100 YEAR WAR PART 2

That had been the plan at the beginning, but the HRE was fast moving into the direction of becoming the > > >
They could not form any imperial army or convince the hundreds of german lords to finance any major campaign, and so had to stand by and watch helplessly as they lost large imperial lands on the french border and in Northern Italy.

>December
The south was obvious not in deep enough shit with anarchy, desolation and plague; because the two main lords, Armagnac and Foix, slipped into open war against each other.

Gaston Foix had the upper hand and destroyed his opponent in the Battle of Launac northwest of Toulouse thanks to hidden archers.
Having captured the whole enemy party, not only did he win the war, but also became stinking rich out of all the ransom money.

>1363
>August
In a campaign against the norman companies around Bayeux and Caen, Philip of Longueville (the pro-english brother of Navarre) died.

>September
Some of the most prominent english hostages have been allowed to go see their wives or try and raise money in their domains.
One of them, the royal prince Louis of Anjou just stayed at home, sending a message back to Calais that he will surely pay back his ransom one day, but now that there is peace between their nations he rather prefers the french weather.

>November
John II, having just returned from Avignon to the grim reality to have to rebuild his kingdom, was told about the behaviour of his son.

He wouldnt believe it. If chivalric honour does not count on the battlefield anymore, at least it should be observed by kings.
He downright declared that he will voluntary return to prison in England to clear his name.

The french government was terrified: Of course it was assholish behaviour by the prince, but under no circumstances should the king return to England. They had given away a third of the realm and gigantic amounts of money to have him back.
No matter how bad or inefficient as a king he might be, in a medieval society he was needed as symbol (and he let everyone else govern in the first place, its not like someone more competent needs to take over), especially in a destroyed kingdom like France.

But John II remained steadfast.

There were some rumours, that besides the whole honour angle he actually enjoyed prison time in England, as a king he had his own palace there and all, and just needed an excuse to avoid actually ruling his wreck of a country. This accusation has been made until today

Another more benevolent explanation might be, that he had a good understanding with Edward III and returning voluntarily would only improve his standing in England, so that he might renegotiate the Treaty of Bretigny, especially to lower the ransom money a bit or suspend it for a time, and also to release the princes and counts.

(Btw, during the whole time Louis of Anjou himself somehow didnt really could be bothered to actually return himself)

>1364
>January
John II arrived in London, where he is received with honours and splendidly entertained by Edward III

>January
Charles of Navarre didnt knew yet that the king had given Burgundy to his son, but still had given up on receiving it himself.
With John II away in England, the perfect time had come to gain his rightful heritage by more violent means.

But first he went to Bordeaux and met Prince Edward.
The Black Prince would open his borders for any navaresse movement and let him hire gascon companies, but of course would not support him openly.
Still, Navarre hired the Captal de Buch, the most famous of the breton commanders, to lead his forces in Normandy, while multiple Free Companies were bought for the attack on Burgundy itself.

>Februar
After Charles of Navarre went away, Charles of Blois and John of Montfort came to Bordeaux to plead their cause and have the Black Prince decide who is in the right.
He told them that he didnt gave a fuck.

>April
The Navarrese in Normandy rose up and armed themselfs.
But Navarres old adversary from the chaotic parisean days, Dauphin Charles -now in command with his father away- had expected just that and at the slightest notion of armed movement, send his troops into Normandy.

The Captal de Buch arrived soon after, but could do nothing more then fortify himself in Evreux, while the navarrese towns around fell to royal arms.

>April
At the other side of the channel, King John II (45) fell suddenly ill and after just a couple of days died.
He had been king for 13 unhappy years

Naturally he wasnt missed, he was seen as one of the worst and most incompetent kings of France ever.
In my eyes, its a bit unfair because almost everyone would have looked bad under the circumstances. I stand to my assessment at the beginning of his reign: He was a harmless man, did not have much of a clue but would gladly stand aside and let others govern -like he did the last three years- while cutting a convincing royal figure. But he was just the completely wrong man in these times.

He was followed by his son as Charles V (26), in his youth the black sheep of the family due to his shy and introvert character, but having matured during the chaos of the parisean revolution and now the dominant figure in the court.
His main project at the moment was the continuation of the one positive legacy of his fathers reign:
The whole tax system had been overhauled and two new taxes introduced; a salt and hearth tax, both hitting far broader layers of society with higher taxation then before. These two were initially meant to bring in the outstanding ransom for John II, but are now flooding the treasury with money (of course the poor population is even harder hit then before, yet another ill of the disastrous late 14th century)

>May
The Captal de Buch had gotten his norman-breton force of 2k in form and moved against the royal army in Normandy to stop their pacification campaign.

His adversary was a curious choice, just freshly appointed by the Dauphin.
Bertrand du Guesclin was a minor breton noble and so ugly that his parents almost refused to acknowledge him as their son (though he looks pretty normal in all portraits).
As the younger son growing up in the civil wars, he led like many others of his status some small companies in guerilla fighting/plundering. He had risen to some sort of local prominence during the Siege of Rennes in the year after Poitiers, where he successfully harassed the english siege lines.

