The Gold Rose: An Edward of Angoulême timeline
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I think he wants to keep the story reallistic and his ambitions on the british isles would be more likely to come to fruititon and florish long term
Just FYI that there will be a special bonus update coming this weekend: Gaston's Rebellion
It will have very little impact on the larger narrative, but I imagined this whole side story for the figures of southern France and so I just wrote a short post that touches on that. There will definitely be a second post on southern France in the future, but that will come some number of months from now when I have free time.
It will have very little impact on the larger narrative, but I imagined this whole side story for the figures of southern France and so I just wrote a short post that touches on that. There will definitely be a second post on southern France in the future, but that will come some number of months from now when I have free time.
Maybe it will be. We'll see 🙃
Gaston's Rebellion
Gaston's Rebellion
Gaston's Rebellion was a revolt against Gaston III, count of Foix, by his only legitimate son and heir, also named Gaston, who was supported by Jean III, count of Armagnac. The revolt failed in under a year and Gaston the Younger fled into exile while his father continued to rule as the preeminent lord in the Pyrenees.
Background
Gaston III, count of Foix, popularly known as Gaston Fébus, ruled over a noncontiguous string of lands along the Pyrenees since 1343. The county of Foix and viscounty of Béarn were his greatest possessions, but they sat at the eastern and western edges of his patchwork of territories, respectively, and their distance created major logistical problems. Fébus would dedicate his life to consolidating his territories across the northern Pyrenees, repeatedly bringing him into conflict with the house of Armagnac.
Fébus bested the Armagnacs on three major occasions. First, in 1362, his forces routed the Armagnac army at the Battle of Launac, capturing both Jean I, count of Armagnac, and his principal allies, the lord of Albret and the count of Comminges. Then, in the mid to late 70s, Fébus fought Jean II, count of Armagnac, over control of the young heiress of Comminges and, though the girl ultimately married Armagnac's son, Fébus won several key fortresses in Comminges that closed the distance between Béarn and Foix. Then, in 1382, Fuxéen forces ambushed and slaughtered an Armagnac army at the Battle of Rabastens, which effectively neutered Armagnac and allowed Fébus to take control of several more positions in Comminges. Jean II of Armagnac died two years later and was succeeded by his son, Jean III.
Fébus had four sons, but only one was legitimate, as Fébus had repudiated his wife, Agnès of Navarre, back in 1362 as a result of the nonpayment of her dowry. The boy, Gaston, had been a pawn in Fébus's schemes throughout his life. Betrothed to an Armagnac girl at the end of the Comminges War, he was ultimately wed to Joana of Aragon, eldest daughter of the heir to the throne of Aragon. The pair were a glamorous couple. Gaston was athletic and strikingly handsome while Joana was charming and fashionable. Gaston built up a large retinue of knights around himself, drawn heavily from the number of routier companies that were under contract with his father at all times. Even the youngest of these men had seen action, given the situation in southern France and the Iberian peninsula. Gaston had never seen action, though, and railed against his father's prohibition on tournaments. He struggled to maintain his lifestyle, complaining that he had been provided with too modest an allowance for a prince. Relations between father and son soured.
In 1385, Jean III, count of Armagnac, was made lieutenant governor of Languedoc when the duke of Berry was recalled north to Paris. Upon the death of his father the year prior, Armagnac had sought peace with Fébus, but he secretly planned to avenge three generations of Armagnac humiliation at Fébus's hands. Armagnac's wife was Marguerite, suo jure countess of Comminges, and the lands that Fébus had taken there in the late 1370s and early 1380s were hers by right. By this time, Gaston the Younger was 24 and anxious to break free of his father's control. In late August, Armagnac and Gaston clandestinely forged an alliance in which Armagnac promised to help bring Gaston to power in Foix in exchange for his returning those lands that Fébus had taken in Comminges and elsewhere.
Revolt
In October 1385, Armagnac began a tour of provincial assemblies across Languedoc to raise funds for an army of routiers, which he intended to deploy against Fébus. His pleas for loans and taxes were met with skepticism, as he could not admit publicly that he planned to use the funds for a personal war with Foix. Despite this, Armagnac won over enough support that money began flowing into his coffers. He began signing contracts with routier companies in Languedoc and its neighboring provinces in spring 1386.
Fébus suspected that he was the target of Armagnac's army early on. As lieutenant governor, Armagnac had command of 700 men-at-arms paid for by the crown. In early 1386, Armagnac moved these men into key positions on Languedoc's border with Foix and into Armagnac's own lands around Bigorre, over which the houses of Armagnac and Foix had been fighting for generations. These early movements tipped Armagnac's hand months before he was ready to move against Fébus.
On 5 April 1386, Gaston appeared outside Thuriès, an imposing fortress on the River Viaur. Fébus had captured it from Armagnac's father in the early 1380s and held it ever since. Gaston's appearance with a small cadre of knights confused the Fuxéen garrison, who were eventually compelled to open the gates for their lord's son and heir. Gaston turned the place over to Armagnac's forces, who had been hidden a short distance away.
Fébus was caught off guard by the sudden loss of Thuriès. The great castle was less than 40 miles from his viscounty of Lautrec, which was the heart of his northern lands and from which he projected power across much of the Albigeois. He was shocked to learn of his son's role in its capture. It was, however, the high water mark of the revolt, as Armagnac and Gaston's scheme began to fall apart as soon as it had begun.
Armagnac's plans for a great routier army came to naught. He signed contracts with several companies and made down payments for their services, gaining commitments for them to vacate their positions across the south of France and join him on campaign upon the receipt of a second installment. The money he raised from the provincial assemblies had already been exhausted, though, and he could not afford the second installment he had promised. What's more, the count was already losing interest in the scheme, as the French were now planning to launch a massive invasion of England, which Armagnac wanted to join. In default on his contracts, the routiers simply pocketed the cash they had given as down payment and then returned to raiding the southern French countryside.
As Armagnac's routier scheme fell apart, Gaston's bastard half-brother, Yvain de Foix, led an army north to retake Thuriès. Gaston, abandoned by his ally and unprepared for a siege, fled the castle, bringing his short-lived rebellion to an ignominious end.
