King of the Hundred Days
The
reign of King Edward IV of England, known in popular memory as the Black Prince, lasted for 100 days, from 21 June to 29 September 1377. The second king in the
Year of the Three Edwards, Edward IV is sometimes called the
King of the Hundred Days.
Background
The Black Prince had a long and celebrated military career before succeeding to the throne. He distinguished himself fighting in the Battle of Crécy at age 16 in 1346 and led the English to an unlikely victory against a much larger French force at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. His capture of King Jean II of France at Poitiers ultimately led to the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, which gave England control over southwestern France. Edward III organized this new territory into the principality of Aquitaine, which he granted to the Black Prince.
The Treaty of Brétigny established a formal peace between England and France, but proxy wars in Brittany and Castile continued through the 1360s. The Black Prince led an army into Castile and inflicted heavy casualties on the forces of Enrique de Trastámara at the Battle of Nájera in 1367. His continued military success, combined with his lavish lifestyle and largesse, made him a popular figure with the English nobility, but forced severe taxation. This ultimately led to rebellion in Aquitaine and renewed war with France in 1369.
A series of French victories in the early 1370s resulted in England's near-total eviction from the continent. By 1375, all that remained of the lands England had won in 1360 were the towns of Auray, Calais, Brest, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and a collection of small fortresses spread across the Aquitanian interior. Despite an overwhelming French military advantage, the Black Prince's brother, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, managed to negotiate a one-year truce. The truce was extended for a second year in 1376.
Illness and incapacity
After the Nájera campaign, the Black Prince suffered a chronic affliction that left him near death on at least two occasions. Contemporaries described this affliction as dysentery, though modern historians question the likelihood that he could sustain a ten-year battle with dysentery, which can be fatal in a matter of weeks.
The Black Prince was forced to return to England in 1371 as a result of his illness, leaving Gaunt as lieutenant of Aquitaine. In an effort to hide the seriousness of his condition, the Black Prince managed a practically vacant household and kept all but the most necessary figures away. He appeared in public only in times of improved health, which were rare after 1374. The Black Prince's retreat from public life, combined with Gaunt's diplomatic success and prestigious military appointment in Aquitaine, led Gaunt to assume a greater role in royal government as Edward III advanced in age.
The Black Prince's last major public appearance before succeeding to the throne was at the contentious parliament of 1376, which later became known as the
Bad Parliament. One account of the arrest of Sir Peter de la Mare describes the Black Prince as pale and drawn, suggesting that his health had begun to decline over the course of the long parliament, which sat for more than two months. The Black Prince retreated again from public life after the dissolution of parliament in July. His condition had so deteriorated by September that he was confined to Kennington Palace thereafter.
Preparations for war
Early in March 1377, Edward III's council, which was controlled by the Black Prince after the events of the Bad Parliament, received its first report as to the scale of the French military operation planned for the coming summer. Sir Thomas Felton, seneschal of Aquitaine, had come into possession of documents detailing French and Castilian naval preparations after the capture of a French spy in Gascony. The information gleaned from these papers and the spy's interrogation revealed that the French were coordinating assaults on every English position on the continent as well as southern England and Wales. The council acted quickly to address the situation. Summons for parliament were issued and an embassy to France was simultaneously dispatched in a last-ditch effort to extend the truce. A diplomatic mission to Navarre was also planned, but scotched by the Black Prince.
Edward III presided over the opening of parliament on 5 May 1377. The king's appearance here and at the Order of the Garter ceremonies the month prior gave many the impression that his health was on the mend. The Black Prince attended the opening ceremony, but neither the king nor prince took part in any further proceedings. Gaunt represented the king through the rest of the parliament. The details of the French war plans were so alarming that the Commons approved a new grant of taxation.
Men and materials were quickly dispatched to areas known to be French targets. Six hundred men were sent to Pembrokeshire, castles across southern Wales were repaired and resupplied, new garrisons were ordered into the Isle of Wight and ports in Cornwall and Devon, and 1,000 men were put into Dover Castle. Sir Michael de la Pole concentrated the whole fleet of the northern admiralty on the Thames, though this was a rump force after the 1372 Battle of La Rochelle. The garrisons at Berwick and Lochmaben on the Scottish march were also reinforced, though there was no mention of Scotland in the captured French war plans. Most importantly, magnates were charged with defending areas in which they were the principal landholders as to allow for a rapid response to any French attack.
First days
The Black Prince succeeded to the throne as Edward IV upon his father's death on 21 June 1377. He likely received news of his father's passing early the following morning and wrote to Gaunt saying "I have ascended the throne of our father" on 22 June.
On 23 June, the embassy to France returned to England and learned of Edward III's death. John Harewell, bishop of Bath and Wells, who was a longtime councilor of the Black Prince and had been a part of the diplomatic mission, wrote that he and his fellow ambassadors "found the country full of lamentation and foreboding" upon their return.
William Montagu, 2nd earl of Salisbury, had led the embassy and reported immediately to Edward IV. He informed the king that the French were unwilling to extend a truce, but had made an offer for permanent peace. King Charles V of France proposed to buy out English claims to the old duchy of Aquitaine for 1.2 million francs (£200,000) and restore England to all lands in the old duchy of Gascony in exchange for the immediate English abandonment of Calais and for the king of England's homage to the king of France for Gascony. Charles further proposed sealing the peace with the marriage of his daughter, Marie, and Edward's son and heir, Edward of Angoulême. The offer would halve the territory that the English had won in the Treaty of Brétigny while also reducing English Gascony to the legal status it had held before the Edwardian War.
