The Last Years of English Gascony, 1451–1453. (The Alexander Prize.)

M. G. A. Vale

doi:10.2307/3678742

The Last Years of English Gascony, 1451–1453. (The Alexander Prize.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

M. G. A. Vale

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M. G. A. Vale: Affiliation:
The Queen's College, Oxford

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In the allegorical romance of Le Jouvencel, King Amydas complained to his son-in-law of the ‘slow poison in my stomach which will one day kill me.’ The romancer,—Jean de Bueil, admiral of France and count of Sancerre,—was referring to the presence of the English within France during the last phase of the Hundred Years War. Charles VII, with his habitual pessimism, was pictured in the Jouvencel taking counsel from his advisers on the best means of ridding his kingdom of the English. That object was achieved in fact as well as in romance between 1449 and 1453. A medal struck to commemorate the expulsion of the English carried the optimistic legend:

When I was made, everyone in France, without dispute, obeyed the prudent king, loved by God;—except at Calais which is a strong place.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 19 , December 1969 , pp. 119 - 138

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678742 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1969

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References

^{page 119 note 1} Le Jouvencel, ed. Favre, and Lecestre, , ii (Paris, 1889), p. 229.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 2} Viriville, Vallet de, ‘Medaille frappée à la monnaie de Paris sous Charles VII en souvenir de l’expulsion des Anglais en 1451 et années suivantes’, Annuaire de la Société française de numismatique et d’archéologie, ii (1867) p. 211.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 3} A[rchives] N[ationales] X^1A 1483, fo. 1^r.

^{page 120 note 1} See Valois, N., ‘Conseils et prédictions adressés à Charles VII, en 1445, par un certain Jean du Bois’, Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de France, xlvi (1909), p. 209.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 2} For a narrative of the French reconquest of Gascony between 1451 and 1453, see Ribadieu, H., Histoire de la Conquête de la Guyenne (Bordeaux, 1866);Google Scholar and for more recent accounts, Boutruche, R., La Crise d’une Societe (2nd edn., Paris, 1963), pp. 405–10,Google Scholar and Higounet, C., in Bordeaux sous les Rots d’Anglet-erre (Histoire de Bordeaux, iii, Bordeaux, 1965), pp. 512–21. All these accounts depend exclusively upon French, and more especially, on literary sources.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 3} B[ibliothèque] N[ationale], MS. fr. 28547, no. 84.

^{page 121 note 1} Ibid., no. 83 (13 Nov. 1443). Also B[ritish] M[useum], Add. Ch. 3971 (15 Sept. 1443).

^{page 121 note 2} See Lewis, P. S., ‘Decayed and non-feudalism in later medieval France’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, xxxvii (1964), p. 170, n. 7. For the confiscation of Lamothe's goods by Henry VI, see P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice], C.61/132, m. 11 (28 Feb. and 8 May 1443) and m. 6 (4 Mar. 1444).Google Scholar

^{page 121 note 3} He was an allié of Jean I and Gaston IV, counts of Foix, in 1421 and 1436. See A[rchives Départementales des] B[asses-] P[yrénées], E.429, no. 103 and E.438, no. 20. For his defection to Charles VII, see P.R.O., C.61/132, m. 11 (18 May 1443).

^{page 121 note 4} A.B.P., E.439, no. 107.

^{page 121 note 5} B.N., MS. fr. 25711, no. 163 (9 July 1443) and MS. fr. 27872, nos 13, 14 and 15. In an inspeximus of 8 Oct. 1445, it was stated that he had first submitted to Charles VII on 7 Apr. 1442, and his pension was to be paid as from that date (Ibid., no. 16).

^{page 121 note 6} P.R.O., C.61/139, m. 8 (1 Sept. 1452).

^{page 121 note 7} See Chroniques de Mathieu d'escoucky, ed. Beaucourt, G. du Fresne de, iii (Paris, 1864), p. 387.Google Scholar

^{page 122 note 1} B.N., MS. fr. 32511, fos 142^v and 143^r.

^{page 122 note 2} Ibid., fo. 145^r.

^{page 122 note 3} Ibid., fos 145^r and 145^r. Another chevaucheur was sent on similar missions during June, July, Aug. and Sept. 1451 (Ibid., fo. 145^v).