Aftermath
Gaston's Rebellion had little impact on the political situation in southern France in the short term. Fébus was the greatest lord in southern France before it began and remained so after it ended. Armagnac continued to dream of ways to claw back the parts of his wife's inheritance that Fébus had captured in previous conflicts. The duke of Berry continued as an absent governor and the routiers remained a scourge on the area. The rebellion had major long-term repercussions, though.
Gaston was forced to flee north from Thuriès, as he could not reach the courts of his uncle, King Charles II of Navarre, or father-in-law, Joan of Aragon, duke of Girona, without crossing his father's lands or venturing into the hostile territory of English Gascony. Instead, he made his way to Paris, where he joined the growing number of young nobles at the court of King Charles VI of France. He became a fixture at the French court, where his cousin, Charles of Navarre's son and heir, was a prisoner in name only, and in reality a guest of honor.
In 1389, Gaston swore an oath of fealty to Charles VI, imperiling Fébus's work to carve out his lands as an independent principality. Gaston had always been a disappointment to Fébus, who preferred his bastard sons to his legitimate one, but this was the final straw. Fébus disinherited Gaston and tried to legitimize Yvain so that his favorite son could inherit his lands. By this time, though, Gaston's father-in-law had succeeded to the crown of Aragon and used his influence with the pope in Avignon to obstruct Yvain's legitimization. The issue dragged on at the papal court and was still unsettled when Fébus died in 1391, setting off the War of the Fuxéen Succession.
Gaston's Rebellion was a revolt against Gaston III, count of Foix, by his only legitimate son and heir, also named Gaston, who was supported by Jean III, count of Armagnac. The revolt failed in under a year and Gaston the Younger fled into exile while his father continued to rule as the preeminent lord in the Pyrenees.
Background
Gaston III, count of Foix, popularly known as Gaston Fébus, ruled over a noncontiguous string of lands along the Pyrenees since 1343. The county of Foix and viscounty of Béarn were his greatest possessions, but they sat at the eastern and western edges of his patchwork of territories, respectively, and their distance created major logistical problems. Fébus would dedicate his life to consolidating his territories across the northern Pyrenees, repeatedly bringing him into conflict with the house of Armagnac.
Fébus bested the Armagnacs on three major occasions. First, in 1362, his forces routed the Armagnac army at the Battle of Launac, capturing both Jean I, count of Armagnac, and his principal allies, the lord of Albret and the count of Comminges. Then, in the mid to late 70s, Fébus fought Jean II, count of Armagnac, over control of the young heiress of Comminges and, though the girl ultimately married Armagnac's son, Fébus won several key fortresses in Comminges that closed the distance between Béarn and Foix. Then, in 1382, Fuxéen forces ambushed and slaughtered an Armagnac army at the Battle of Rabastens, which effectively neutered Armagnac and allowed Fébus to take control of several more positions in Comminges. Jean II of Armagnac died two years later and was succeeded by his son, Jean III.
Fébus had four sons, but only one was legitimate, as Fébus had repudiated his wife, Agnès of Navarre, back in 1362 as a result of the nonpayment of her dowry. The boy, Gaston, had been a pawn in Fébus's schemes throughout his life. Betrothed to an Armagnac girl at the end of the Comminges War, he was ultimately wed to Joana of Aragon, eldest daughter of the heir to the throne of Aragon. The pair were a glamorous couple. Gaston was athletic and strikingly handsome while Joana was charming and fashionable. Gaston built up a large retinue of knights around himself, drawn heavily from the number of routier companies that were under contract with his father at all times. Even the youngest of these men had seen action, given the situation in southern France and the Iberian peninsula. Gaston had never seen action, though, and railed against his father's prohibition on tournaments. He struggled to maintain his lifestyle, complaining that he had been provided with too modest an allowance for a prince. Relations between father and son soured.
In 1385, Jean III, count of Armagnac, was made lieutenant governor of Languedoc when the duke of Berry was recalled north to Paris. Upon the death of his father the year prior, Armagnac had sought peace with Fébus, but he secretly planned to avenge three generations of Armagnac humiliation at Fébus's hands. Armagnac's wife was Marguerite, suo jure countess of Comminges, and the lands that Fébus had taken there in the late 1370s and early 1380s were hers by right. By this time, Gaston the Younger was 24 and anxious to break free of his father's control. In late August, Armagnac and Gaston clandestinely forged an alliance in which Armagnac promised to help bring Gaston to power in Foix in exchange for his returning those lands that Fébus had taken in Comminges and elsewhere.
Revolt
In October 1385, Armagnac began a tour of provincial assemblies across Languedoc to raise funds for an army of routiers, which he intended to deploy against Fébus. His pleas for loans and taxes were met with skepticism, as he could not admit publicly that he planned to use the funds for a personal war with Foix. Despite this, Armagnac won over enough support that money began flowing into his coffers. He began signing contracts with routier companies in Languedoc and its neighboring provinces in spring 1386.
Fébus suspected that he was the target of Armagnac's army early on. As lieutenant governor, Armagnac had command of 700 men-at-arms paid for by the crown. In early 1386, Armagnac moved these men into key positions on Languedoc's border with Foix and into Armagnac's own lands around Bigorre, over which the houses of Armagnac and Foix had been fighting for generations. These early movements tipped Armagnac's hand months before he was ready to move against Fébus.
On 5 April 1386, Gaston appeared outside Thuriès, an imposing fortress on the River Viaur. Fébus had captured it from Armagnac's father in the early 1380s and held it ever since. Gaston's appearance with a small cadre of knights confused the Fuxéen garrison, who were eventually compelled to open the gates for their lord's son and heir. Gaston turned the place over to Armagnac's forces, who had been hidden a short distance away.
Fébus was caught off guard by the sudden loss of Thuriès. The great castle was less than 40 miles from his viscounty of Lautrec, which was the heart of his northern lands and from which he projected power across much of the Albigeois. He was shocked to learn of his son's role in its capture. It was, however, the high water mark of the revolt, as Armagnac and Gaston's scheme began to fall apart as soon as it had begun.