From a diplomatic standpoint, the French offer was remarkably generous given the English military position in France. Politically, it was impossible for the English to accept any deal that submitted their king to the king of France. Personally, it was an outrage to Edward, who erupted in anger at the idea that he would pay homage for half the land he had once ruled in southwestern France. Legally, the proposal was already null and void, as it had been made to Salisbury as a representative of Edward III, who was now dead. The English had no diplomatic option available to them and the truce was set to expire on 24 June.
Various documents and letters signed by Edward IV or carrying his seal survive from the days immediately following his father's death, but the new king appears to have remained at Kennington for several weeks, suggesting that he was physically weak but had full control of his mental faculties. These documents demonstrate the chaos produced by Edward III's death at such a crucial time, as the actions taken by the royal council through the spring to prepare for war were called into question. Their commands were given in the name of Edward III from March to June 1377 and their authority had now lapsed with his death. Edward IV issued a flurry of orders to keep the kingdom at high alert.
The defense of the realm was further complicated by the sudden need to plan both a state funeral and a coronation. These ceremonies were an important part of the English political tradition and necessary for establishing the legitimacy of the new regime, but some were accused of abandoning their military responsibilities to secure prestigious roles for themselves in these events. The chroniclers Jean Froissart and Thomas Walsingham wrote of Richard Fitzalan, 4th earl of Arundel, with particular scorn. Arundel had been charged with the defense of Sussex, but was engrossed in planning Edward's coronation when 500 Englishmen were lured into a French trap along the southern coast. The coronation, originally planned for mid-July, was postponed until August.
French invasion
On 29 June, a French force under the command of Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, landed at Winchelsea with the support of a fleet of Castilian galleys and
naos. They made their way up the Rother and attacked Rye. The English had built new walls to protect the small river port, but the new defenses were not complete and the town fell to the French that same day.
Vienne occupied Rye with the intention of using the town as a base from which to stage a larger invasion. The French plan at this time was to lay waste to southern England, as Edward III had to northern France during his devastating
chevauchées in the 1340s. The French had seen firsthand how terror camapigns could disrupt a kingdom's economy and provoke the lower classes into rebellion. To this end, Vienne had landed with a force of 4,000 men to secure landing sites as an army of 8,000 mustered in Normandy. After capturing Rye, Vienne sent the bulk of his force west so that a second base could be established at Hastings.
The English defensive system was highly decentralized. It was designed so that men could be swiftly called out to repel French landings anywhere in southern England or Wales and relied on having men armed and ready in their homes. It would prove to be fairly successful despite the turmoil caused by Edward III's death.
Hamo of Offington, the abbot of Battle, led the local response to the French invasion. He and his men quickly captured the beached galleys that had carried the French to shore at Winchelsea, which provoked panic in Vienne's ranks. The loss of their ships meant that the French had no means of escape should the English launch a major assault on Rye. Vienne lacked the manpower to both defend the town and sortie out to retake the galleys, as he had ordered most of his number west to capture Hastings. An outrider was sent to recall the detachment from Hastings, which had barely reached the town when they were ordered to abandon their mission and return to Rye. They burnt Hastings to the ground and returned east, chasing Hamo's local force into the countryside. Having lost the element of surprise, the French abandoned Rye.
Vienne next landed at Rottingdean, which he found defenseless in Arundel's absence. John of Charlieu, prior of Lewes, organized a local response to the town's capture with the support of Sir John Fawsley and Sir Thomas Cheyne. They led a force of 500 Englishmen to the beach, perhaps in an attempt to capture the French galleys as Hamo had done at Winchelsea, but they were ambushed during their approach. Charlieu, Fawsley and Cheyne were taken prisoner and more than 100 of their men were killed. The French and Castilians faced no further opposition in the area and moved inland to sack Lewes. Edward IV was said to have become so enraged when news of the attack on Sussex reached Kennington that he ordered Arundel back to his estates to expel the French, but the French withdrew to the coast and set sail before Arundel could mount an attack.
The French and Castilian fleets attempted other landings along the southern coast of England in July, but local defenses were better prepared outside of Sussex. The invaders returned to Harfleur before the end of the month, unable to establish a base of operations or achieve anything of note after the sack of Lewes.
Coronation
On 3 July, Edward IV's brothers Edmund of Langley, 1st earl of Cambridge, and Sir Thomas of Woodstock escorted the body of Edward III from Sheen Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral. They led a procession of more than 1,000 mourners, including 400 torchbearers, and were met at St. Paul's by Gaunt and William Courtenay, bishop of London. Gaunt and Courteney led the coffin inside and onto a platform that had been erected at the center of the cathedral. A mass was performed for the mourners and church services continued on through the night in honor of the old king. The following morning at dawn, the three princes led a march from St. Paul's Cathedral to Westminster Palace, where they were greeted by Edward IV.
This was Edward IV's first public appearance since May. Accounts of the day say that he was standing at the head of a receiving party that included his wife
Joan of Kent and their two sons, but his absence from St. Paul's and the procession therefrom suggests that he may not have been well enough to stand for very long. Edward III's body lay in state overnight at Westminster Palace before being interred at the Abbey.
