England when it faced the threat of French invasion the previous year. As admiral in 1386, he managed the requisitioning of ships while his hot-headed younger brother, John, recruited men with fiery calls to action. In this, John Holland was incredibly successful. The king's victory at Arkinholm in 1385 had inspired a whole new generation of English warriors, who rushed to sign up for service in the campaign. As a result, the 5,000 men who volunteered to fight were not the typical lowborn wretches forced into naval service by press gangs, but men-at-arms largely drawn from the lower nobility.
By 10 September, more than 150 ships, including 10 Portuguese war galleys, were assembled at Sandwich. Squadrons of ships were running reconnaissance missions, making regular cruises to Middelburg to spot activity around Sluys, but there seemed little to report. The embarkation had not yet begun and large numbers of men and horses could not be kept on ships for prolonged periods of time. The ships were generally undermanned as a result. The French armada was vulnerable to attack. Edward ordered the English fleet put to sea at once.
On 19 September, the English descended upon Sluys. The French had known of England's naval buildup, but had not expected a direct assault. The embarkation effort had only just begun, moving horses onto broad barges and equipment and provisions onto ships. The men were unarmed and unarmored so as to avoid overheating in the late summer sun. They were easy prey for the English.
The range of England's longbowmen put the French at an early disadvantage, causing chaos in the French fleet. The highly maneuverable Portuguese war galleys quickly exploited this, taking a number of enemy vessels early in the fighting. The Anglo-Portuguese fleet captured more than 100 French and Flemish vessels—upward of 200 by one account's reckoning—in just the initial stage of the battle. At least three dozen more were damaged or sunk.
Jan Buuc, admiral of Flanders, who was leading the French armada as Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, was still being held prisoner by the English, organized a counterattack once the French and Flemish had recovered from the initial shock of the attack. The English, already having struck a massive blow to the French, had begun to withdraw. Buuc pursued at the head of some 300 ships. The English fleet, now swollen by the large number of ships they had captured, turned to attack. The second stage of the battle was noted for its intense fighting and brutality. French prisoners taken during the initial assault joined in the fighting on John Holland's ship. The hot-tempered Holland decried the dishonor and began executing his prisoners. Buuc himself was taken as a hostage elsewhere in the fighting, as the better-armed English eventually prevailed.
The French armada was devastated. More than 250 ships were captured by the English. The total number damaged or sunk is unknown, but was at least in the dozens. It is estimated that more than 6,000 Frenchmen were captured or killed. English and Portuguese casualties are estimated around 600. Charles VI was given a full report on the losses on 25 September, the day on which he had expected to sail to England. The king had no choice but to call off the campaign, disbanding the greatest army that France had assembled since the Crécy campaign.
Later action
The Battle of Écluse, as it came to be known by its French name, only whetted John Holland's appetite for destruction. Just weeks later, he packed more than 2,000 men onto 50 ships and set sail to kick the French while they were down. He led a reckless attack on the island of Cadzand, which sat just 10 miles off the coast from Sluys, but was repulsed. He then sailed to the continent and razed the village of Sint Anna ter Muiden to the ground, barely a mile and a half from Sluys. They raided other coastal villages, taking many valuable prisoners and capturing several more ships before heading back across the Channel.
English raids on French and Flemish commercial shipping through the fall and winter brought fresh financial pain to the French king and his uncle, Burgundy. Combined with the massive costs that the failed invasion had incurred, the French pressed for a new round of talks under the mediation of Levon V.
Aftermath
On 25 September, Edward returned to London as a hero. The English had largely been spared the terrors of the war, but several contemporary accounts attest to the fears and paranoia of the people of London in the run-up to the failed French invasion. The buildings outside London's walls were demolished so that they could not be used by the enemy during a siege and levies from inland towns were called in to help defend the city. The news that the king had crushed the threat was hugely celebrated. The anonymous author of the Westminster Chronicle recalled that the celebrations in London upon Edward's return were so extraordinary that "had the Lord Jesus Christ himself arrived, he could not have been greeted with more pleasure by the people."
On 29 September, the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel, to whom Edward was intensely devoted, the king himself celebrated his victory over the French by staging an unusual second coronation to mark his having attained his majority earlier in the year. It was a double coronation with his young queen, Giovanna of Naples. Among the victuals captured at Écluse was more than 8,000 tuns of wine, much of which Edward ordered flow free through London's fountains for the coronation. The rest was gifted to coastal towns similarly terrorized by the prospect of French invasion.
In the parliament that followed Edward's coronation, an exuberant Commons granted taxation for a third straight year. Combined with the sales of the many ships captured on campaign, the English crown began servicing its monumental debts and began to emerge from a financial crisis that had been running since the early 1380s.
