John I, Count of Armagnac
John I of Armagnac | |
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Bernard VI of Armagnac | |
Mother | Cecilia Rodez |
John I of Armagnac (French: Jean d’Armagnac; 1311 – 1373), son of
. He was the count who initiated the 14th century expansion of the county.Hundred Years War
In summer 1337, with the outbreak of the
In July 1338, he attended a general conference at La Réole, but before achieving anything of note, John and his fellow captain-general in the south, Gaston II, Count of Foix, were called north to help counter the expected invasion of Northern France by King Edward III of England. As this threat grew weaker the French offensive in the south was resumed with the siege of Penne-d'Agenais in November by John of Bohemia and the Count of Foix. John provided 1,200 men for this siege, which ended with the surrender of the town, though not the castle.
Through these early years of the war the Gaston II, Count of Foix had conducted a series of independent campaigns which allowed him to expand his personal territory into the Adour valley and the Landes. This expansion brought him into conflict with John. Just after his return from the north at the end of 1339 John attacked Miramont-Sensacq, a small town he laid claim to, but which was situated in territory dominated by the Count of Foix. This started a short but violent private war, ended by the town taken into royal custody.
This quarrel caused John to reconsider his allegiance to the French Crown. When he in May 1340 again went to join King
In the north the situation had improved for the English with their naval victory in the
Meanwhile, Edward III had with his own army laid siege to the city of Tournai. The siege dragged out and in September Philip VI marched to confront him. The result was not battle, but negotiations in which John of Armagnac took part as one of five French plenipotentiaries. The negotiations resulted in a truce concluded on 24 September. The lull in the fighting, except for an interlude in 1342, was to last until 1345.
In August 1345 Armagnac was laying siege to the Anglo-Gascon garrison at
In September 1346, following the French defeat at the
Prior to John's lieutenancy in Languedoc, it was common for tax revenues raised in the southwest to be used to finance the war in other parts of France. Inhabitants of the region resented this practice, since they were worried about their own protection. John's lieutenancy was marked by an extreme degree of independence. Once he took office, he vowed to prevent Languedoc tax revenues from being spent on northern campaigns. While the man was overall a somewhat talented commander, he was strongly criticized for his reluctance to meet the English in battle.[1]
In October-December 1355, Edward the Black Prince despoiled the French countryside on a massive scale with an army roughly 5000 strong. John, leading his own army, remained in the vicinity of The Black Prince’s troops during much of this campaign, but he dared not confront the English in battle. This was not a decision made strictly due to cowardice. Rather, it was a strategic decision, though perhaps a poorly calculated one. John had seen the disasters that had befallen French at Crécy in 1346, and at Bergerac and Auberoche a decade earlier. All of these battles resulted in heavy losses for the French. Worse still, many prominent French noblemen were captured by the English at all three of these places and later ransomed, raising large amounts of money to fund the English war effort. With these catastrophes in mind, John proved extremely reluctant to risk another disaster by confronting the Black Prince on the battlefield. Regardless of his reasoning, John of Armagnac's inability to act in the face of the English threat embarrassed the French king (John II at the time), for whom he was acting as lieutenant.[1]
John died in 1373.[2]
Marriages and Children
Armagnac married Reine de Got (d.1325), a niece of Pope Clement V,[3] they had no children.
Armagnac later married Beatrice of Clermont.[4] They had:
- John II of Armagnac(1333–1384)
- Joanna, married John, Duke of Berry in 1360.[5]
- Martha, married John I of Aragon[6][7]
References
- ^ OCLC 42960989.
- ^ Henneman 1996, p. 174.
- ^ Tout 1914, p. 217.
- ^ Vincent 2004, p. 506.
- ^ Meiss 1969, p. 31.
- ^ Mesurier, 495.
- ^ George, 135.
Sources
- Henneman, John Bell (1996). Olivier de Clisson and Political Society in France Under. University of Pennsylvania Press.174
- Meiss, Millard (1969). French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke. Vol. 1. Phaidon.
- Vincent, Catherine (2004). Fiat lux lumière et luminaires dans la vie religieuse en Occident du XIIIe siècle au début du XVIe siècle (in French). CERF.
- George, Anita, Annals of the queens of Spain, Vol.1, Baker and Scribner, 1850.
- Mesurier Chepmell, Havilland Le, A Short Course of History, Whitaker and Co., 1897.
- The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol.3, Ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911.
- Tout, Thomas Frederick (1914). The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History. Manchester University Press.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-571-13895-0
Fictional depictions
John I of Armagnac features in the medieval series, Lions and Lilies Books 1, 2 and 4 – The Lily and the Lion, The Order of the Lily and The Traitor's Noose by Catherine A. Wilson and Catherine T. Wilson.