Gaunt, as lord high steward, was responsible for the planning of the coronation. He ensured that all business related to the ceremony and its proceedings were documented in the Close Roll, providing the most complete record of a medieval coronation to date. On 9 July, in an attempt to appease the magnates and ensure the smooth running of events, Gaunt sat in the White Chamber to hear petitions from any lord or knight who felt that he had a right to perform a service at the coronation. This proved so successful that it would be repeated for all future coronations and grow in time to become the Court of Claims.
Edward IV was formally crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 August. Established customs were largely observed, but some notable changes were made. Among them, the procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Palace that traditionally preceded coronation day was not made and a procession from Westminster to the Tower was made after coronation day instead. This may have been done to accommodate the new king's declining health. Edward had remained at Westminster after his father's interment instead of returning to his favorite palace at Kennington, a possible sign that he did not have the strength to travel. The coronation's procession may therefore have been moved so that the king would not have to make the journey from Westminster to the Tower just to proceed back to Westminster for the coronation ceremony.
Edward took confession at dawn on coronation day. He then heard three masses at St. Stephen's Chapel in honor of the Holy Trinity, to which he was intensely devoted. He was purified with holy water and incense before being escorted from the royal chamber by the monks of Canterbury. In a display of Christian humility, Edward and Joan emerged from Westminster Palace barefoot and wrapped in gauze. They traveled the short distance from the Palace to the Abbey by carriage, likely because Edward was too weak to walk. Their movement was slow, as the space was choked by crowds of onlookers.
A procession formed at the doors to the Abbey. The bishop of London entered first, carrying the sacraments. He was followed by the monks of Westminster. The bishop of Winchester came next bearing the chalice of St. Edward, then the bishop of Exeter with the paten. The duke of Lancaster, carrying the royal scepter, was the first lay lord to follow the bishops. He was followed by the earl of Cambridge, carrying a gold rod surmounted by a dove. The prince of Wales bore Curtana, the blunted sword of Mercy that once belonged to Edward the Confessor. The earl of March and the earl of Warwick followed the prince, carrying the two swords of justice. Finally, the king and queen entered, flanked on one side by the bishop of Bath and Wells and the other by the bishop of Durham.
Simon Sudbury, the archbishop of Canterbury, met the procession in the center of the Abbey, where a stage had been erected and covered in crimson cloth. St. Edward's Chair sat atop the stage draped in gold cloth. Edward climbed the steps onto the stage and took his seat with Joan at his side. Sudbury came forward to ask the lords if they wanted Edward as their king. The lords bellowed "Yes" so that it rang out through the Abbey. This "election" of the king was purely ceremonial by 1377, but it had been a central part of English kingship prior to the Norman Conquest. Sudbury then read the four articles of the coronation oath, which Edward swore to uphold. Edward stood to deliver an address in French that embellished the king's God-given authority, which he had aggressively and controversially defended at the Bad Parliament.
Sudbury led Edward and Joan from the stage to the altar. A gold cloth was used to shield the king and queen from the audience as Edward and Joan were stripped of their clothing above the waist. Their hands, chests, shoulders, upper backs, arms and heads were anointed with holy oil. They were covered in the cloth of gold and formally crowned.
Edward and Joan donned cloaks of purple silk and brocade and returned to the platform with Sudbury. They were joined there by Angoulême. Sudbury asked the lords if they accepted the prince as heir to the throne and the lords again bellowed "Yes." Angoulême knelt to receive a coronet, ring and rod as signs of his authority. An election of the prince of Wales had no precedent and its inclusion in the coronation ceremony, which was a solemn religious occasion, may imply that Edward already knew that he was nearing the end of his life.
A High Mass was held and, once complete, Edward offered the coronation's holy relics to the shrine of St. Edward. Music played as the procession moved out of Westminster Abbey and back to the Palace.
There was an intermission between the coronation ceremony and the feast. Edward and Joan sat in the Painted Chamber as the lord chancellor sealed letters patent formally bestowing the titles of prince of Wales, duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester onto Angoulême. The prince then stood by his father's side as the lords and ladies in attendance, beginning with Gaunt and his wife, Constanza of Castile, paid homage to the king and swore oaths to support Angoulême as his heir.
Edward created two new titles at the oath-swearing in addition to those bestowed upon Angoulême, both for members of the royal family. His brother Langley, who had been made earl of Cambridge during their father's reign, was given the title duke of Aumale and granted the lordship of Holderness, which had been home to the de Forz earls of Aumale, to support his new rank. His youngest brother, Woodstock, was created earl of Buckingham.
The feast that followed lasted for several hours. The long day took a serious toll on Edward's health. Two knights were required to help lift him from his seat at the end of the night. The following day's procession was postponed for hours, likely as a result of the king's exhaustion. The crowds that had gathered in the streets that morning slowly dispersed. The procession was finally attempted at midday, but the king was so weak that he could not sit upright without support. He was wrapped in gold cloth and nailed into a carriage so that he could make the journey. Joan and their younger son, Richard, rode in the carriage with him so that the nails could not be seen by onlookers.
Edward and his family were housed in the royal apartments at the Tower upon their arrival. The king would remain there until his death weeks later.