In late November, the English received the French offer to negotiate under the mediation of Levon V. Edward had already shown support for Levon's calls to crusade and was quick to accept. The political establishment generally supported this, recognizing that the king was in an excellent negotiating position after victories at Arkinholm in 1385 and Écluse in 1386. The decision was not universally popular, though. Edward's uncle Thomas of Woodstock, 1st duke of Gloucester, was among those who disapproved, advocating for the king to strike while the iron was hot and crush the French.
The Battle of Écluse was nothing short of a disaster for the French. Decades of investment in the French fleet had been lost in a single day, as the French could no longer claim supremacy over the Channel. The cost of the aborted invasion was staggering and the crown sank into debt, despite having raised more than one extraordinary tax earlier in the year.
The government of the uncles began to break down as a result of the failure to launch the invasion. The duke of Berry was made a convenient scapegoat, blamed by many for sewing doubts in the campaign and causing the delays that led to its failure. The duke of Burgundy became a target of major criticism for the first time since the duke of Anjou's departure four years earlier. Uncoincidentally, supporters of the late duke of Anjou had come to Paris to air their grievances for having been left to rot on Anjou's failed expedition to Naples. Fiercely loyal to Anjou even in death, they openly accused Burgundy of using the regency to advance his own interests in the Low Countries. The king himself turned cold toward his uncles. He was more interested in the accusations of rape that Jean de Carrouges had levied against Jacques le Gris and the two knights' duel of justice, which was scheduled to take place between Christmas and New Years.
Levon of Armenia's attempts to broker a peace over the winter of 1386-7 failed for exactly the same reasons as his attempts a year prior. English ambassadors pushed for a permanent resolution to the war as French ambassadors pushed instead for a long truce. Edward V and Charles VI were both disappointed with the result.
Despite the failures of 1385 and 1386, the French again turned to the idea of invading England after Levon's diplomatic mission came to naught. Their ambitions were significantly smaller for 1387. Neither the king nor his uncles planned to participate, as something more to the scale of Jean de Vienne's 1377 campaign was envisioned. Plans for an invasion of 3,000-4,000 were drawn up, but did not progress far, as a pair of crises in Brittany and the Low Countries derailed the campaign.
English naval efforts in the Channel returned to commercial raiding after the pause brought on by Levon's diplomatic mission. French maritime strategy was in total disarray with both the admirals of France and Flanders in English custody. Trading vessels proved to be softer targets for the newly robust English fleet. According to royal accounts, another 68 French and Flemish vessels were captured in the Channel over the course of 1387.
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We had a tie in the last round of voting, so this is the first of two updates before the next round of voting. The next poll will go up with the second of these updates, which will be "Government of the uncles." (I'm quite surprised by the tie. "Government of the uncles" got basically all of the early votes, so I expected it to win handily, but then "Channel campaign" got all of the late votes.)
From this article, I see two options that will be included in the poll:
Coronation parliament: A catch-up on the politics of England in the parliament that follows Edward's second coronation
Guelders War: A look at the crisis in the Low Countries that derails France's 1387 invasion plans
Other possibilities will be included with the "GOTU" update, which is already in progress.
From this article, I see two options that will be included in the poll:
Coronation parliament: A catch-up on the politics of England in the parliament that follows Edward's second coronation
Guelders War: A look at the crisis in the Low Countries that derails France's 1387 invasion plans
Other possibilities will be included with the "GOTU" update, which is already in progress.
Thank you, but there is no way you read it in less than a minute! 🤣
Awesome chapter! Glory to the Plantagenets and england and doom to The Valois and France!
Very good chapter, Edward V has his own Sluys battle like his grandfather Edward III, let's hope he continues in all this success. Will we be seeing crusades into the Levant once again? Will Edward V organize a massive Crusade to the Holy Land? Maybe Richard of Bordeaux (OTL Richard II) faces success like his namesake Richard the Lionheart? If we do take a look at the East, I pray that the Byzantine Empire manages to survive somehow. Keep up the good work.
A quick update: In response to a question I said
Well, I have failed to not go nuts. It is about 80 percent done and already a few thousand words longer than "Lancaster's Crusade," which clocked in at 11K. This getting too long to post as a standalone, so I think I'm going to break it up and post it in three parts:
- First government of the uncles: A look at France from 1380-1382 (i.e., Anjou's regency)
- Anjou's Crusade: A look at the expedition that took Anjou away from France
- Second government of the uncles: A look at France from 1382-1388 (i.e., Burgundy's regency)
I think it'll be better if you split it into the three parts
It'll be less time consuming for people to read and we won't have to wait for the big chonker of a post