Arthur I, Duke of Brittany

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Arthur I
John Tristan
Born29 March 1187
Nantes, Brittany
Diedpresumed c. 1203 (aged 15–16)
HousePlantagenet
FatherGeoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
MotherConstance, Duchess of Brittany

Arthur I (

posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, and Constance, Duchess of Brittany. His father, Geoffrey, was the son of Henry II, King of England
.

In 1190 Arthur was designated heir to the throne of England and its French territory by his uncle, Richard I, the intent being that Arthur would succeed Richard in preference to Richard's younger brother John. Nothing is recorded of Arthur after his incarceration in Rouen Castle in 1203, and while his precise fate is unknown, it is generally believed he was killed by John. Some of the ways that it is believed or rumored of how he would have been murdered would be, that John has drowned him in a lake when a drunk fury, or he was stabbed to death when he was in a drunk fury.

Early life

Arthur was born in 1187, the son of Duchess

Geoffrey II of Brittany, who died before he was born. As an infant, Arthur was thought by some to be second in line to the succession of his paternal grandfather King Henry II of England, after his uncle Richard
. Henry II however would not name official terms of succession, not even officially naming Richard as his heir until he was close to death. Primogeniture was not yet established, nor the pathway that the crown should take. King Henry died when Arthur was 2 years old, and Richard I became the new king in his place.

While Richard was away on the

Emperor Henry VI conquered the Kingdom of Sicily
in 1194, so the betrothal of Arthur came to nothing.

A marriage plan, originally aiming to establish an alliance between King Richard and King Philip II of France to marry Arthur's elder sister Eleanor to Philip's son Louis also failed. In 1196, Constance had the young Arthur proclaimed Duke of Brittany and her co-ruler as a child of nine years. The same year, Richard summoned Arthur, as well as Arthur's mother, Constance,[3] to Normandy, but Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, stepfather of Arthur, abducted Constance. It is believed that this was completed under the agreement, and even promiting[clarification needed] of Richard to bring Constance and Arthur under his control, it is extremely unlikely that Ranulf would have made such a move against Richard's sister-in-law and nephew without such permission. Constance was captured, but Arthur was spirited away to the Court of Philip II of France, to be brought up with Louis.

Arthur paying homage to Philip II of France. Chroniques de St Denis, British Library.

When Richard died on 6 April 1199, on his deathbed he proclaimed his brother

Maine, and Poitou. Upon Richard's death Arthur led a force to Anjou and Maine.[4]
From 18 April, he styled himself as Duke of Brittany, Count of Anjou and Earl of Richmond.

On 18 September, John persuaded the seneschal of Anjou, William des Roches, to defect, claiming Arthur would be a Capetian puppet. Four days later William took Arthur and Constance prisoners to Le Mans. Viscount Aimery, the seneschal appointed by John, took Arthur and Constance and fled the court to Angers, and later the court of Philip II.[5]

Treaty of Le Goulet

The

suzerain of continental possessions of the Angevin Empire
.

Philip had previously recognised John as suzerain of Anjou and the Duchy of Brittany, but with this he extorted 20,000 marks sterling in payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.[b]

Battle against John of England

King John
Further information:
French invasion of Normandy (1202–1204)

After the signing of the Treaty of Le Goulet, and feeling offended by Philip, Arthur fled to John, his uncle, and was treated kindly, at least initially. However, he later became suspicious of John and fled back to

Agnes of Andechs-Merania.[6]

After his return to France, and with the support of Philip II, Arthur embarked on a campaign in Normandy against John in 1202. Poitou revolted in support of Arthur. The Duke of Brittany besieged his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, John's mother, in the Château de Mirebeau. John marched on Mirebeau, taking Arthur by surprise on 31 July 1202.[7] Arthur was captured by John's barons on 1 August, and imprisoned in the Château de Falaise in Falaise, Normandy.

Imprisonment and disappearance

Arthur was guarded by

Hubert de Burgh at the Chateau de Falaise. According to contemporaneous chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall, John ordered two of his servants to blind and castrate the duke. De Burgh could not bring himself to let Arthur be mutilated. Fearful of John, de Burgh leaked news that Arthur had died of natural causes. This news infuriated Brittany, who suspected that Arthur had been murdered.[8] The following year Arthur was transferred to Rouen, under the charge of William de Braose.[9] Arthur vanished in April 1203, in the background of several military victories by Philip II of France against King John.[9]

Arthur's disappearance gave rise to various stories. One account was that Arthur's gaolers feared to harm him, and so he was murdered by John directly and his body dumped in the Seine. The Margam Annals provide the following account of Arthur's death:

After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before Easter, when he was drunk and possessed by the devil ['ebrius et daemonio plenus'], he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine. It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and being dragged to the bank and recognized, was taken for secret burial, in fear of the tyrant, to the priory of Bec, which is called St Mary of the Meadow.[10][11]

William de Braose is also rumoured to have murdered Arthur. After the young man's disappearance, he rose high in John's favour receiving new lands and titles in the Welsh Marches. Many years after Arthur's disappearance, and just prior to a conflict with King John, de Braose's wife Maud de Braose accused the king of murdering Arthur.[12]

Not only the Bretons, but even Philip II, were ignorant of what actually happened, and whether Arthur was alive or dead. Whatever his fate, Arthur left no known issue. William promised to direct the attack of Mirebeau on condition he was consulted on the fate of Arthur,[13] but John broke the promise,[14] causing him to leave John along with Aimeri of Thouars and siege Angers.[15]

Succession

The mystery surrounding Arthur's death complicated his succession. This succession was presumably influenced by both King John and King Philip II.[c] There were no male heirs to the ducal crown and so his succession as duke was constrained to several choices among his sisters.