Scottish raids
In July, a series of small and mostly unrelated incidents along the Scottish march inflamed tensions on both sides of the border. One of these incidents was at the Roxburgh fair, where a brawl between drunken fairgoers ended in the accidental death of a Scotsman who had been in the employ of George Dunbar, 10th earl of Dunbar. Dunbar was the most powerful lord in southeastern Scotland and his response to the events at the Roxburgh fair nearly brought England and Scotland to all-out war.
On 10 August, Dunbar marched a small army to Roxburgh, which was then under English control. His men massacred the local population and burned the town to the ground. He led an ambush on the English garrison at Berwick just days later, killing several Englishmen and capturing Sir Thomas Musgrave, captain of Berwick. Dunbar justified his actions as a response to the English failure to compensate the widow of the man who'd been killed at the Roxburgh fair, but the later discovery of a French ambassador in the Scottish march suggests that the assault was planned in concert with the French.
On 19 August, news reached London that Henry Percy, 4th baron Percy, had raised an army and planned to lead an expedition into Scotland in retaliation. The rapidly escalating crisis alarmed the royal council and Edward dispatched Gaunt to restore order. Gaunt would not arrive in time to stop Percy from raiding Dunbar's lands, but a tense truce between the border lords was restored in September.
War in France
The English had three footholds in France in 1377: Aquitaine, Brittany and Calais. The French planned attacks on each of these positions as part of a summer campaign. Charles V's brother Louis I, duke of Anjou, would lead an assault on English partisans in Aquitaine. Another brother, Philippe II, duke of Burgundy, would attack the stronghold of Calais. Olivier V de Clisson would lead a campaign against the last remaining Anglo-Montfort positions in Brittany. Charles envisioned the fall of Bordeaux, Brest and Calais by the end of the year, but all three campaigns fell short by fall.
Battle of Eymet
The collapse of the principality of Aquitaine in the early 1370s had been swift, but uneven. Armagnac defected to the Valois in 1369, Limousin and Périgord had been largely conquered by 1370, Poitou by 1372, Angoulême and Saintonge by 1373, and Agenais by 1374. By 1375, France had control of nearly the entire principality outside of Bayonne and Bordeaux, but the speed of the conquest hadn't allowed time for the French to consolidate their gains. A number of minor Gascon lords remained committed to English overlordship even as territory around them fell to the French. These minor lords did not control great swathes of land, but their small castles and walled towns dotted the terrain from southern Poitou through Saintonge and Angoulême and into Périgord. These holdouts made the logistics of a direct assault on Bayonne or Bordeaux difficult, as long French supply lines were exposed to attack.
The English had done little to support these minor lords through the two-year truce. Edward III's government was desperately low on funds and rife with corruption in the mid 1370s, which left local lords to prepare their own defenses. The royal council installed by the Black Prince in the wake of the Bad Parliament had managed to collect nearly £12,000 to support Aquitaine's defenses, mostly from fines, but Gascon administrators had not yet dispersed these funds far beyond Bordeaux. As a result, the Gascons who'd remained loyal to the English through the principality's interior lacked the funds to fully garrison their positions or supply them ahead of a renewed French offensive.
A two-prong assault led by Anjou was the brainchild of Bertrand du Guesclin, constable of France. Anjou gathered an army of more than 2,000 men at Poitiers in late July while Jean III, lord of Bueil, mustered a smaller force at Agen. In early August, the two men began marching their armies on circuitous routes towards Bergerac. Gascon defenders abandoned their stations as the armies approached or surrendered after only perfunctory resistance. Even Raymond de Montaut, lord of Mussidan, was forced to surrender Bourdeilles, one of the few great fortresses in the area still under English control, after just a week.
On 22 August, Anjou arrived outside the walls of Bergerac. The town was small, but strategically important. Its position on the Dordogne made it a wealthy commercial center and it was the last major defensive position on the river, with only minor fortifications and even smaller towns between it and Bordeaux. As a result, it was likely the furthest outpost from Bordeaux to receive funds for the improvement of its defenses. About 400 new men were sent to reinforce the town's garrison. In addition, several companies of Gascons who'd fled their positions ahead of Anjou's advance further in the Aqutainian interior had taken refuge in the town and were convinced to join in its defense by the town's captain, Bertucat d'Albret.
Albret was an inspiring figure in the defense of Bergerac. He was a bastard from the storied Gascon family and had never wavered in his support of English overlordship, refusing to declare for the Valois even after his capture by Anjou in 1374. He spent more than two years in Anjou's custody and had only managed to gather the funds to buy his freedom in late 1376. He immediately put himself in the service of Sir Thomas Felton, seneschal of Aquitaine, to take up arms against the French once more.
Anjou lacked the manpower to take Bergerac upon his arrival. He had received reinforcements of about 1,000 men from Languedoc, but this only served to offset the fact that his army had thinned as he'd garrisoned the dozens of small towns and fortresses that had submitted to him on his march. His army numbered less than 2,500 men when he set up camp outside Bergerac. An initial assault on the town was repelled and Anjou's men suffered heavy casualties. Anjou sent word to Bueil to bring siegeworks north and join the attack on Bergerac as soon as possible.
Bueil was only 40 miles from Bergerac, preparing an attack on Duras, home of the pro-English lord of Durfort, when he received Anjou's orders. He first marched south to retrieve siegeworks from La Réole and then turned north toward Bergerac. Dragging the heavy siege weapons north made for slow progress, which gave Gascon locals time to report his movement to Bordeaux. Felton quickly gathered all the men he had available to him around the Gascon capital, about 1,200 in all, and moved to intercept Bueil before he could join forces with Anjou.