Armagnac's plans for a great routier army came to naught. He signed contracts with several companies and made down payments for their services, gaining commitments for them to vacate their positions across the south of France and join him on campaign upon the receipt of a second installment. The money he raised from the provincial assemblies had already been exhausted, though, and he could not afford the second installment he had promised. What's more, the count was already losing interest in the scheme, as the French were now planning to launch a massive invasion of England, which Armagnac wanted to join. In default on his contracts, the routiers simply pocketed the cash they had given as down payment and then returned to raiding the southern French countryside.
As Armagnac's routier scheme fell apart, Gaston's bastard half-brother, Yvain de Foix, led an army north to retake Thuriès. Gaston, abandoned by his ally and unprepared for a siege, fled the castle, bringing his short-lived rebellion to an ignominious end.
Aftermath
Gaston's Rebellion had little impact on the political situation in southern France in the short term. Fébus was the greatest lord in southern France before it began and remained so after it ended. Armagnac continued to dream of ways to claw back the parts of his wife's inheritance that Fébus had captured in previous conflicts. The duke of Berry continued as an absent governor and the routiers remained a scourge on the area. The rebellion had major long-term repercussions, though.
Gaston was forced to flee north from Thuriès, as he could not reach the courts of his uncle, King Charles II of Navarre, or father-in-law, Joan of Aragon, duke of Girona, without crossing his father's lands or venturing into the hostile territory of English Gascony. Instead, he made his way to Paris, where he joined the growing number of young nobles at the court of King Charles VI of France. He became a fixture at the French court, where his cousin, Charles of Navarre's son and heir, was a prisoner in name only, and in reality a guest of honor.
In 1389, Gaston swore an oath of fealty to Charles VI, imperiling Fébus's work to carve out his lands as an independent principality. Gaston had always been a disappointment to Fébus, who preferred his bastard sons to his legitimate one, but this was the final straw. Fébus disinherited Gaston and tried to legitimize Yvain so that his favorite son could inherit his lands. By this time, though, Gaston's father-in-law had succeeded to the crown of Aragon and used his influence with the pope in Avignon to obstruct Yvain's legitimization. The issue dragged on at the papal court and was still unsettled when Fébus died in 1391, setting off the War of the Fuxéen Succession.
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Thank you both. I had wanted to dig more into Armagnac and Foix in "Second government of the uncles," but it was already long. Still, I had imagined this whole life for Gaston, who obviously isn't killed by his father in ATL 1380, and thought it would make for a few fun bonus updates over time. Gaston will return in "Roussillon War" and "War of the Fuxéen Succession."
A tad ironic that John of Aragon blocks the legitimization of Yvain. In less than half a century his family may find wearing the same shoes...
Maybe. Then again, Martin the Younger's second wife won't be born since ATL Charles the Noble has made a different marriage, so the Aragonese line could look very different.
Royal Inferno
Royal Inferno
The death of King Charles II of Navarre occurred on 1 January 1387 in Pamplona. Charles had been ill for more than a year when his sick bed was accidentally set ablaze by a spark from a nearby fire in mid December 1386. He suffered severe burns and lingered near death for several weeks before passing. The gruesome details of his death quickly became a favorite topic for moralistic writers both in its own time and in later centuries. The horrific story was especially popular in France, where it became known more commonly as the Enfer Royal (Royal Inferno).
Background
King Charles II of Navarre was the eldest surviving son of Philippe, count of Évreux, and Queen Jeanne II of Navarre. Jeanne was the only surviving child of King Louis X of France, but she was just four years old at the time of his death and France had no precedent for a queen regnant. Her uncle quickly usurped the throne and crowned himself King Philippe V. Jeanne was supposed to inherit the wealthy counties of Brie and Champagne, but her uncle took these too. She was given the much poorer county of Angoulême and a stipend from the crown as compensation, but she was denied even these later in her life. Charles thus inherited only the small Pyrenean kingdom of Navarre upon her death in 1349. Through his father, he inherited the counties of Évreux and Mortain in Normandy. His younger brother, Philippe of Navarre, inherited their father's county of Longueville.
Charles believed himself to be the rightful king of France and resented the years of mistreatment to which he and his mother had been subjected. He artfully played the kingdoms of England and France off each other to advance his own interests in the early years of the Hundred Years War. His schemes were far less effective once the two sides made peace in 1360, though. The extinction of the Capetian house of Burgundy in 1361 made Charles heir to the duchy of Burgundy, but he was denied this great inheritance and was also denied the county of Longueville when his younger brother died without legitimate issue. In 1364, Charles went to war with the French crown for control of Burgundy, but was crushed. He was made to give up most of the lands that made up the county of Évreux as a result.
In the late 1360s and early 1370s, Charles plotted his revenge against the Valois kings of France. He tried to play England and France against one another again as they went back to war in 1369, but attempts to ally with England in 1370 and 1373 came to nothing. The two finally sealed an alliance in 1378, but the king of Navarre found that the French would no longer tolerate his schemes. He was quickly stripped of his remaining lands in France, which resulted in his younger children being taken hostage by the French. Navarre itself was then threatened with an invasion by France's chief ally, the kingdom of Castile, but an Anglo-Navarrese army scored an upset victory at the Battle of Estella and saved Navarre from Castilian conquest. Navarre was dependent on the continued goodwill of the English following the battle, putting the small kingdom in a precarious position as its king approached old age.
England and France
The Anglo-Navarrese victory at Estella in 1380 was the beginning of major English interest in the Iberian peninsula. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, had claimed to be the rightful king of Castile by right of his wife, Constanza of Castile, since 1371. As lord regent for King Edward V of England in the early 1380s, Gaunt was in a position to seriously press that claim. Charles of Navarre had his eldest son and heir's unhappy marriage to a Castilian princess annulled in order to secure an alliance with Gaunt at this time. On 24 June 1380, the heir to the Navarrese throne, who was also named Charles, was betrothed to one of Gaunt's daughters, Elizabeth of Lancaster. Gaunt insisted that his future son-in-law be appropriately endowed, leading the king of Navarre to bestow upon his son the rents from the town of Viana and to grant him the title prince of Viana in imitation of the title that English kings gave their heirs.