Now given his first command, he moved his troops (1,2k) against the Captal and then stood on the defensive.
For two days both glared at each other, before Guesclin pretended to march away, at which the Captal tried to fall in his rear.
The Battle of Cocherel was a bloody struggle until Guesclin had his reserve hit into the enemy flanks, destroying the rebel army and taking the Captal de Buch prisoner.

>June
The good news of Cocherel and that his father had died and he is king now, reached Charles at the same time.
First, he prevented any family struggles or ill feelings by openly giving Philip the Bold the Duchy of Burgundy and installing Louis of Anjou as lieutenant of the Languedoc, practically having him rule the rich southern France as he liked.

Secondly there was the question of how to use Cocherel: Many of his advisers would have liked to come to an understanding with Charles of Navarre, but Charles V instead wanted to crush him for good.
Three small royal armies marched into Lower Normandy, into the Cotentin peninsular and on the Seine

>September
The failure of any negotiated solution between Montfort and Blois led to the reopening of the breton civil war, as John of Montfort gathered his forces and attacked Auray.

Charles of Blois hastily raised an army of 4k, requesting to get this Guesclin guy that apparently knew what he was doing, and marched to the relief of Auray.

Montfort was a politican and knew little of military matters, so he had given command of his army to John Chandos.
Chandos had been something like the chief-of-staff for the Black Prince and was credited of being the true mastermind behind the Battle of Poitiers.
At Auray he had 3,5k man, led by himself, the famous company leader Robert Knolles (now changing to a career in english service) and the breton noble Olivier Clisson (who would also play a major role in the future)

When Guesclin and Blois arrived before Auray, Chandos had broken off the siege and gathered his troops. Blois had little chance but to attack as soon as possible, but it proved the wrong decision; the enemy force easily bend both of his wings back and enveloped his army (like a mini Cannae), destroying it, killing Blois and capturing Guesclin.

The Battle of Auray had 800 killed and 1,500 captured and completely changed the political situation in Brittany, where the Blois party -accepted by the majority- suddenly saw themselfs without leader.

As an afterthough, during the next weeks Guesclin was offered for the utopian sum of 100k back to the new king, if he liked him that much.
To everyones surprise Charles V actually paid that sum.

>1365
>April
Without any clear leader to the Blois party, there was nothing to fight over anymore.
The Treaty of Guerande established John of Montfort as Duke John IV of Brittany.

The conclusion of the civil war was too abrupt and strange and the authorities outside found it hard to judge.
Montfort was for many equal to the english party and in England itself it was seen as yet another in a long string of english triumphes.
On the other hand he was a french duke, doing homage to the french king. Was that really a loss for France?

John IV himself tried to find a neutral path just like Flanders, but that proved a lot more difficult, especially with a lot of english troops still hanging around in Brittany.

>May
The navarrese uprising had failed.

Charles of Navarres mercenary troops had dissolved into the Free Companies (from where they came from) on the way to Burgundy, while he was completely BTFO in Normandy.

He now made peace with the french king, he was pardoned again, all hostages from both sides (like the Captal, who had negotiated the peace) were released without ransom and the burgundian succession was given over to papal mediation and in case that it was decided against him he would get as compensation Montpellier which had been annexed from Majorca a couple of posts above.

That all may sound nice, but it was still an utter defeat: He lost all his norman possessions on the Seine (the most valuable part of his clay), the Pope would never negotiate anything and he would never get Montpellier.

At least we dont have to bother with a burgundian civil war.

>May
The German Emperor Charles IV visited the Pope in Avignon.

This might have caused some stomachache in Paris, because that is directly in the regions of the HRE that had fallen into the french orbit, but luckily its yet again just about a crusade.

The Ottoman Turks had used the recent byzanthine civil war to get Gallipoli (yes, the one from WW1) and with this their first foothold in Europe. They were still just a random anatolian tribe, but it had caused a huge wave of indignation across Europe and there was a universal call to kick them out again
(Next year the Count of Savoy would sail there and regain Gallipoli, but it would be yet again lost soon after)

>Autumn
The Free Company endemic had been contained a bit, but large tracts of southern and central France were still out of control.
The old project from the last year, to unite them and lead them somewhere, was again pursuid.

For one there could be the anti-turkic crusade, but it was too far away and the HRE and Hungary refused to let the hordes pass through their realms.

Another alternative was raised by the exile Henry of Trastamare, who would lead them into Spain, but not in aragonese service but under himself to kickstart a castilian civil war.

The spanish plan actually looked pretty promising: The previous castilian king and the current one, Peter I, had both centralized royal power but pissed off many nobles in the process, who wondered if a weak new dynasty might not be such a bad thing.
Castille was rich, with many small and middle-large towns, the Companies had no objection with going there.
The Pope, France and Aragon would all pay the Companies to leave somewhere else.
Lastly, the whole host would be commanded by Henry of Trastamare and Bertrand du Guesclin, both pretty much soldiers of fortune themself.

So the spanish expedition it was.