Bueil's army had, like Anjou's, thinned considerably since the beginning of the campaign, having garrisoned the towns and castles that submitted to him with men from his own army. He may have had as few as 400 men with him on the road to Bergerac. He called for reinforcements from La Réole after hearing of Felton's approach.
Felton caught up to Bueil at Eymet on 1 September. Reinforcements had brought the size of Bueil's force up to perhaps 700 or 800. Both Felton and Bueil ordered their men to dismount. Fighting was fierce at the outset, but the outnumbered French were eventually overwhelmed. A bloody retreat followed, as the English ran down more than 500 Frenchmen. Bueil was captured along with three other French commanders: Bueil's brother Pierre, Guesclin's longtime ally Thibault du Pont, and Owain Lawgoch, a Welsh soldier who fought for the French as a mercenary. Lawgoch's capture was especially important given that his claim to the principality of Wales as the last male-line descendant of Llywelyn the Great had made him a powerful propaganda tool for Charles V.
The only notable English casualty was Felton, who appears to have been killed during the chaos of the French retreat. The battle already won by that point and the English eager to ride down their enemies, Felton's death went unnoticed for several hours. His quick leadership in the defense of Aquitaine and sacrifice on the battlefield would make him a hero to the local population.
News of the slaughter at Eymet reached Anjou on 3 September. The destruction of Bueil's army divided Anjou's councilors. The lord of Coucy was just days away with reinforcements from the north, but the French were likely unaware that Felton's death had left the Gascons leaderless and so they would have thought themselves vulnerable to attack before Coucy's arrival. Anjou called an end to the campaign after a day of deliberations, fearing that the Gascon victory at Eymet would inspire the towns he'd so recently captured to rise up against him and thus leave him deep in hostile territory. In this he was soon proven right, as French garrisons were expelled in several towns in Périgord.
Siege of Brest
The 1360 Treaty of Brétigny technically made peace between England and France, but a proxy war in Brittany continued until 1364. Jean de Montfort, the English candidate in the War of the Breton Succession, effectively won control of the duchy in the Battle of Auray in 1364 and was formally recognized as duke in the 1365 Treaty of Guérande, becoming Duke Jean IV. Supporters of the rival Blois claimant gained prominent positions at the court of Charles V and poisoned relations between the king and duke. Feeling threatened, Jean defied the neutrality clause of the Treaty of Guérande and forged a new alliance with England. This was deeply unpopular and Jean was forced into exile by his former ally, Clisson, in 1373.
Clisson had effective control of the duchy in 1377, with only the towns of Auray and Brest holding out for Jean and his English allies. Clisson gathered an army of about 6,000 men in early July and marched on Auray. The town's garrison had too few men and lacked the supplies to withstand a long siege. Clisson negotiated the town's surrender before the end of the month and moved on to Brest.
The English position in Brest was little better than it had been in Auray, but the port town had managed to hold out against Clisson on several occasions over the previous four years. Clisson was determined to take the town and complete his conquest of the duchy. A Castilian fleet was called in to blockade the harbor and prevent a resupply of the defenders.
Jean was desperate to relieve Brest, but had no options available to him. He had led a campaign to reclaim Brittany in 1375 and its failure had put him so far into debt that he had lost control of even his English estates. He had put the honor of Richmond up as collateral to secure a loan from John Neville, 3rd baron Neville, and subsequently defaulted on the loan. Jean survived now only on the charity of the English royal family.
In August, Edward's council was persuaded to bail out Jean. Royal revenues were used to pay off his debts and restore the honor of Richmond. The council approved funds for the purchase of foodstuffs and recruitment of 4,000 men for the relief of Brest. The fleet of the northern admiralty, which was still gathered in the Thames, was ordered to carry the relief and resupply to Brest in two convoys. Whether these actions were taken now because Brest was a valuable strategic location or because Jean was wed to Edward's stepdaughter, Joan Holland, is unknown.
A major storm rolled through in the second week of September, scattering the Castilian fleet and damaging too many of its ships for a blockade to be reformed. English supply ships were thus able to reach the town later that month and again in October. Clisson continued the siege into November, but ended the campaign as winter approached.
Assault on Calais
Calais plagued the mind of Charles V more than any other English possession on the continent. It was a constant threat to the security of his realm and, while he showed a willingness to negotiate in other areas, he never wavered from his demand that the English abandon or destroy the town to secure a long-term peace. His brother Burgundy, whose wife was heiress to the county of Flanders, was similarly obsessed with the town's conquest or destruction.
Jean de Vienne's failure to establish a base of operations in southern England was not a major setback for the French in July 1377. Charles's council recognized the invasion of England was the most ambitious of their plans and a contingency had been made for its failure. In August, the army that had gathered in Normandy to lay waste to southern England moved instead to Flanders and joined Burgundy's forces that had already gathered there. Vienne launched a new series of raids along the English coast to distract English leadership from the upcoming attack on Calais then sailed back across the Channel to join the attack himself.
On 2 September, Burgundy led an army of 10,000 men to the Pale of Calais. Vienne joined him there with at least 50 ships. It was an extraordinary show of force, but a necessary one. Calais was one of the strongest fortresses in Europe and it had been heavily fortified since spring. A long campaign was expected by both sides.