Gaunt launched a crusade for Castile in 1382. He quickly conquered Galicia and moved on to León in the first months of 1383. Gaunt's invasion gave Charles of Navarre the opportunity to expand his position on the Navarrese marches, but Gaunt's decision to invade through Galicia left Navarre on the periphery of the greater war effort and severely limited what the Navarrese might expect to win from a Lancastrian conquest. This did not escape the notice of Philippe II, duke of Burgundy, who served as regent for his young nephew, King Charles VI of France, and who was under serious pressure from Gaunt's rival and France's top ally, King Juan of Castile, for military support. The French were in no position to launch a campaign to Castile in 1383, though, as they were struggling with a major financial crisis and various revolts. Burgundy instead opted for a diplomatic approach to ease pressure on Castile.
In spring 1383, a French delegation led by Jean III, count of Sancerre, arrived in Pamplona. Sancerre showered Charles of Navarre with gifts and floated an offer to release the king's younger children from French custody in exchange for breaking the Anglo-Navarrese alliance and ending attacks on Castilian positions in the Navarrese marches.
Charles was an embittered man. He gladly accepted Sancerre's gifts, but he would not sell his allegiance so cheaply. Gaunt had conquered Galicia without breaking a sweat and news of a Lancastrian victory at the Siege of Benevente arrived in Pamplona shortly after the French delegation. Charles knew that the crown of France was out of his reach, even if he still considered it his by right, but he thought Gaunt's victories put him in a position to squeeze Sancerre until the French acquiesced to the restoration of Charles's lands and titles in Normandy. He badly overplayed his hand, as he had many times before. Sancerre would not entertain any discussion of Évreux or Mortain. Charles lost the chance to free his younger children and Sancerre left Pamplona.
Sancerre traveled south toward Aragon, which offered him safe passage through the Pyrenees and back into France, but he was stopped at Tudela by a squire in the service of the prince of Viana. The prince's younger siblings had been prisoners of the French crown for nearly five years by this time and, though they lived comfortably as guests of their uncle, the duke of Burgundy, two of the prince's younger sisters had already died in France. His sister Blanche had died in an outbreak of plague in 1382. His other sister, Bonne, had died shortly before Sancerre's mission left France in early 1383. The prince would not allow the opportunity to secure the release of the surviving infantes to slip by and offered to make himself a prisoner of the French in exchange for his brother and sisters' release. As heir to Navarre, he was a significantly more valuable prisoner than they were. Talks for an exchange of hostages proceeded secretly.
On 14 October, the prince of Viana surrendered himself to the French at Tarazona, an Aragonese town on the border with Navarre. His surviving sisters, Jeanne and Marie, were handed over to men loyal to the prince and escorted back to Pamplona. Their brother, Pierre, chose to remain in Paris. The prince of Viana's wife, Elizabeth of Lancaster, was not informed of the prince's plans until after the prisoner exchange had happened. She was likely left behind because she was pregnant at the time and the journey was deemed too difficult in her state. She gave birth to a short-lived daughter, named Jeanne, early in 1384. Elizabeth refused to join her husband in Paris after she recovered from the childbirth, viewing his actions as a betrayal of Navarre's alliance with her father. The young couple became estranged for a time.
The king of Navarre was left reeling by his son's move. His alliance with the English frayed, as Gaunt feared for his daughter's position in Pamplona, and the French lost interest in Charles as his young heir fell into the duke of Burgundy's orbit. The prince lived grandiosely as a "prisoner" in France. He was given a mansion in Paris, a generous stipend from the French crown, and was encouraged to build up his own retinue, creating a rival Navarrese court around the prince. He became famous across the kingdom for having given up his own freedom for that of his siblings, which became a celebrated act of chivalry. French writers dubbed him "Charles the Good" and contrasted him most favorably with his conniving, dastardly father, who they derided as "Charles the Bad."
The king of Navarre's position was made all the worse with the implosion of Lancaster's Crusade shortly after the prince of Viana's defection. Gaunt lost thousands of men to disease during the disastrous Siege of León, which ended with a withdrawal of Portuguese forces from Gaunt's army and the onset of the War of the Portuguese Succession. Gaunt, fuming that his daughter had seemingly been abandoned by her husband, cut the Navarrese out of peace talks with Castile. In early 1385, the Treaty of Bayonne was formally sealed, bringing Lancaster's Crusade to an end. It made no mention of Navarre.
Brittany, Castile and Foix
The king of Navarre found himself dangerously isolated as Gaunt moved toward peace with Castile. His alliance with the English was a dead letter, he was still on the outs with France, and he shared borders with the count of Foix, his brother-in-law and one of his oldest enemies, and Castile, where the recent regime change resulting from the collapse of the Trastámaran dynasty had made things dangerously unpredictable. Charles of Navarre needed allies, and quickly.
In late 1384, word reached Pamplona that the prince of Viana had begun talks to wed one of his surviving sisters to Jean IV, duke of Brittany. This outraged the king of Navarre, who still resented that his eldest son had willingly given himself over to the French a year prior. Cut out of talks between Gaunt and Castile, Charles refused to be sidelined from negotiations for one of his daughter's marriages.
A Navarrese embassy led by Guillermo de Plantarosa, master of the king's household, arrived at Nantes on 12 April 1385. He was backed up by the most experienced lawyers and negotiators that Navarre had to offer. Talks moved smoothly at first. An alliance between Brittany and Navarre was almost natural for the two parties, as the duke and king had each played England and France off one another for their own benefit at different times. Both men likely saw their potential alliance as a sort of third pole that could both stand apart from England and France, but that could also swing the balance of power towards one or the other as they saw fit.