>November
Guesclin had formed a host of 10-12k man, mostly breton and gascon companies, but also with an anglo part (under the breton mercenary Calveley) and moved to Avignon.

The Pope had paid enough to raise that army, but was now asked to give another 50k for the way to Spain.
When he refused Guesclin threatened to storm the city and in the end the Pope had to pay.

Hopefully all these assholes would die in Spain.

>1366
>January
King Peter IV of Aragon gave a lavish feat for the leaders of the mercenary host in Barcelona (which was larger then the current aragonese and castilian army combined), who soon began to extract land and money from him.
Man, there was a reason that he didnt want them here.

>February
The Company army moved into the Ebro valley.

The castilian army under Peter I blocked the direct way to Burgos, but the enemy just moved through southern Navarre (which had clearly proclaimed its neutrality but was ignored)

With his position outflanked, Peter I fled to Toledo, while Henry of Trastamare moved into Burgos, where he crowned himself king, not even a month after his campaign had started. Not bad.

>May
A major noble revolted erupted in central Spain against Peter I, he had to flee Toledo, going first to Sevilla but then completely left the country.

Thus the castilian civil war had ended just shortly after it started.
Castille, who was supposed to be a major power since the Reconquista, really didnt cover itself in glory.

Well, anything was sunshine for the (non-spanish) victors:
Guesclin and Calveley were created spanish counts, money was freely poured onto the mercenary army (before they thought about running amok again) and Aragon could get the border fortresses about which both sides had fought the last 8 years or so.

Also, Navarre now claimed to be on their side as well and wanted the major fortress-town of Logrono, but was told to get fucked.

>August
While everyone had a great time in Spain, its rightful king found his way to Bordeaux and met the Black Prince.

Edward was initially not interested in helping him, because it was completely irrelevant to him what happened down in Spain.

But Peter I pointed out to him that he could this way kill even more French, and any campaign to restore him would be fully paid by castilian money, he would also cede the basque County of Biscaya with Bilbao to Aquitaine (which had some weird mix of basque-french culture) and again HE COULD KILL MORE FRENCH

Shortly after Charles of Navarre joined the two, he would open all his vital passes to the english army and was promised multiple southern hardpoints, though Peter I left it open if he could get Logrono.

>1367
>January
Prince Edward gathered his army in the name of Peter I.

His name alone instantly drew many man: John Chandos would lead the gascon troops, Calveley promised to return with the anglo-gascon parts of Guesclins army, Robert Knolles brought breton troops, the Captal de Buch wanted to join in the fun as well, the great southern lords of Armagnac and Albret joined, and by chance his brother John of Gaunt had come visiting from England and joined with english archers.

By next month he had 8-10k ready.

>February
Charles of Navarre is doing what he liked best: playing both sides. Or at least he tried.

Henry of Trastamare had promised him Logrono if he closed his pyrenean passes, and while he declared to be still on the english side, he told Prince Edward to find another way.

Sadly for him the returning mercenaries of Calveley were on their way north and opened the passes by armed force from behind

>March
Prince Edward had advanced into Castille, but Trastamare and Guesclin engaged them in indirect guerilla warfare in the hills above the Ebro valley.

Does 2424 count as quasi dubs? Two real dubs, two quasi and almost quads. nice.

>April
The enemy had finally found a way to force the Ebro, and the situation for Trastamare looked ever more worse.

He was also challenged by all his spanish commanders and his noble allies, who despised his indirect warfare and saw it as not fitting for a new king.
They openly told him to defeat the enemy in battle or he would soon lose all his support.
Of course the french commanders told him that it would be stupid when he had the smaller army with worse quality

_____
Henry of Trastamare offered battle, but made the best of the situation and positioned his army on a gently sloping hill, well entrenched and rested.

For the Black Prince it was a godsend, because he really needed a battle before his host dissolved.

At the Battle of Najera he had parts of his army (the english ones under Gaunt and Chandos) directly advance onto the hill, while using the larger part of the army (Captal, himself, Armagnac, Albret) to go around the castilian position and hit them in the flank.

Guesclin tried his best to safe the situation, he recognized the english plan immediately and launched all the french troops against the english troops coming up the hill, giving the castilian army time to wheel around and face the main onslaught.

But it couldnt be helped. The english line was holding, the main army of the Prince was enveloping the hill, all while the castilian troops deserted and fled, leaving the french knights alone to be hit in both flanks and crushed.
The rest of the day was spend running down the fleeing masses.

The Battle of Najera was another huge triumph for the Black Prince, who further gained the myth of invincibility.
5k enemy troops were killed, Peter I again placed securely on the throne and Aquitaine -after having expanded so much into France- would now grow into Spain.

Henry of Trastamare though had escaped, so not everything went perfectly.
Guesclin was captured yet again (thus the Captal de Buch had his revenge for Cocherel) and it was offered to the french king to ransom him again for 100k. He did (probably he was given a note to please appoint that guy again as commander against the English, because the whole thing was becoming seriously lucrative)

Down in the Ebro valley in the spanish spring sun the Black Prince and english fortunes in general seemed at the height of their glory.

There was no way anything ever could go wrong for them.