Burgundy laid siege to Ardes, the largest of the Pale's outlying forts, on 4 September. The fort's captain was awed by the scale of the French operation and quickly lost his nerve. He surrendered after just three days. The quick fall of Ardes shattered English morale and the captain of the nearby town of Audruicq was bribed into surrendering on 12 September. Calais had been opened up to a direct assault from the east in just 10 days, but French fortunes turned in a matter of hours, as the storm that had scattered the Castilian fleet at Brest reached Calais. Rain had already begun to fall as Audruicq surrendered and the storm would intensify as the day went on. Driving winds and rains lashed the French army through the day and night and Vienne's fleet was scattered, with several ships lost or damaged.
Burgundy was apprised of the situation on 13 September, as the wind abated but heavy rains continued to fall. Vienne had already sailed for safe harbor with what remained of the French fleet and the downpour had flooded the causeways surrounding Calais, making the deployment of siege equipment impossible. Worse still, the army's supply lines were no longer dependable as the storm washed out roads in the surrounding area. The overwhelming size of Burgundy's army was no longer an advantage, but was now a serious liability, as the thousands of men at his command would quickly eat everything they had with no chance for resupply in the near future. In a stunning turnaround, Burgundy abandoned the campaign and disbanded his army.
Decline and death
The stress of the succession and war, combined with the long public ceremonies of the coronation, had a catastrophic effect on Edward IV's health. The Anonimalle Chronicle reported that "a grievous malady left him languishing in his bed" for days after the procession to the Tower.
Edward's efforts to hide the health problems after the Nájera campaign make it impossible to know to what extent his decline in summer 1377 differed from previous downturns in his health or how soon he would have recognized that this decline was terminal. Historian Richard Barber speculates that the king lingered near death after the procession to the Tower, as few letters bearing Edward's seal remain from the days immediately following the coronation yet many survive from the days following the succession. Other historians, like Michael Jones, argue that Edward's decline could not have been so dramatic so early on, as Edward would not write a will for more than a month after the coronation. Most matters were dealt with by the royal council during this time. Only great matters, such as the crisis on the Scottish march, were referred to the king.
Edward's condition visibly worsened in September and it became clear at some point that he was dying. The heir to the throne, Anouglême, was 12 and a regency was required to ensure the good governance of the realm during a time of war. Edward worked with John Fordham, keeper of the privy seal, and Sir Hugh Segrave, steward of the king's household, to devise a plan for the succession and regency that vested all the authority of the crown in Edward's eldest surviving brother, Gaunt.
On 22 September, William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, was called to the Tower. He may have been the first figure outside of the royal family and a few trusted retainers to see the king since the coronation. As chancellor, Wykeham's support was necessary to ensure the peaceful transfer of power to a regent and the success of a regency government. Wykeham, however, opposed the arrangement Edward envisioned.
Wykeham was a powerful figure in English politics and was lord of the greatest ecclesiastical estate in England. He had served the royal government in various posts since 1361 and was familiar with all the princes of the blood. He had been friendly with Edward and Gaunt for many years, but his relationship with Gaunt soured in 1371 as Gaunt joined a chorus of critics in parliament accusing Wykeham of corruption and forcing Wykeham's resignation. Wykeham had maintained good relations with Edward, however, and was made chancellor after the events of the Bad Parliament. Gaunt and Wykeham's relationship had deteriorated further in 1377 as a result of Gaunt's support for religious reformer John Wycliffe.
Instead of Gaunt, Wykeham advised Edward to establish a regency council in which power would be shared between several lords and made accountable to parliament. This suggestion was unacceptable to Edward, who had forcefully rejected a similar proposal during the Bad Parliament of 1376. According to the chronicle of Henry Knighton, Edward bluntly dismissed Wykeham, saying "do not trouble us any longer." News of Edward's condition spread quickly through London after Wykeham's audience with the king.
On 23 September, Gaunt sealed a truce that ended the violence on the Scottish march. He returned to London just days later via a small merchant vessel. This was an unusual mode of transportation for a person of Gaunt's rank generally and for Gaunt especially. As duke of Lancaster, Gaunt was accustomed to traveling in great extravagance with a large entourage and both the mode and the speed of his return in 1377 indicates that Edward's inner circle had sent word of the king's condition.
Gaunt initially resisted the regency and requested a license to retire to his estates, but this was denied by the king. Walsingham writes that Gaunt understood he was liable to be blamed for any disasters that might befall the kingdom during Angoulême's minority and wished instead to pursue his own royal ambitions in Castile. This explanation is generally accepted by historians today, as Gaunt had once before accepted a prestigious post with an overwhelming responsibility from his ailing brother, and Gaunt's subsequent lieutenancy of Aquitaine had been a failure. Regardless, he was convinced to accept the post of regent.
On 28 September, Gaunt and Wykeham were brought together at the Tower. Queen Joan, who likely organized the event, met with them in a private chamber in Wakefield Tower and encouraged them to reconcile. She returned to her husband's bedside, but Gaunt and Wykeham were kept out of the royal apartments in the neighboring St. Thomas Tower until they reached an accord. Their meeting lasted from early morning through the day and into the evening.