His sister Eleanor, the 'Fair Maid of Brittany', was also King John's prisoner. Eleanor also presented a complicating factor, if not a threat, to John's succession plans as King of England. While permitted by John to succeed Richmond and claim her rights to Brittany, she remained imprisoned for the rest of her life, through the reign of John's actual successor, his son Henry III of England. While imprisoned, she never married and had no issue. Her imprisonment and the fact that she was located in England made it impossible for her to reign as hereditary Duchess of Brittany.

Arthur I was succeeded by his half-sister, Alix of Thouars, the daughter of Constance and her third husband Guy of Thouars.[d]

Memorial

In 1268, Henry III gave the manor of Melksham, Wiltshire, to Amesbury for the souls of Eleanor and Arthur,[16][17] ordering the convent to commemorate them along with all kings and queens.[18]

Legacy

National Galleries of Scotland
.

In literature

The death of Arthur is a vital ingredient in

The Life and Death of King John
, in which Arthur is portrayed as a child whose innocence dissuades Hubert de Burgh from committing the murder demanded by King John. However, Arthur soon dies after jumping from his place of confinement in an escape attempt.

In the 19th century, the

Breton poet Auguste Brizeux
wrote of Arthur in La chasse du Prince Arthur.

In the novel Saving Grace by Julie Garwood, the heroine finds documents relating to Arthur's murder, committed under the orders of King John, by two of King John's barons. She is married to a Scottish Laird, Gabriel MacBain, to escape England, but is harassed by both King John's barons and the English faction hoping to take down King John, each party unsure of how much she knows.

In Randall Garrett's alternative-history fantasy stories, the Lord Darcy series, Richard does not "succumb to his illness", but survives it. John Lackland never becomes king, and the Plantagenet line, descending from Arthur, continues down to the present day.

In The Devil and King John by the Australian novelist Philip Lindsay, Arthur is killed by John in a fit of temper, but he is shown as a rebellious adolescent who did provoke John to some extent, rather than the innocent child in some versions. In his introduction, Lindsay acknowledged that he had no evidence that this is what happened to Arthur, but he considered it to be as good a guess as any.

Other literary works featuring Arthur include:[19]

In music

In 1912 the Breton composer

Joseph-Guy Ropartz composed a symphonic poem, La Chasse du Prince Arthur (Prince Arthur's Hunt) after the poem by Brizeux. The Breton folk-rock band Tri Yann's 1995 album Portraits includes a song about Arthur.[20]

On television

Arthur and his mother Constance appear as characters in a number of episodes of the 1950s British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood. Arthur is portrayed by actors Peter Asher (three episodes, seasons one and two), Richard O'Sullivan (one episode, season three) and Jonathan Bailey (one episode, season four). Simon Gipps-Kent portrayed Arthur's life and torturous death in the 1978 BBC series The Devil's Crown.

Genealogical table

Arthur's position within the English royal family[21]
William the Conqueror
Fulk V of Anjou
Eremburga of MaineWilliam II of EnglandHenry I of England
Matilda
William Adelin
Geoffrey VI of Anjou
William FitzEmpress
John of England
Raymond VII of Toulouse

Notes

  1. ^ 1añ is an abbreviation of kentañ, meaning "first" in Breton
  2. ^ The king of England bound himself in all ways as a vassal to his lord. He was required to obey summons, support his lord in war with troops or money, and to make payments of special feudal dues never before exacted from his lands.
  3. ^ While John remained suzerain over Brittany, he was also vassal to Philip II of France, and so the succession of Brittany relied as much on John's preferences, as on Philip's agreement.
  4. Pierre Mauclerc of the House of Dreux
    . The House of Dreux was a junior branch within the Capetian dynasty.

References

  1. ^ Carley & Riddy 1998, p. 28.
  2. ^ McAuliffe 2012, p. 74.
  3. ^ Everard 2004, p. 146.
  4. ^ Everard 2004, p. 167.
  5. ^ Gillingham 1984, p. 88.
  6. ^ McDougall 2017, p. 226.
  7. ^ Seel 2012, p. 47.
  8. ^ Jones 2014, p. 164.
  9. ^ a b Jones 2014, p. 166.
  10. ^ Jones 2014, p. 166-167.
  11. ^ Luard 1864, p. 27.
  12. ^ Jones 2014, p. 192.
  13. ^ Warren 1961, p. 77.
  14. ^ Carpenter 2003, p. 265.
  15. ^ Warren 1961, p. 80.
  16. ^ Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham,, Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families (2004), p.6
  17. ^ G. Seabourne. "Eleanor of Brittany and her Treatment by King John and Henry III", Nottingham Medieval Studies, Vol. LI (2007), pp. 73–110.
  18. ^ Annales Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i (de Margam, Theokesberia, &c.), 118; Cal. Pat. 1232–47, 261.
  19. ^ Eric Borgnis-Desbordes, Arthur de Bretagne (1187-1203), L'espor breton assassiné, (Yorann Embanner, 2012), 305-327.
  20. ^ "Portraits (1995)". Tri Yann Site Officiel.
  21. ^ Seel 2012, Figure 1.

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur I, Duke of Brittany.
Arthur I, Duke of Brittany
Born: 29 March 1187 Died: 1203
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Duke of Brittany

1196–1203 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Count of Anjou

1199–1203 		Vacant
Seized by France
Title next held by
John Tristan
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Richmond
1196–1203 		Succeeded by
Eleanor (Imprisoned)
and
Alix
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