The duke of Brittany was eager to secure the marriage of a young bride, as both of his first two marriages had been childless and wedding one of the Navarrese princesses—who were first cousins of the French king and had close relationships with their uncle, Burgundy, as a result of their long "imprisonment" in France—would complete Jean IV's rehabilitation within the French nobility. Still, Jean was in a stronger negotiating position than Charles was, which the duke used to demand a large dowry of 200,000 francs. The Navarrese could not afford such a sum and, though the two sides continued to trade embassies, no real progress was made. Talks stalled.
As the king of Navarre negotiated for a marriage alliance with Brittany, he tried to tip the balance of power closer to home. Gaston III, count of Foix, popularly known as Gaston Fébus, was the most powerful lord in the Pyrenees. Charles and Fébus had fallen out two decades earlier, after Fébus repudiated his wife, Agnès of Navarre, who was Charles's sister.
Charles was close with his nephew, also named Gaston, who was the only child from Fébus and Agnès's marriage, and thus Fébus's heir. Fébus, on the other hand, had a terrible relationship with own son and heir. Gaston resented his father for the humiliation of his mother, for having kept him from holding any power in Foix, and for providing him with an allowance that he considered insufficient for a prince of his rank. Charles preyed upon their strained relationship and may even have been party to Gaston's plans to overthrow Fébus in the spring of 1385. Gaston's Rebellion was a sad, short-lived affair, though, and the young prince was forced to flee the Pyrenees. Unable to reach his uncle's court in Pamplona, though, Gaston joined his cousin, the prince of Viana, in Paris. The king of Navare could only watch as yet another relation fell into the French orbit.
Death
The walls were closing in on Charles the Bad as 1386 dawned. He had held on to his crown, but his small kingdom was surrounded by enemies on all sides. His claim to the French throne was a joke to everyone but himself. His lands in Normandy had been overrun by the French, with the lone exception of his great castle at Cherbourg, which was held by the English. Both of his sons, as well as his nephew, had allied themselves with the Valois, who were his most hated enemies. Charles dreamed of avenging himself upon his enemies, but had neither the political connections nor the energy to pursue such schemes. He had fallen into ill health, his account books showing a number of doctors were in his employ from the start of the new year. By October, it was clear that he was dying. An old enemy returned to lead Charles out of the political wilderness shortly before his health failed him entirely, though.
In spring 1386, the duke of Burgundy breathed new life into moribund marriage talks between Brittany and Navarre. A massive French invasion of southern England was being prepared for that summer and Burgundy, who had seen a planned invasion fall apart a year prior, wanted to ensure that the flip-flopping duke of Brittany would not betray the French when their attention was turned elsewhere. The Navarrese had talked Jean down to a dowry of 120,000 francs, plus an annuity of 6,000 francs. It was still outside their ability to pay, though, and so Burgundy ordered the French treasury to cover the difference. The marriage of Jean IV and Marie of Navarre was contracted on 27 July, as the French crown made a one-time gift of 40,000 francs to the duke and provided him with a pension of 6,000 francs.
Charles was still well enough to accompany his daughter on her journey across the Pyrenees in August and personally saw her off in Bayonne on 2 September. Just a month later, though, he was confined to a sick bed in the royal palace. Doctors had the king wrapped in a cloth soaked in brandy to ease his pain. In mid December, the ailing king was moved too close to a fire and a spark caught the cloth, which went up instantly as a result of the alcohol. He lingered in excruciating pain for weeks and then finally died on 1 January 1387.
Aftermath
Charles the Bad was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Charles the Good, as King Charles III of Navarre. It is unclear exactly when the new king received word of his father's death. Passes through the Pyrenees were often blocked by heavy snows in the winter, making travel difficult. The journey would only have become more dangerous from there, as sea travel through the Bay of Biscay was treacherous that time of year and the land route through southern France was plagued by the routiers.
Charles III remained a prisoner of the French crown, regardless of when he learned of his father's passing. The government of the realm was left to his younger sister, Jeanne, who served as regent. Jeanne had a sharp mind for numbers and politics, proving to be quite adept at managing Navarre in Charles's absence. She was faced with a sensitive diplomatic topic soon after her father's death, as an English delegation led by Henry of Bolingbroke, 3rd earl of Derby, arrived in Pamplona in spring 1387. Bolingbroke, who was Elizabeth of Lancaster's brother, had hoped to rekindle Navarre's interests in Normandy, but was instead met with the unexpected news of Charles the Bad's death. The English were disappointed to leave Navarre with nothing, despite Jeanne having become smitten with the earl.
Elizabeth of Lancaster, the new queen of Navarre, was not in Pamplona when her brother arrived. She had moved to Paris in 1386 after a nearly three-year estrangement from her husband. The timing of her arrival, just as the French were preparing an invasion of her English homeland, raised suspicions, but the king of France welcomed her as an honored guest over the protests of his councilors.
The court of Charles VI attracted a new generation of French nobles to Paris. They were young, wealthy and rowdy. Feasts were common, wine flowed liberally, musicians played through the night, and sexual escapades scandalized the prudish chroniclers of the day. Charles III had already sired a bastard son before his wife's arrival at the French court. Elizabeth, a cheerful and vivacious woman, fit in easily and became one of the French king's favorites. When she gave birth to a son, named Charles, in 1387, there were rumors that Charles VI was the child's true father, not Charles III. She gave birth to a second child, Blanche, in 1388.
Charles III's brother, Pierre, was also a part of Charles VI's glittering young court. The friendships forged between the Navarrese princes and their French cousins did more to advance their positions in France than their father's scheming had ever done. In 1389, shortly after taking control of royal government, Charles VI granted Charles III the counties of Évreux and Longueville, restoring all the lands his family had once held in Upper Normandy, and also granted Pierre of Navarre the county of Mortain, along with all Charles the Bad's former lands in Lower Normandy. Later that year, Charles III was allowed to return to Pamplona without ransom, despite having been a prisoner of the French crown since 1383. Charles III's wife and their two children went with him, as did his cousin, Gaston of Foix.
Navarre's position recovered soon after Charles III ascended to the throne. He shared none of his father's dynastic ambitions, which was a huge relief to the kingdom's treasury and overtaxed population. He was keen to invest in the development of the local economy and took an interest in local affairs. The close friendship between Charles III and Charles VI strengthened the king of Navarre's hand in talks with Castile, and issues stemming from his father's expansion in the Navarrese marches in the early 1380s were soon resolved.