Gaunt conceded several points to win Wykeham's support. Firstly, to alleviate concerns that he would manage government to benefit the duchy of Lancaster, he swore to keep all officials appointed by Edward during the Bad Parliament and during his short reign as king. Secondly, to ensure the good governance of the realm, he swore to summon parliament at least once a year. Most importantly, he swore to respect the temporal estates of the church, which had become the subject of intense debate with the bishop of London's investigation of Wycliffe.
Edward dictated his will from his deathbed. His wife, his brother Langley, the archbishop of Canterbury, bishop of Exeter, bishop of Bath and Wells, and three household knights served as witnesses. In addition to a traditional plea for the will's executors to honor his debts and bequests and bequeathments to family and religious causes, he left strict instructions for his funeral and the design of his tomb. The document is most unusual, though, for the long and deeply personalizing preamble in which Edward lamented that God no longer favored him and that he deserved punishment for his sins. This sort of moralizing would soon become common in Lollard writings.
On 29 September, Gaunt and Langley were called to Edward's side. Walsingham wrote that the king "commended them to his wife and two sons, whom he greatly loved, and begged that each should help them and each other." The king's brothers swore to do so. Edward lingered through the morning, but grew faint in the afternoon and died at dusk. The Chandos Herald recorded his final words as "I give thee thanks, O God, and with all my heart desire forgiveness."
Gaunt and Wykeham were named among his will's executors. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried at Canterbury Cathedral and not at Westminster.
Impact
Edward IV is unique among English monarchs for being remembered more commonly as a prince of Wales than as a king of England. Edward was immortalized for his feats of arms as the Black Prince in William Shakespeare's Edwardian plays, but the resumption of hostilities at the start of his reign is a generally overlooked period of the war. His 100-day reign was important, though. The campaigns of summer 1377 would lead both England and France to adopt new strategies and Edward's devise for the succession would reshape English politics. These things would determine the conduct of the war through the next decade and beyond.
The Caroline War
The English response to the war was divided by class and geography. The attack on southern England failed at its mission to capture a staging ground for invasion and the raids that followed inflicted only modest damage, but this still represented the largest naval offensive against England since 1339. Townspeople along the southern coast were left with a sense of extreme vulnerability and Arundel's failure in Sussex had shown that they could not rely on their leaders to protect them. The anxiety this produced soon turned to anger.
Dunbar's campaign in the north produced similar feelings of unease. Families along the Scottish march were used to periodic raids, but the level of brutality inflicted on Roxburgh combined with news of French raids in the south gave the impression that the kingdom was surrounded. Dunbar and Vienne's attacks therefore had an effect on morale far greater than their immediate military impact.
The response in Gascony was wholly different, as the Battle of Eymet buoyed the local population. Anjou and Bueil's progress had been so swift in the first few weeks of August that it seemed possible they could sweep through 100 towns and fortresses and lay siege to Bordeaux itself. By early September, however, the French offensive had been broken. Anjou was forced to spend the rest of the year putting down anti-Valois revolts in the territory he'd captured. The Anglo-Gascon leadership was eager to capitalize on the momentum and Raymond de Montaut, lord of Mussidan, was already planning a counteroffensive to retake his great fortress at Bourdeilles.
News from Gascony could not penetrate the malaise that hung over the lower classes of England, though it was well received by the nobility and especially so among the lords of the Welsh marches. The capture of Owain Lawgoch at Eymet and his swift execution in Bordeaux ended the longstanding threat of a French invasion of Wales and removed a powerful figurehead for native Welsh discontent.
The French had a mixed reaction to the summer's campaigns. The surrender of Calais's outer defenses came far faster than expected and many believed that the town itself would have fallen if not for the storm that tore through the area. Anjou's campaign in Aquitaine was an embarrassment, though. Fewer than two dozen small towns captured that summer would remain in French hands by the end of the year. Charles V was so disappointed by the lack of progress that he refused to consider a 1378 campaign in the area and instead focused his efforts on Brittany. Anjou's retreat from Aquitaine was taken by many observers as a sign of French weakness and it reignited the dynastic and territorial ambitions of King Charles II of Navarre and King Fernando of Portugal.
The extent to which Edward IV can be credited for England's successes and blamed for its failures during the campaigns of 1377 is debatable. He was unable to take action himself, but he kept in close contact with his councilors. This was done largely through letters carried by his longtime retainers Sir Richard Adderbury and Sir Bernard Brocas, who were among the few figures he admitted into his presence during periods of ill health in the late 1360s and 1370s.
One success that can be at least partially attributed to Edward is the Battle of Eymet. English Gascony had been starved of revenue as a result of the corruption and incompetence of Edward III's government in the mid 1370s. As prince, Edward had overseen the reform of his father's government during the Bad Parliament, removing councilors and imposing staggering fines on corrupt officials. Crucially, he earmarked these fines for the defense of Gascony and about £12,000 was sent before the resumption of hostilities. The financial situation had been so dire before this that nearly the entire first installment of roughly £6,000 went toward arrears. The second installment allowed Felton to grow the number of men under his command by about half ahead of Anjou's campaign, which likely tipped the scales at Eymet and Bergerac in the English favor.
The succession and regency
Edward IV was succeeded by Angoulême, who became King Edward V. In accordance with Edward IV's plan for the regency, Gaunt assumed control of royal government as lord regent and Langley took custody of Edward V as lord protector.