>April
Peter I returned to Burgos exactly one year after he had to flee the city.
And probably had a stern discussion with the city officials and his nobles. He had not been given the nickname "the Cruel" for nothing.

But there was one nagging problem.
The Black Prince very much liked to have his pay. The treasury of Castille was empty, anything of worth was taken by Trastamare when he fled and it was to be feared, that the civil war was still not entirely finished.

In short, he had no money for the English, so yeah, sorry, but it couldnt be helped.
And obviously, as a king who just had regained his throne and with the loyalty of much of the kingdom still unsure, it was out of question to cede any parts of the kingdom.

Prince Edward was incredulous: He had spend the whole wealth of his realm to finance the expedition and was heavily indebted. He really NEEDED the money right now.

Peter I could just promise to pay him back once his rule was stabilized again, but not now.

While the prince still negotiated, his host dissolved, some going into castilian service, other plundering, most of them drifting back over the Pyrenees.

>August
Henry of Trastamare and the freed Guesclin met Louis of Anjou in Toulouse.
Louis made clear that there would be enough money ready to keep fighting (and keep the companies in Spain), while Guesclin confirmed to the wavering Trastamare that there is nothing to worry about and that they would just seat him on the throne a second time.

At the same time the rest of the anglo-gascon-breton host moved out of Spain, ravaged by dysentery and back into a bankrupt Guyenne.
The Black Prince was raging, but there is nothing he could do.

>Oktober
With the situation in Italy as unstable as ever and despite the best efforts the Papal States in a state of dissolution, Pope Urban V personally went to Rome, the first time for 60 years that a Pope would enter the city (which pretty much had reached its lowest point since antique glory)

>October
With all his mercenaries behind him, Henry of Trastamare returned to northern Spain, going straight to Burgos, where Old Castille and Leon declared for him.

>1368
>February
Sadly for the French, despite the ongoing civil war in Castille, a lot of companies have flooded back, especially with the end of the english campaign. And not nearly enough of them had died.

A second wave of Free Company activity swept over southern France, invading the Dauphine and Provence (under Guesclin, wth is that guy doing?).
A major military operation had tried to hold the Rhone, but the companies managed to cross north of Lyon

As shitty as it appeared, this time the french government was ready, much of the countryside was abandoned and many of the mercenary fortresses simply bought back; during autumn the largest of the companies who had moved north into Champagne dissolved.

>Spring
To refinance his losses and somehow keep the government of Guyenne from collapsing, Prince Edward decreed new drastic taxes.
His subjects were not amused.

This even led to a breach with his right-hand man John Chandos, who left in protest the Duchy, because he feared the high taxes would just make the situation worse.

>April
Trastamare opened the siege of Toledo, the seat of King Peters I government.

>May
The southern lord of Albret is married to a Bourbon princess in Paris.

During that occassion he and his fellow lord Armagnac complained bitterly about the heavy taxation and described how this had caused a wave of anger and annoyance throughout the realm, especially as it had been promised to the new english regions when they had been handed over to not raise any taxes.

There was some remembrance how in the good old days they could just turn to the french king and his institutions, but thats over with Guyenne now being fully sovereign.
At this point they were corrected, that no, the legal act of transfer of sovereignity had never been done, so legally the french king was still the sovereign.

Armagnac and Albret thus addressed an official appeal to the king as the rightful sovereign about the taxation level in Guyenne

>June
Charles V knew exactly what would happen if he registered the appeal.
Questioning the sovereignity would almost certainly lead to new war. Deep in his heart he was prepared to renew the war at some point in the future. But was now the right time?

Companies were still running amok. The royal authority was still weak. Najera had yet again demonstrated the superiority of english arms. The loyality of many, be it the southern lords, the Duke of Brittany, the norman lords, to the french dynasty was very questionable.

But on the other hand, confidence had returned to the french state and above all he had money enough and it was becoming quite obvious that the English very much lacked it.

There was surely a lot of debate that summer and some hard questions and bitter arguments.

But at the last day of the month among the gathered top civil and military authorities and all the noble lords of the realm, Charles V officially received the appeal of the southern lords as natural sovereign of Aquitaine.

and thats it for today.

lets continue tomorrow

Well thanks for this thread it was really interesting. Looking forward to the next part.

>actual interesting content on this dumpster fire of a board

Have my children user. Bertrand du Guesclin is one of my favorite historical characters.

Thanks

>tfw reading that as a french

Bump

...

Betrand du Guesclin (1323-1380): Constable of France
Du Guesclin was essentially an adventurer and military contractor. He acquired the reputation for being an outstanding strategist with ability to execute rapid movements over great distances and to control his men in battle. He entered the service of King Charles V of France upon the latter’s succession to the throne in 1364

King Charles V placed him in command of the free companies, Fashioning them into a Great Company,Du Guesclin led them into Spain in support of Henry of Trastamara’s successful attempt to oust his half-brother Peter the Cruel from the throne of Castille. The exiled Peter turned for help to the English, who sent an army under the command of King Edward III’s eldest son, Edward the Black Prince.

