The Warrior King and the Invasion of France by Desmond Seward

Author:Desmond Seward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus

XII

The Murder of John the Fearless

‘. . . soldiers waged into France for to make much murder of blood’

Bishop Reginald Pecock

‘Enemies have struck deep into the heart of France and enriched themselves.’

Jean Juvénal des Ursins

Henry was not going to be content with Normandy. He wanted all France. He knew that he did not have the resources to conquer the entire country by force of arms so he decided to see what diplomacy could do. During the first weeks of the siege of Rouen he had negotiated with the late Constable – Count of Armagnac, and had tried to play him off against the Duke of Burgundy. When the count was murdered the king foresaw that his party would survive its leader’s death, just as it had that of Orleans. However, after an attempt to meet the dauphin, the Armagnacs’ new leader, had failed in March 1419 Henry reverted to wooing the Burgundians.

There were several meetings between Henry and Duke John in the spring and early summer. At the first encounter ‘the duke saluted the king, bending his knee a little and inclining his head’, Monstrelet reports. ‘But the king took him by his hand, embraced him and showed him great respect.’1 There seemed to be a real chance of an alliance, even if Duke John was also negotiating secretly with the dauphin. Early in June there was a meeting at Meulan attended not only by Henry, Clarence, Gloucester and Burgundy, but also by Queen Isabeau and Princess Catherine. The king – presumably frustrated by his self-imposed celibacy – was enchanted by the girl. He regarded her as the only possible bride for him, if contemporaries are to be believed. He stated his terms: Catherine, with Normandy and Aquitaine in full sovereignty.

He had asked too much. If genuinely anxious for a settlement with Henry and clearly prepared to concede a great deal, Duke John and Queen Isabeau dared not yield on sovereignty; to break up the kingdom of France in this way would destroy their prestige and their credit. Henry would accept nothing less. Before leaving Meulan he told the duke, ‘Fair cousin, we wish you to know that we will have the daughter of your king or we will drive him and you out of his realm.’ ‘Sire,’ answered John, ‘you may be pleased to say so, but before you can drive my lord and myself out of this realm I make no doubt that you will be heartily tired.’2 Henry had failed. He could not fight successfully an alliance of Burgundians and Armagnacs. And it quickly became obvious that Duke John had made up his mind to seek a reconciliation with the Armagnacs.

The name ‘Jean sans Peur’ bestowed on Duke John had a certain irony. In reality ‘Fearless John’ was a paranoiac who at Paris slept in a specially built tower which contained a single, easily defendable bedroom and a bathroom. (The Tour d’Artois, it still stands in the rue Etienne Marcel, a last fragment of the otherwise long-vanished palace of the dukes of Burgundy.

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