The decision to divide the government and person of Edward V between Gaunt and Langley was novel for its time, as the authority of the medieval government flowed from the monarch. England's only successful post-Conquest regency was that of William the Marshal, whose position was legitimized by his guardianship of the young King Henry III. Walsingham recounts rumors that Gaunt was plotting to usurp the throne, but it is unlikely that Edward IV would entrust the regency to a man he suspected to be a traitor. The Chandos Herald suggests that Edward saw Gaunt as the only figure with the stature to serve as regent through a time of war. In his biography of Edward IV, historian Ian Mortimer speculates that Edward recognized that the challenges facing the kingdom would make any regent unpopular and so divided the government of the realm from the guardianship of the young king as a way to insulate Edward V from any possible criticism.
Opposition to Gaunt's regency was immediate. Gaunt had reached an accord with Wykeham, but Gaunt had other enemies. First among these was William Courtenay, bishop of London. Courtenay had launched the examination of Wycliffe in early 1377 and Gaunt had been Wycliffe's most public supporter at the time, poisoning relations between the two. In addition to his powerful post within the church, Courtenay had been born into the upper nobility, had relations throughout the peerage, and the location of his see surrounded him with potential anti-Gaunt allies, as Gaunt had repeatedly offended London's merchant oligarchs. Gaunt would have to make a series of concessions and public apologies to his various enemies in order to secure the regency and stabilize young Edward V's government, but he would soon find support in the
upper lay nobility.
Langley's protectorship was uncontroversial. Historian Jonathan Sumption describes Langley as "an easy-going mediocrity" whose custody of Edward V was acceptable to all. Langley's disinterest in royal government and his close personal relationship with Gaunt eliminated the risk of conflict between the lord protector and lord regent. Langley was an avid hunter with large estates in the north and he quickly moved Edward's household from London to Yorkshire. As a result, Edward was effectively
removed from the politics of the realm and performed only ceremonial duties at parliaments, great councils and Garter ceremonies.
Royal relations
Edward IV's brief reign had a polarizing effect on the royal family. Gaunt's role as regent and Langley's as protector, as well as Langley's promotion to a dukedom, left Thomas of Woodstock as a comparatively minor figure among the princes and he struggled to find a role for himself. He had no practical military experience, and thus could not expect a major command, and Gaunt's commitment to keep Edward's councilors in place locked Woodstock out of government office. This lower status and lack of prestigious appointments frustrated Woodstock and alienated him from his surviving brothers.
Isabella, the only surviving daughter of Edward III, was also forced to endure a lower status. Her husband, Enguerrand VII, lord of Coucy, was perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful subcomital lord in France. Coucy had come to England as part of a hostage exchange in 1360 and spent five years at the court of Edward III, during which time he met and married Isabella. Edward III made large grants of land to the couple. Coucy was made the earl of Bedford and entailed lands in Cumberland, Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Isabella, who was described in her own day as Edward III's favorite daughter, was given grants for life in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Wiltshire, as well as land in Yorkshire in addition to that which her husband had been granted there.
Coucy and Isabella's marriage and the land grants that came with it had bought Coucy's neutrality in the conflict between England and France during Edward III's lifetime, but Coucy renounced his English title and declared his allegiance to Charles V after Edward III's death. Edward IV was so enraged by his brother-in-law's betrayal that he confiscated all of Coucy and Isabella's lands. Edward was eventually persuaded to restore Isabella to the lands she had been granted in her own right, but she was denied the title of countess. Coucy's lands were granted to Langley. Isabella would lose control of her own lands again less than a year after Edward's death as the result of a scurrilous attack on her character by her brother Woodstock.
More distant relatives were affected by Edward IV's short reign and death as well. Edward V's royal cousins and his nieces and nephews by his Holland half-brothers became important diplomatic tools in an era when treaties were often sealed by marriage, though the promotion of Lancastrian children in such negotiations exposed Gaunt's regency to criticism. Gaunt would also come into conflict with Edmund Mortimer, 3rd earl of March, regarding who was next in the line of succession after Edward's brother Richard. These divisions within the royal family would give rise to intense factionalism over the course of Gaunt's regency.
There were also physical divisions, as Edward V and his brother Richard were separated after their father's death. Edward technically maintained his own household, which was under the control of Langley as lord protector and funded by revenues from the county of Chester. Richard remained in his mother's household at Joan's request. The two boys had grown up together in Aquitaine and England as part of a tight family unit. Their father's efforts to hide his illness kept their household staff small, which largely isolated the boys from other children. They were almost certainly each other's only friend at this time and their separation was likely painful for them both.
Edward IV provided Joan with the largest dower ever received by an English queen, granting her estates in two dozen English and three Welsh counties. The grant of Haverford Castle may have been a romantic gesture, as it was the couple's favorite residence before the reconstruction of Kennington Palace in London. These grants, combined with the land she owned as
suo jure countess of Kent, made Joan one of the greatest female English landholders in the medieval era.
Epithets
Edward IV is often referred to as the "Black Prince." The first known source to use this epithet was the antiquary John Leland in the 1530s or 1540s, about 165 years after Edward's death. It became prominent near the end of the 16th century as a result of Shakespeare's
Edward III, Part 3. His later sobriquet, "King of the Hundred Days" was dubbed by romantic writers in the 19th century. Today, historians generally use the two terms to differentiate between Edward's life and career in support of his father's reign and his own brief reign.