Charles III moved Navarre firmly into the Francosphere, backing the pope in Avignon, supporting France diplomatically, and even joining French armies with men from his Norman estates from time to time. His kingdom was too small and too exposed to attack from English Gascony to ever fully join the Hundred Years War on the French side, though, and he kept close diplomatic ties with England. He was also an important point of contact between Brittany and France, as relations between the two hit rock bottom in the early 1390s. New conflicts in and around the Pyrenees often kept him busy in Pamplona, though, as the Roussillon War broke out in 1390, followed by the War of the Fuxéen Succession in 1391. He did not return to France until the mid 1390s as a result.
The death of King Charles II of Navarre occurred on 1 January 1387 in Pamplona. Charles had been ill for more than a year when his sick bed was accidentally set ablaze by a spark from a nearby fire in mid December 1386. He suffered severe burns and lingered near death for several weeks before passing. The gruesome details of his death quickly became a favorite topic for moralistic writers both in its own time and in later centuries. The horrific story was especially popular in France, where it became known more commonly as the Enfer Royal (Royal Inferno).
Background
King Charles II of Navarre was the eldest surviving son of Philippe, count of Évreux, and Queen Jeanne II of Navarre. Jeanne was the only surviving child of King Louis X of France, but she was just four years old at the time of his death and France had no precedent for a queen regnant. Her uncle quickly usurped the throne and crowned himself King Philippe V. Jeanne was supposed to inherit the wealthy counties of Brie and Champagne, but her uncle took these too. She was given the much poorer county of Angoulême and a stipend from the crown as compensation, but she was denied even these later in her life. Charles thus inherited only the small Pyrenean kingdom of Navarre upon her death in 1349. Through his father, he inherited the counties of Évreux and Mortain in Normandy. His younger brother, Philippe of Navarre, inherited their father's county of Longueville.
Charles believed himself to be the rightful king of France and resented the years of mistreatment to which he and his mother had been subjected. He artfully played the kingdoms of England and France off each other to advance his own interests in the early years of the Hundred Years War. His schemes were far less effective once the two sides made peace in 1360, though. The extinction of the Capetian house of Burgundy in 1361 made Charles heir to the duchy of Burgundy, but he was denied this great inheritance and was also denied the county of Longueville when his younger brother died without legitimate issue. In 1364, Charles went to war with the French crown for control of Burgundy, but was crushed. He was made to give up most of the lands that made up the county of Évreux as a result.
In the late 1360s and early 1370s, Charles plotted his revenge against the Valois kings of France. He tried to play England and France against one another again as they went back to war in 1369, but attempts to ally with England in 1370 and 1373 came to nothing. The two finally sealed an alliance in 1378, but the king of Navarre found that the French would no longer tolerate his schemes. He was quickly stripped of his remaining lands in France, which resulted in his younger children being taken hostage by the French. Navarre itself was then threatened with an invasion by France's chief ally, the kingdom of Castile, but an Anglo-Navarrese army scored an upset victory at the Battle of Estella and saved Navarre from Castilian conquest. Navarre was dependent on the continued goodwill of the English following the battle, putting the small kingdom in a precarious position as its king approached old age.
England and France
The Anglo-Navarrese victory at Estella in 1380 was the beginning of major English interest in the Iberian peninsula. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, had claimed to be the rightful king of Castile by right of his wife, Constanza of Castile, since 1371. As lord regent for King Edward V of England in the early 1380s, Gaunt was in a position to seriously press that claim. Charles of Navarre had his eldest son and heir's unhappy marriage to a Castilian princess annulled in order to secure an alliance with Gaunt at this time. On 24 June 1380, the heir to the Navarrese throne, who was also named Charles, was betrothed to one of Gaunt's daughters, Elizabeth of Lancaster. Gaunt insisted that his future son-in-law be appropriately endowed, leading the king of Navarre to bestow upon his son the rents from the town of Viana and to grant him the title prince of Viana in imitation of the title that English kings gave their heirs.
Gaunt launched a crusade for Castile in 1382. He quickly conquered Galicia and moved on to León in the first months of 1383. Gaunt's invasion gave Charles of Navarre the opportunity to expand his position on the Navarrese marches, but Gaunt's decision to invade through Galicia left Navarre on the periphery of the greater war effort and severely limited what the Navarrese might expect to win from a Lancastrian conquest. This did not escape the notice of Philippe II, duke of Burgundy, who served as regent for his young nephew, King Charles VI of France, and who was under serious pressure from Gaunt's rival and France's top ally, King Juan of Castile, for military support. The French were in no position to launch a campaign to Castile in 1383, though, as they were struggling with a major financial crisis and various revolts. Burgundy instead opted for a diplomatic approach to ease pressure on Castile.
In spring 1383, a French delegation led by Jean III, count of Sancerre, arrived in Pamplona. Sancerre showered Charles of Navarre with gifts and floated an offer to release the king's younger children from French custody in exchange for breaking the Anglo-Navarrese alliance and ending attacks on Castilian positions in the Navarrese marches.
Charles was an embittered man. He gladly accepted Sancerre's gifts, but he would not sell his allegiance so cheaply. Gaunt had conquered Galicia without breaking a sweat and news of a Lancastrian victory at the Siege of Benevente arrived in Pamplona shortly after the French delegation. Charles knew that the crown of France was out of his reach, even if he still considered it his by right, but he thought Gaunt's victories put him in a position to squeeze Sancerre until the French acquiesced to the restoration of Charles's lands and titles in Normandy. He badly overplayed his hand, as he had many times before. Sancerre would not entertain any discussion of Évreux or Mortain. Charles lost the chance to free his younger children and Sancerre left Pamplona.