At the battle of Navarette Du Guesclin did not surrender until he realized that the Spanish army had gone. His force had been surrounded throughout the battle, one quarter of its number was dead, practically all the others injured.

Prince Edward had great trouble preventing King Pedro from executing prisoners out of hand (another indication of how the monarch acquired the sobriquet "the Cruel"). The prince finally convinced Pedro that it would be to their advantage to ransom the prisoners.

The Black Prince claimed Du Guesclin as his prisoner and received 19,200 pounds from King Charles V as his ransom. In 1368 Charles V raised him to the position of Constable of France, despite his lowly origins.

OP here, I'm back for a bit, but will post more in the evening (european time)

Thanks for the bumps, btw

Yeah, its interesting that the Black Prince married his cousin out of love instead of some great heiress or princess from a powerful country,

Also, the peak of chivalry on the english side was quite murderous even for his time; while the one on the french side did his best to behave as unknightly as possible.
Well, the undisputed King of Chivalry died at Crecy, and it were hard times since then.

If you have the rest of the Osprey pictures from that time period, you can post them as well.
I also have to correct myself, looking through his pictures (and realizing that they are idealized), Guesclin was indeed ugly as hell

before I continue, I was just looking at that pic
and here are some small neat details:

Did you notice how the english flag is different with that white bar above it? (a label of three points argent, to be precise) Thats because the Black Prince had his own heraldic arms as long as he remained the prince.

So, lets look at the other guys: The one behind him with almost the same arms, just the bar has some stuff painted in it (three points ermine), thats his brother John of Gaunt with his brand new own heraldic arms as Duke of Lancaster.
The one besides him is the claimant to the (aragonian annexed) majorcan kingdom, who fought in the reserve (thats also why he got a crowned helmet)
The third might be John Chandos, the arms are the same just the colour is wrong.

The one behind the castilian king is the master of the military Order of Santiago. No idea who the other spanish guy is.

>October
The second son of Edward III, Prince Lionel, was about to be married to the daughter of the Despot of Milan, but died on the way to Italy.

>November
The Parlement of Paris summoned Prince Edward as french vassal to answer the charges about high taxation.

In London these developments came out of the blue, as complete shock. The government -under an increasingly old and infirm king- had more then enough problems of their own and had regarded the continental affairs as of minor importance.

It couldnt believe that France really wanted to resume the war, that France was even capable of fighting any war.
And above all it couldnt understand how a fellow christian nation would so brazenly break a mutually agreed treaty

In Bordeaux the Black Prince was furious.
Having fallen ill in the aftermath of the spanish expedition, he was bedridden and the political and financial problems of his realm had made him just more impulsive

He made the badass boast, that of course he would come to Paris, but only at the head of his army to bring these devious villains down for good.

>Winter
Guesclin returned with more money and troops to Spain to help end the civil war.

Henry of Trastamare on his side promised to directly enter the 100YW

>1369
>Januar
While the official start of hostilities was still not proclaimed, the old Lord of Armagnac moved preemptively into the eastern Rodez and Quercy provinces (much of them going to him, if he would succeed), where the provincial capital of Cahors -that had so bitterly complained about becoming english- changed sides immediately.

>Januar
A french mission arrived in London, where they went over the Treaty of Bretigny again and made a detailed explanation how no matter what any monarch had previously claimed, promised or assumed, in the end the legal transfer of sovereignity had never been performed.

So Charles V was still sovereign over Aquitaine and he was fully in the right to summon his vassal to Paris.

The English professed that the treaty might have been unclear at some points, and that they were very willing to sit down and renegotiate it, but the current french behaviour was nothing but pure agression and illegally breaking any arrangements.

>February
The city of Rodez opened its gates for Armagnac.

John Chandos was urgently recalled to Guyenne to take over the administration for the ill prince again and organized a military defense on its eastern flank.

He established his HQ in the city of Montauban in Quercy and ordered the famous captains Calveley and Knolles to his side, while the government in far away London promised to ship down reinforcements soon.

>March
King Peter I had gathered an army in Andalusia to finally break the siege of Toledo after almost a year.
Guesclin had foreseen that move and threw his troops against him. At Montiel near La Manche the two armies clashed, where the Trastamare forces enveloped their opponents and practically won the civil war.

(fuck yeah, finally a real painting again)

>March
Peter I himself could flee (similiar to Najera), but was contacted by Guesclin who appeared to be willing to change sides with his mercenaries if he got a good offer.
When Peter I agreed to meet him, Guesclin suddenly stepped aside and let Henry of Trastamare enter the tent, who stabbed his enemy to death.

Never trust a Breton!

Henry now became King Henry II of the new Trastamare dynasty.
He promised troops and ships for the french cause, but still had to fight the border war against Aragon, a new war against Portugal who refused to recognize him, and had to handle internal opposition (especially as it became clear that just as his predecessors he wanted a strong centralized state)

>April
The French confiscated the Ponthieu, the region around the Somme mouth that had been given to the English at Bretigny

>May
The deadline for the Black Prince to appear in Paris had run out.