^{page 122 note 4} At Dunois’ entry into Bordeaux on 30 June 1451, there were, according to Mathieu d’Escouchy, at least 7,320 French troops in the procession (Escouchy, Chronique, ed. Beaucourt, i, pp. 356–58).

^{page 122 note 5} A[rchives] H[istoriques de la] G[ironde], x, p. 342.

^{page 122 note 6} B.N., MS. fr. 32511, fo. 154. The four signatories were Gaillard IV de Durfort, lord of Duras and Blanquefort; Jean de la Lande, lord of La Brède; Bernard Angevin, lord of Rauzan, Pujols and Blasimont; and Guillaume Andron, lord of Lansac (cf. Ordonnances, xiv, p. 143).

^{page 123 note 1} Ordonnances des rois de France de la troisiéme race, ed. Vilevaut, and Brequigny, , xiv (Paris, 1777), p. 143, cl. 22.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 2} d’Escouchy, M., Chroniques, ed. Beaucourt, , i (Paris, 1864), pp. 322–28.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 3} Ordonnances, xiv, p. 143, cl. 24.

^{page 123 note 4} Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Godefroy, (Paris, 1661), p. 251.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 5} See Worcester, William, The Boke of Noblesse, ed. Nichols, J. G. (Rox- burghe Club), 1852, pp. 38Google Scholar and 42. Also P.R.O., E. 101/54/14; C[alendar of] P[atent] R[olls], 1446–52, p. 476 and Bale's Chronicle, in Flenley, R., Six Town Chronicles (London, 1911), p. 157.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 1} B.N., MS. fr. 6963, fos 26^r-29^v. The document is endorsed ‘Proces rapporte de Bordeaulx’.

^{page 124 note 2} The Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, J., i (London, 1872), p. lxxiii.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 3} P.R.O., E. 28/82, no. 42 and E. 404/68, no. 138. Also E. 403/788 (17 July 1452) for munitions sent to Jersey.

^{page 124 note 4} E. 404/68, nos 144 and 145.

^{page 124 note 5} E. 404/68, nos 149 and 156; E. 403/788: 18 July 1452. Also C. F. Richmond, ‘The keeping of the Seas … 1422–40’, History, xlix (1964), pp. 283ndash;298.

^{page 124 note 6} B.M. Add. Ch. 12422, where it was stated that the English ‘ont assemble grant quantite de navire pour eulx mettre sus a puissance de gens de guerre pour venir descendre en cedite royaume porter et faire guerre et la leur puis- sance endomager icellui royaume’.

^{page 125 note 1} B.N. MS. fr. 20683, no. 46.

^{page 125 note 2} Ibid., no. 46 and MS. fr. 2356, no. 24 (27 Mar. 1453). For the numbers in the companies of grande ordonnance see Cosneau, E., Le Connétable de Riche-mont (Paris, 1886), pp. 355–67. The surviving musters and reviews of the companies in Normandy are scattered through B.N. MSS. fr. n.a. 8607, fos 1, 36–8; fr. 20683, no- 46; 21495) nos 32, 50 55, 57, 59, 61, 66, 67;and 25778 nos 1840–8, for the grande ordonnance.Google Scholar

^{page 125 note 3} B.M. Add. Ch. 4072 (12 Mar. 1453); B.N. MS. fr. 26081, no. 6514 (30 Dec. 1452).

^{page 125 note 4} B.N. MS. fr. 20409, no. 11.

^{page 125 note 5} B.N. MS. fr. 20683, no 46.

^{page 125 note 6} P.R.O., C. 61/139, m. 7.

^{page 126 note 1} See H. Ribadieu, op. cit., pp. 268–71, repeated by C. Higounet, op. cit., p. 515.

^{page 126 note 2} Basin, Thomas, Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Samaran, C., ii (Paris, 1944), pp. 182 and 184.Google Scholar

^{page 126 note 3} Ibid., p. 185, n. 1, and Ribadieu, op. cit., p. 269. Also Boutruche, op. cit., p. 408.

^{page 126 note 4} Ribadieu, op. cit., pp. 269–70.