Sancerre traveled south toward Aragon, which offered him safe passage through the Pyrenees and back into France, but he was stopped at Tudela by a squire in the service of the prince of Viana. The prince's younger siblings had been prisoners of the French crown for nearly five years by this time and, though they lived comfortably as guests of their uncle, the duke of Burgundy, two of the prince's younger sisters had already died in France. His sister Blanche had died in an outbreak of plague in 1382. His other sister, Bonne, had died shortly before Sancerre's mission left France in early 1383. The prince would not allow the opportunity to secure the release of the surviving infantes to slip by and offered to make himself a prisoner of the French in exchange for his brother and sisters' release. As heir to Navarre, he was a significantly more valuable prisoner than they were. Talks for an exchange of hostages proceeded secretly.
On 14 October, the prince of Viana surrendered himself to the French at Tarazona, an Aragonese town on the border with Navarre. His surviving sisters, Jeanne and Marie, were handed over to men loyal to the prince and escorted back to Pamplona. Their brother, Pierre, chose to remain in Paris. The prince of Viana's wife, Elizabeth of Lancaster, was not informed of the prince's plans until after the prisoner exchange had happened. She was likely left behind because she was pregnant at the time and the journey was deemed too difficult in her state. She gave birth to a short-lived daughter, named Jeanne, early in 1384. Elizabeth refused to join her husband in Paris after she recovered from the childbirth, viewing his actions as a betrayal of Navarre's alliance with her father. The young couple became estranged for a time.
The king of Navarre was left reeling by his son's move. His alliance with the English frayed, as Gaunt feared for his daughter's position in Pamplona, and the French lost interest in Charles as his young heir fell into the duke of Burgundy's orbit. The prince lived grandiosely as a "prisoner" in France. He was given a mansion in Paris, a generous stipend from the French crown, and was encouraged to build up his own retinue, creating a rival Navarrese court around the prince. He became famous across the kingdom for having given up his own freedom for that of his siblings, which became a celebrated act of chivalry. French writers dubbed him "Charles the Good" and contrasted him most favorably with his conniving, dastardly father, who they derided as "Charles the Bad."
The king of Navarre's position was made all the worse with the implosion of Lancaster's Crusade shortly after the prince of Viana's defection. Gaunt lost thousands of men to disease during the disastrous Siege of León, which ended with a withdrawal of Portuguese forces from Gaunt's army and the onset of the War of the Portuguese Succession. Gaunt, fuming that his daughter had seemingly been abandoned by her husband, cut the Navarrese out of peace talks with Castile. In early 1385, the Treaty of Bayonne was formally sealed, bringing Lancaster's Crusade to an end. It made no mention of Navarre.
Brittany, Castile and Foix
The king of Navarre found himself dangerously isolated as Gaunt moved toward peace with Castile. His alliance with the English was a dead letter, he was still on the outs with France, and he shared borders with the count of Foix, his brother-in-law and one of his oldest enemies, and Castile, where the recent regime change resulting from the collapse of the Trastámaran dynasty had made things dangerously unpredictable. Charles of Navarre needed allies, and quickly.
In late 1384, word reached Pamplona that the prince of Viana had begun talks to wed one of his surviving sisters to Jean IV, duke of Brittany. This outraged the king of Navarre, who still resented that his eldest son had willingly given himself over to the French a year prior. Cut out of talks between Gaunt and Castile, Charles refused to be sidelined from negotiations for one of his daughter's marriages.
A Navarrese embassy led by Guillermo de Plantarosa, master of the king's household, arrived at Nantes on 12 April 1385. He was backed up by the most experienced lawyers and negotiators that Navarre had to offer. Talks moved smoothly at first. An alliance between Brittany and Navarre was almost natural for the two parties, as the duke and king had each played England and France off one another for their own benefit at different times. Both men likely saw their potential alliance as a sort of third pole that could both stand apart from England and France, but that could also swing the balance of power towards one or the other as they saw fit.
The duke of Brittany was eager to secure the marriage of a young bride, as both of his first two marriages had been childless and wedding one of the Navarrese princesses—who were first cousins of the French king and had close relationships with their uncle, Burgundy, as a result of their long "imprisonment" in France—would complete Jean IV's rehabilitation within the French nobility. Still, Jean was in a stronger negotiating position than Charles was, which the duke used to demand a large dowry of 200,000 francs. The Navarrese could not afford such a sum and, though the two sides continued to trade embassies, no real progress was made. Talks stalled.
As the king of Navarre negotiated for a marriage alliance with Brittany, he tried to tip the balance of power closer to home. Gaston III, count of Foix, popularly known as Gaston Fébus, was the most powerful lord in the Pyrenees. Charles and Fébus had fallen out two decades earlier, after Fébus repudiated his wife, Agnès of Navarre, who was Charles's sister.
Charles was close with his nephew, also named Gaston, who was the only child from Fébus and Agnès's marriage, and thus Fébus's heir. Fébus, on the other hand, had a terrible relationship with own son and heir. Gaston resented his father for the humiliation of his mother, for having kept him from holding any power in Foix, and for providing him with an allowance that he considered insufficient for a prince of his rank. Charles preyed upon their strained relationship and may even have been party to Gaston's plans to overthrow Fébus in the spring of 1385. Gaston's Rebellion was a sad, short-lived affair, though, and the young prince was forced to flee the Pyrenees. Unable to reach his uncle's court in Pamplona, though, Gaston joined his cousin, the prince of Viana, in Paris. The king of Navare could only watch as yet another relation fell into the French orbit.
Death
The walls were closing in on Charles the Bad as 1386 dawned. He had held on to his crown, but his small kingdom was surrounded by enemies on all sides. His claim to the French throne was a joke to everyone but himself. His lands in Normandy had been overrun by the French, with the lone exception of his great castle at Cherbourg, which was held by the English. Both of his sons, as well as his nephew, had allied themselves with the Valois, who were his most hated enemies. Charles dreamed of avenging himself upon his enemies, but had neither the political connections nor the energy to pursue such schemes. He had fallen into ill health, his account books showing a number of doctors were in his employ from the start of the new year. By October, it was clear that he was dying. An old enemy returned to lead Charles out of the political wilderness shortly before his health failed him entirely, though.