Charles V in a grand ceremony declared the Duchy of Guyenne as forfeited.
Edward III responded by resuming to name himself rightful king of France.

The 100 Year War thus began anew.

The french strategy was to avoid any major battle while exerting scattered pressure at any vulnerable point at the same time, while the English were paralyzed from their lack of money and manpower.
The Duke of Anjou operated from Languedoc in the south, the Duke of Berry from the middle of the country and the Duke of Burgundy commanded in the north.

Chandos and the Captal de Buch struck from Montauban against the various surrounding french forces, each time surprising them, each time without any lasting sucess though.

At the same the english reinforcements under John Hastings and the [later] Duke of York, the brother of the Black Prince, ravaged the lands of the rebellious Perigord lord in the northeast, while Calveley did the same in the south against the armagnacian lands.

>June
With overwhelming pressure from all directions, Chandos had to retreat from the eastern provinces, giving up Montauban and Villafranche, the last two major places in Rodez and Quercy

>July
Another one of Edwards III sons, John auf Gaunt, took command of Calais, where much of the english reinforcements were send to, out of concern that a major attack was about to begin there.

At the same time Charles of Navarre and John IV of Brittany met and allied with each other in case of a french attack.
Both had the stigma of being regarded as pro-english and feared that the french king might hit them as well.

While this was purely a defensive alliance, Navarre of course intrigued with both sides like always
He demanded for him changing into the french royal camp for good his old norman possessions on the Seine back and also to finally get Montpellier that had been promised.
On the other hand he proposed an alliance with the English and offered the norman Cotentin Peninsular as bridgehead for any english army.

>August
John Hastings with his fresh troops went north to the Loire and secured the important bridges at Nantes and Saumur, thus at least stabilizing the northern flank of Aquitaine.

>armagnac
Jean philipe...you're home.

>August
Burgundy had raised a large army of 8-10k in Rouen and moved against Calais.
But he was there faced by the english army of John of Gaunt, both were on the defensive and didnt really want to attack each other.

But at the same time more and more english troops arrived, growing their army up to 8k, which was now roughly equal in numbers to the french one.
Burgundy now got cold feet and retreated at the end of the month from Calais.
His efforts were not wasted, because he had tied up large english troops in the north while they were urgently needed in the south.

>Oktober
John of Gaunt launched his own campaign in the form of a chevauchee down the coast into Normandy.

His goal was the major harbour of Harfleur and it was expected that the French would have to confront him to prevent its fall.

Sadly, they didnt move at all, just burned down the countryside. Harfleur like all larger towns was impossible to assault. And when Gaunt moved back across the devastated land, his army starved.

The whole episode showed the downside of the trusted chevauchee tactic in face of an enemy who would abandon the land and entrench himself into the towns. It proved to be an effectic counter (though of course like all burned earth tactics its rather shitty for the guys who inhabit the land)

>December
Returning from an attack near Poitiers, John Chandos met by chance a french raiding party while he was about to cross the Vienne; he was slain in the clash.

Thats it for the moment, will continue in roughly three hours.

>1370
>February
Agen, the capital of the Agenais, was brought over by bribe money and promises of tax exemption by Louis of Anjou, leaving Aiguillon and Bergerac as the main english strongholds on the Agenais frontline.

The same followed shortly after in Perigueux, the capital of Perigord, whose province would be the major focus of french offensives this year.

The Lord of Albret took Bazas and practically cut the land connection between the two major cities of Bordeaux and Bayonne.

>July
Bertrand du Guesclin, who fought mostly with languedoc money, was recalled from Spain by Louis of Anjou, to unite with him for the upcoming offensive into the Garonne valley.

At the same time Charles of Navarre was in London to negotiate an english alliance, but he dragged his foot, because mainly he wanted the threat of this alliance to be used to pressure the french king into making concessions, not actually ally with the Anglos.

>August
The french marched from various points into the eastern and northeastern Aquitaine.

John, Duke of Berry and the Duke of Bourbon stormed Limoges, the capital of the Limousin.
Further down Guesclin and Anjou entered Sarlat and penetrated from there deep into Perigord

>The one behind the castilian king is the master of the military Order of Santiago. No idea who the other spanish guy is.
I think he may be Fernando Ruiz de Castro, leading nobleman who supported Peter I.

This fucking board doesn't deserve you OP

>When Peter I agreed to meet him, Guesclin suddenly stepped aside and let Henry of Trastamare enter the tent, who stabbed his enemy to death.
Wait, did Henry really kill his opponent personally?

Not op but from Guesclin wiki page

>After the battle, Pedro fled to the castle at Montiel, from whence he made contact with du Guesclin, whose army were camped outside. Pedro bribed du Guesclin to obtain escape. Du Guesclin agreed, but also told it to Henry who promised him more money and land if he would only lead Pedro to Henry's tent. Once there, after crossed accusations of bastardy the two half-brothers started a fight to death, using daggers because of the narrow space. At a moment when they fought on the floor, Pedro got the upper side and was about to finish Henry. But then Du Guesclin, who had stayed inactive for he was compromised to both, made his final choice. He grabbed Pedro´s ankle and turned him belly-up, thus allowing Henry to stab Pedro to death and gain the throne of Castile.[6] While turning Pedro down, du Guesclin is claimed to have said "Ni quito ni pongo rey, pero ayudo a mi señor" (I neither put nor remove a King, but I help my Master), which has since that moment become a common phrase in Spanish, to be used by anyone of lesser rank who does what he is ordered or expected to do, avoiding any concern about the justice or injustice of such action, and declining any responsibility

When did the English kings stop considering themselves "French?" Was it just two French Kings fighting over France, or were the English Kings 'English' by then?