^{page 126 note 5} See Lewis, P. S., ‘France in the Fifteenth Century’, in Europe in the Late Middle Ages, ed. Hale, , Highfield, and Smalley, (London, 1965), p. 279,Google Scholar and ‘Jean Juvenal des Ursins and the Common Literary Attitude Towards Tyranny in Fifteenth Century France’, Medium Aevum (1965), pp. 103–121.Google Scholar

^{page 126 note 6} Basin, op. cit., p. 182.

^{page 127 note 1} Ibid., pp. 182 and 184. Basin stressed that it was largely the inhabitants of Bordeaux who objected so strongly to French taxation.

^{page 127 note 2} B.N. MS. fr. 32511, fo. 154^v and supra, p. 122 n. 6.

^{page 127 note 3} P.R.O., C. 61/139, m. i.

^{page 127 note 4} Ibid., 138, m.3.

^{page 127 note 5} A[rchives] D[épartementales de la] G[ironde], G. 1160, fo. 88^v, and La Cartulaire de l’Eglise Collègiate de St-Seurin de Bordeaux, ed. Brutails, J. (Bordeaux, 1897), p. xxvii.Google Scholar

^{page 128 note 1} P.R.O., E. 404/67, no. 121 and E. 403/782: 8 Apr. 1451.

^{page 128 note 2} C. 61/138, m. 7 and m. 4: 11 Aug. and 23 Sept. 1451. For the treaty, see Ordonnances, xiv (Paris, 1777), p. 139, clauses 10–13.Google Scholar

^{page 128 note 3} E. 403/788: 14 July 1452; C. 61/138, m. 2 (26 Aug. 1452).

^{page 128 note 4} C.P.R., 1452–61, p. 93.

^{page 128 note 5} C. 61/139, ms 7, 3 and 2 Also, for Pey du Tasta as a royal envoy in July 1452, see E. 404/68, no. 157 and E. 403/788: 4 Aug. 1451. Other grants (of benefices) to him are noted in Pérotin, Y., ‘Les Chapitres bordelais contre Charles VII’, Annales du Midi, 1xiii (1951), pp. 33—34.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 128 note 6} C. 61/138, passim.

^{page 129 note 1} B.N. MS. fr. 6963, fos 26^r–29^r.

^{page 129 note 2} Ibid., fo. 26^r–26^v.

^{page 129 note 3} A.H.G., x, p. 343.

^{page 129 note 4} P.R.O., E. 28/85, no. 35.

^{page 130 note 1} B.N. MS. fr. 6963, fo. 27^r. Also, for Giron de la Barrière, ‘mariney’, A.D.H., H. 735, fo. 84^r where he holds a vine in the marshes near Bordeaux from the abbey of Ste Croix (25 Apr. 1451). For the exiles, see ed. Gouron, M., Recueil des Privilèges accordés à la ville de Bordeaux par Charles VII et Louis XI (Bordeaux, 1938), pp. 46–47.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 2} B.N. MS. fr. 6963, fo. 161, and Gouron, op. cit., p. 47.

^{page 130 note 3} A.D.G., G. 2372, no. 3, fos I^v–23^r (1445–54).

^{page 130 note 4} Ibid., fos 1^v—23^r, passim.

^{page 130 note 5} A.D.G, H. 735, fo. 17^v.

^{page 130 note 6} A.D.G., G. 2372, fo. 20^v, where his name is preceded by a cross in the register for 1453. It is not recorded at all in the entry for the year 1454 (fo. 23^r) nor in subsequent years.

^{page 130 note 7} Ibid., fo. 27^r. For Thomas Garcie as sub-mayor of Bordeaux, see B.N. MS. Duchesne 108, fo. 31^r and supra, pp. 122 n. 5.

^{page 131 note 1} B.N. MS. fr. 6963, fo. 27^v.

^{page 131 note 2} B.N. MS. Duchesne 108, fo. 31^v where the Three Estates ‘respondirent tous a une voix crians piteusement quilz avoient plus cher morir que venir a ladite subgeccion du Roy’.

^{page 131 note 3} Ordonnances, xiv, 271, where the indemnity imposed by Charles VII on the city was reduced on the pretext that the burgesses had incurred loss and damage during English occupation (Ibid., p. 275).