In spring 1386, the duke of Burgundy breathed new life into moribund marriage talks between Brittany and Navarre. A massive French invasion of southern England was being prepared for that summer and Burgundy, who had seen a planned invasion fall apart a year prior, wanted to ensure that the flip-flopping duke of Brittany would not betray the French when their attention was turned elsewhere. The Navarrese had talked Jean down to a dowry of 120,000 francs, plus an annuity of 6,000 francs. It was still outside their ability to pay, though, and so Burgundy ordered the French treasury to cover the difference. The marriage of Jean IV and Marie of Navarre was contracted on 27 July, as the French crown made a one-time gift of 40,000 francs to the duke and provided him with a pension of 6,000 francs.
Charles was still well enough to accompany his daughter on her journey across the Pyrenees in August and personally saw her off in Bayonne on 2 September. Just a month later, though, he was confined to a sick bed in the royal palace. Doctors had the king wrapped in a cloth soaked in brandy to ease his pain. In mid December, the ailing king was moved too close to a fire and a spark caught the cloth, which went up instantly as a result of the alcohol. He lingered in excruciating pain for weeks and then finally died on 1 January 1387.
Aftermath
Charles the Bad was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Charles the Good, as King Charles III of Navarre. It is unclear exactly when the new king received word of his father's death. Passes through the Pyrenees were often blocked by heavy snows in the winter, making travel difficult. The journey would only have become more dangerous from there, as sea travel through the Bay of Biscay was treacherous that time of year and the land route through southern France was plagued by the routiers.
Charles III remained a prisoner of the French crown, regardless of when he learned of his father's passing. The government of the realm was left to his younger sister, Jeanne, who served as regent. Jeanne had a sharp mind for numbers and politics, proving to be quite adept at managing Navarre in Charles's absence. She was faced with a sensitive diplomatic topic soon after her father's death, as an English delegation led by Henry of Bolingbroke, 3rd earl of Derby, arrived in Pamplona in spring 1387. Bolingbroke, who was Elizabeth of Lancaster's brother, had hoped to rekindle Navarre's interests in Normandy, but was instead met with the unexpected news of Charles the Bad's death. The English were disappointed to leave Navarre with nothing, despite Jeanne having become smitten with the earl.
Elizabeth of Lancaster, the new queen of Navarre, was not in Pamplona when her brother arrived. She had moved to Paris in 1386 after a nearly three-year estrangement from her husband. The timing of her arrival, just as the French were preparing an invasion of her English homeland, raised suspicions, but the king of France welcomed her as an honored guest over the protests of his councilors.
The court of Charles VI attracted a new generation of French nobles to Paris. They were young, wealthy and rowdy. Feasts were common, wine flowed liberally, musicians played through the night, and sexual escapades scandalized the prudish chroniclers of the day. Charles III had already sired a bastard son before his wife's arrival at the French court. Elizabeth, a cheerful and vivacious woman, fit in easily and became one of the French king's favorites. When she gave birth to a son, named Charles, in 1387, there were rumors that Charles VI was the child's true father, not Charles III. She gave birth to a second child, Blanche, in 1388.
Charles III's brother, Pierre, was also a part of Charles VI's glittering young court. The friendships forged between the Navarrese princes and their French cousins did more to advance their positions in France than their father's scheming had ever done. In 1389, shortly after taking control of royal government, Charles VI granted Charles III the counties of Évreux and Longueville, restoring all the lands his family had once held in Upper Normandy, and also granted Pierre of Navarre the county of Mortain, along with all Charles the Bad's former lands in Lower Normandy. Later that year, Charles III was allowed to return to Pamplona without ransom, despite having been a prisoner of the French crown since 1383. Charles III's wife and their two children went with him, as did his cousin, Gaston of Foix.
Navarre's position recovered soon after Charles III ascended to the throne. He shared none of his father's dynastic ambitions, which was a huge relief to the kingdom's treasury and overtaxed population. He was keen to invest in the development of the local economy and took an interest in local affairs. The close friendship between Charles III and Charles VI strengthened the king of Navarre's hand in talks with Castile, and issues stemming from his father's expansion in the Navarrese marches in the early 1380s were soon resolved.
Charles III moved Navarre firmly into the Francosphere, backing the pope in Avignon, supporting France diplomatically, and even joining French armies with men from his Norman estates from time to time. His kingdom was too small and too exposed to attack from English Gascony to ever fully join the Hundred Years War on the French side, though, and he kept close diplomatic ties with England. He was also an important point of contact between Brittany and France, as relations between the two hit rock bottom in the early 1390s. New conflicts in and around the Pyrenees often kept him busy in Pamplona, though, as the Roussillon War broke out in 1390, followed by the War of the Fuxéen Succession in 1391. He did not return to France until the mid 1390s as a result.
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And we're back—again!
I lost interest in the timeline for a bit after the last update, and so decided to take a little break. But then I got a burst of energy and got back to work big time. In fact, I ended up not just writing this, but all three of the articles that I put up for a vote last time. So we're going to do things a bit differently ...
Firstly, we have this update. Next, Breton Crisis of 1387 will go up on January 31. Then, Guelders War will go up on February 11. I'm launching the poll for what will come after that right now, so this release schedule will keep updates coming regularly while I write what comes next.
The options for the next update after Guelders War are:
I lost interest in the timeline for a bit after the last update, and so decided to take a little break. But then I got a burst of energy and got back to work big time. In fact, I ended up not just writing this, but all three of the articles that I put up for a vote last time. So we're going to do things a bit differently ...
Firstly, we have this update. Next, Breton Crisis of 1387 will go up on January 31. Then, Guelders War will go up on February 11. I'm launching the poll for what will come after that right now, so this release schedule will keep updates coming regularly while I write what comes next.
The options for the next update after Guelders War are:
- Battle of Newcastle: Edward V chooses his ambitions in Britain over his ambitions on the continent, with major consequences for both England and Scotland.
- Provençal Civil War: Carlo III invades Provence with dreams of sacking Avignon, but is he already too late?
Newcastle let's go british isles! @material_boy so happy to see you again!