Indeed. Thank you so very much for doing this op.

Yay, a new year

Yes he did. He was pretty badass and was a good king; its a shame that his successors were all rather bad.

Probably around the end of the previous century. Edward I reigns is often said to have formed a national consciousness of their own.

The 100YW then severed all contacts, and French and English were openly hated in the other country.
The english kings also began to use the english language more and more in ceremonies and almost exclusively when adressing their people; though for international negotiations it was still either french or latin.
:::::::::::::

This will be just some short posts, because its already after midnight here.
I will post more tomorrow

>August
Against the french offensives, two armies were send out:
The smaller one under John of Gaunt sailed south to reinforce his brother in Guyenne

The larger one under Robert Knolles went to Calais. Consisting of 6k, it was some sort of state-sponsored private undertaking, led and financed by various experienced captains (like Calveley) who hoped to gain a huge profit through plundering and the expected ransoms.

It took the same route as Edwards III last campaign in 1359, going through northern France, then passed Reims and Troyes, coming close to Paris.
But like always the countryside was emptied and the French refused all battle despite their enemy piercing straight through their heartlands.

>September
The ill Prince Edward, accompanied by his brothers John of Gaunt [Lancaster] and Edmund [York], by John Hastings and the Captal de Buch, marched with 3,4k against Limoges.
Feeling that the town had too easily given up last month, he set an example by storming it again, letting it be brutally sacked and its citizens massacred.
The whole was a pretty fucked up episode, even by the standards of its time.

>Autumn
The portuguese fleet was heavily defeated by the Castilians and their border defenses in disarray; the new king Henry II marched now straight into Portugal

>October
Knolles chevauchee was moving in the direction of Vendome, in the middle of the kingdom. Up till now it had not been very profitable or successfull, but it intended to either go to Normandy to support a new rising if Edward III could conclude an agreement with Charles of Navarre, otherwise it would head to Poitou to help in its defenses.

>October
Guesclin had been called up to where the royal forces were gathering at Caen and there made Constable.
It was a controversial decision, because besides being the top military post it also included political and financial powers and was usually reserved for top nobles not some minor noble half-brigand like Bertrand.

His choice of deputy raised even more eyebrows: Olivier de Clisson was a fellow Breton, but from one of the most influential families there. His father had been executed by the french king Philip VI in that punitive act that had started the breton civil war and Clisson had fought since then pretty successfully in english armies in front of Reims, at Auray and Najera, where he usually went into berserk rage with a great battle axt. There was also an infamous episode where a garrison had not surrendered soon enough and had their heads chopped off one after another by him personally.
But behind his blunt appearance, there was also some deep cunning and he always came out of the campaigns a good deal richer then everyone else around him.

Fearing him becoming too powerful Montfort had broken with him and Clisson went over into french services.
He is more or less a figure straight out of some manga.

There was finally the new Marshal Sancerre, the complete opposite of the two, who was modest, down to earth and would never do anything extraordinary, but also could be trusted to never fuck up.

>November
With winter coming, Knolles wanted to withdraw into semi-neutral Brittany, but his other captains violently disagreed and rather wanted to stay in clearly hostile ground that could be freely plundered.

At this dangerous time, when Knolles forces were splitting up, Guesclin threw his own troops (4k) on separate paths in forced marches south, while ordering Marshal Sancerre (1,2k) to come from the east.

>December
Guesclin hit the largest of the english troops at Pontvallain in open ground right in the night, in the battle the english archers were nullified and the English completely surprised by the enemy appearing out of the air, but still it was a hard fought action before the English broke.

A second troop was near the Abbey of Vaas and hearing about the calamity that their companions had suffered, entrenched themselfs in the abbey during the day.
Guesclin had Sancerre pin down the enemy there, then split his more mobile troops under Clisson to deal with the rest, while he headed to Vaas, which was stormed in bloody fighting.

At this time Knolles retreated into Brittany, wildy pursued by Clisson, and finally reached some ships, evacuating some of his troops, while the majority was massacred on the beaches by Clissons Bretons.

Survivors had at the same time managed to cross the Loire into the supposedly safety of english Poitou, but Guesclin and Sancerre followed them even there, killing many of them.

In the end the whole Pontvallain campaign had claimed 5k of the initial 6k English either captured or killed.
For the cash-strapped english government it was a major disaster.