^{page 131 note 4} A.D.G., H. 735, fos 11^r and 16^v. Also fo. 55^r for a case of pillage by English troops.

^{page 131 note 5} See supra, p. 122 n. 6 and p. 127 n. 2.

^{page 132 note 1} P.R.O., E. 101/193/15, no. 27 (warrant of 18 Oct. 1453).

^{page 132 note 2} Ibid., no. 27:10 Dec. 1452. Beaucourt considered that the most important determinant in the loyalty of the Bordelais to England was that ‘sous le gouvernement des rois d’Angleterre, ils avaient tousjours été exempts d’impositions et de tallies, et n’avaient point été assujetis à recevoir de garnisons’ (Histoire de Charles VII, v (Paris, 1890), p. 262).Google Scholar

^{page 132 note 3} See P. Marchegay, ‘La ranjon d’Olivier de Coëtivy, seigneur de Taille-bourg, sénechal de Guyenne, 1451–77’, B[ibliothèque de ’] E[cole des] C[hartes], xxxviii, pp. 9—10.

^{page 132 note 4} Ibid., p. 9 and E. 28/85, no. 28.

^{page 132 note 5} Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Godefroy, (Paris, 1661), p. 470.Google Scholar

^{page 132 note 6} P.R.O., E. 403/791: 5 Mar. 1453, and for the terms of their service see E. 404/69, nos 90–95 (29 and 30 Jan. 1453).

^{page 132 note 7} E. 101/193/14, nos. 44–51; B.N. MS. Duchesne 108, fos 31^r-32^r; and CPR, 1452–61 pp. 78 and 108, giving a total of 4,743 men.

^{page 133 note 1} E. 101/71/4, no. 933 and E. 404/793, nos 198–206.

^{page 133 note 2} For Richard Frogenhall, bailli of AIençon, and hostage for the surrender, of Norman castles in 1450, see J. Stevenson, Letters and Papers illustrative of the Wars of the English in France, ii, pt. II, pp. 624 and 628. For Ellis Longworth, esquire, taken prisoner at the battle of Formigny in May 1450, see Ibid., p. 630.

^{page 133 note 3} B.N., MS. Duchesne 108, fos, 35^r—42^r, dated 22 July 1453, five days after the battle of Castillon. See also M. H. Keen, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages (London, 1965), pp. 124–6 and 131—3, where references to the raising of a cry at Fronsac in 1451 (pp. 112 n. 2, and 122) in fact relate to the taking of Castillon in 1453.

^{page 133 note 4} P.R.O., E. 101/193/14, no. 47 and A.N., JJ 182, no. 1.

^{page 134 note 1} B.N. MS. Duchesne 108, fos 35^r–42^r and cf MSS, fr. 32511, fo. 145^v 21495 passim, and 25778 passim, for their service in Normandy since 1450.

^{page 134 note 2} B.N. MS. fr. 21540, fo. 22^r. The French fleet was anchored at Lormont at this time. See Bernard, J. in Bordeaux sous les Rois d’Angleterre (Bordeaux, 1965), p. 543.Google Scholar

^{page 134 note 3} B.N. MS. fr. 25712, no. 280.

^{page 134 note 4} Ibid., 20683, no. 46 Macé de Lannoy, receiver-general of Normandy, was said to have paid the wages of 600 lances fournies (3,600 men as six men made up each lance) and 512 petites payes (about 3,072 men) from 1 Jan. to 31 Mar. 1453.

^{page 134 note 5} This estimate assumes that the 20 companies of grande ordonnance were at full strength in 1453, comprising 600 men in each company and thereby giving a total of 12,000 troops. See Perroy, E., The Hundred Years War (London, 1962), p. 304Google Scholar for an estimate of numbers and Lot, F., L’Art Mili-taire et les Armées au Moyen Age, ii (Paris, 1946), p. 54.Google Scholar

^{page 134 note 6} B.N. MS. Duchesne 108, fos 35^r, 36^v, and 38^v and Chartier, Jean, Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Godefroy, (Paris, 1661), p. 269.Google Scholar

^{page 135 note 1} A.B.P., E. 68, no. 5; and cf. A.N., K. 69, nos 4^a and 7 (6 Mar. and 13 Oct. 1453).

^{page 135 note 2} B.N.MS. fr. 26081, no. 6560, (warrant of 26 May 1453).

^{page 135 note 3} Ibid., nos 6514 and 6560. Also Spont, A., ‘La Taille en Languedoc’, Annales du Midi, v (1890), pp. 478–85, 495–97.Google Scholar For Jacques Coeur's losses at Tours in July 1453 see Les Affaires de Jacques Coeur: Journal du Procureur Dauvet, 1453–57, ed. Mollat, M. (Paris, 1952), i, p. 34.Google Scholar He had lent 70,680 livres tournois in 1451 to finance the first Guyenne expedition (Ibid., i, pp. 564–5).

^{page 135 note 4} P.R.O., E. 403/788: 18 July 1452. No further payments were made until an assignment of £1,500 was made on 6 and 11 July 1453 (E. 404/69, nos 177 and 183).

^{page 135 note 5} E. 403/791: 1 and 5 Mar. 1453, and supra, p. 132 n. 6.

^{page 135 note 6} CPR, 1452–61, pp. 78 and 108.

^{page 135 note 7} B.N., MS. Duchesne 108, fo. 31^v. Camoys spent over £1,600 st. between 17 July and 20 Oct. 1453.

^{page 135 note 8} E. 28/83, no. 30 and Stevenson, op. cit., i, p. 489.

^{page 135 note 9} B.N., MS. fr. 32511, fo. 167^r See also A.N., K. 69, no. 7 (13 Oct. 1453).

^{page 136 note 1} Chastellain, G., Chronique, in Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, Kervyn de, ii (Paris, 1863), pp. 178–88.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 2} B.N., MS. Duchesne 108, fos 31^v-32^r. The troops were distributed over the defences of the city, totalling 2,965 men within its walls and no at a Bastille which had been constructed on the riverside.

^{page 136 note 3} MS. fr. 32511, fo. 165^v where an esquire was paid ‘pour avoir conduit le Roy et ses arbalestriers et une bombarde … au siege devant Cadillac.’ See also Bouvier, Gilles le, héraut au roi Berry, in Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Godefroy, D. (Paris, 1661), p. 471.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 4} See, for example, Lodge, E. C., Gascony under the English Rule (London, 1926), pp. 130 and 134.Google Scholar

^{page 136 note 5} B.N., MS. fr. 6963, fo. 27^r: ‘Emquis pour quoy il ne sen ale en Angleterre puis quil ne vouloit estre francois, dit quil ne vouloit point y aler pource quil ne saroit boyre godalle.’

^{page 136 note 6} See Peyregne, A., ‘Les émigrés gascons en Angleterre, 1453–85’, Annales du Midi, lxvi (1954), pp. 113–28.Google Scholar

^{page 137 note 1} P.R.O., C. 61/132, m. 9 (23 July 1443).

^{page 137 note 2} A.N., JJ. 182, no. 62 (letters of remission to Mondot de Lansac of July 1453); and Ibid., no. 14 (letters to Gaston de l’lsle of 20 July 1453). Both had formerly taken the oath to Charles VII in June 1451, and Lansac had served in one of the companies of ordonnance

^{page 137 note 3} Ordonnances, xiv, p. 270.

^{page 137 note 4} A.N., JJ. 182, no. 33 (Arnaud Bee) and no. 74 (Jean de Rostanh).

^{page 137 note 5} A.D.G., G. 285, fo. 46^r.

^{page 138 note 1} A.D.G., G. iii, fo. 94^r.

^{page 138 note 2} Y. Pérotin, op. cit., pp. 37–42.

^{page 138 note 3} A.D.G., G. 2226, no. 5.

^{page 138 note 4} See Gouron, op. cit., pp. 46–47 for the exile of Gaillard IV de Durfort, lord of Duras and Blanquefort, Pierre de Montferrand, François de Mont-ferrand, lord of Uza and Belin, and Pierre-Arnaud de St-Cricq.

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The Last Years of English Gascony, 1451–1453. (The Alexander Prize.)

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