>December
The Pope had found the situation in Italy as worse as ever and despite prophecies that he would die, had abandoned Rome again to return to Avignon.
Truely, just two months after returning he died there

>1371
>January
The bedridden Prince Edward was not even able to serve as a symbolic ruler of Guyenne anymore and now abdicted as Duke (it went back to his father the king) and sailed back to England.

His brother John of Gaunt remained there for the moment, but it was a further hit to the already pretty low morale there.

>February
The longtime imprisoned David II of Scotland died, he was followed by his unwarlike nephew Robert Stewart, who founded a new dynasty-

>March
Charles of Navarre ended all english scheming and did officially homage to Charles V, thus removing the permanent threat of Normandy turning hostile or being used as english bridgehead.

He still got nothing out of the whole deal apart from being even more distrusted and hated by all sides.

_

Being completely BTFO Portugal more or less surrendered to Castille, recognizing Henry of Trastamare as king.

>September
John of Gaunt left Aquitaine as well, but promised there would be more troops and especially more money available next year.

>November
Marshal Sancerre had come before Limoges, which obviously was not very pro-anglo anymore, so whoever still lived there after the massacre last year surrendered the town once again.

>1372
>January
John of Gaunt, freshly arrived in London, married the daughter of the murdered King Peter of Castille and now formally claimed for his son the throne of Castille as rightful heir.

Lets talk about him a bit, he has appeared a lot already and would play an ever more increasing role in english politics.
With his father the king old and his brother the Black Prince infirm, it was his place to uphold the figure of the Plantagenet dynasty in public and take a guiding role in politics.

He also had married the daughter and heir of the late Duke of Lancaster before and inherited his massive wealth (becoming the richest person after the king) and even his ducal title of Lancaster.
Well, now he would soon either govern England for his father or Spain as the new castilian king (when everything would go right)

>Winter
Both sides prepared after the slow boring last year for a decisive new phase this year.
France targeted the Poitou, the richest of the ceded provinces, which had included La Rochelle, the only major french atlantic port. Officially the brother of the king, the Duke of Berry, was in command, but real power was given to Guesclin and Sancerre.

The Duke of Anjou meanwhile planned for diversion a strike down in the Garonne valley.

England intented to land troops for the defense of Poitou, but its major focus would be in Brittany, where still many pro-english factions were holding out and whose western coast was covered by english influence.
It was hoped that John IV of Brittany could be turned to fully declare for the English

>June
Olivier de Clisson started the siege of Moncontour, the only significant english possession north of the capital Poitiers, which was meanwhile pressurized by Guesclin and Bourbon.

>June
An english treasury fleet (14 small barges and four troop ships, John Hastings) sailed towards Aquitaine, but runs outside La Rochelle into a castilian fleet which had been waiting for them.
In the battle the larger and faster castilian galleys have little trouble and destroyed their opponents, who lost 800 soldiers and all their urgently needed money.

Somehow nothing could go right for them anymore

(Hastings was held in prison for three years and when released died immediately)

>July
Portugal and England entered an alliance, which was reluctantly joined by Montfortist Brittany, which still swore to be neutral.

>August
Which most of Poitou in chaos, Guesclin outflanked the eastern defenses and went directly to the capital Poitiers, which was hardly defended and capitulated.

In the rest of the province, the Captal de Buch took over administrative and military control.
He concentrated all his troops in the fortress of Niort and tried to suppress the pro-french popular feeling in La Rochelle.

The local poitivin nobility meanwhile gathered with their armed forces around Thouars and declared that they still recognize their english overlords, but would rethink their situation unless english reinforcements arrived soon

Near the end of the month, some 600 french-castilian troops landed on the coast south of La Rochelle.
The Captal de Buch went against them immediately, but during the night his surprise attack was beaten back and his force destroyed in the counterattack.

The French would refuse to ransom the captured Captal, declaring him to be too dangerous and he would die four years later on a broken heart.

The English were now running out fast of capable commanders.

>September
The french army (Guesclin, Bourbon, Berry) approached La Rochelle, where the garrison surrendered when a siege seemed impossible as long as the city itself was so hostile.

With the whole situation in Poitou in free collapse, Guesclin continued the campaign -which had already reached all of its original aims- and went south, securing the capital of the Saintonge, Saintes, and the capital of Angouleme, which has the same name.

In the south Louis of Anjou in his Garonne offensive came before the main english defensive line at Aiguillon (which had hold out so long back in 1346) and Port-Sainte-Marie, where the last Agenais campaign two years ago had been stopped.

Now without any money, pay or morale left, the two places surrendered.

>October
The breton nobility -still not all too sure about their montfortist Duke- is horrified at the prospect of an english alliance and declared they would fight openly on the french side.
Some french royal troops from Poitou moved north, taking over strategical places on the border and the rivers, just in case the English truely landed here.

>December
No english help came, so the poitivin nobles of Thouars surrendered, despite them having originally welcomed their annexation to english Aquitaine
The whole region is given as an appanage to the Duke of Berry.

With Portugal having entered into alliance with England, Castille declared that they have now broken the previous peace agreement and invaded the poor country once again.

And this is it for tonight. I will continue in something like 12 hours, so somebody has to bump it meanwhile (it had survived 10 hours last night, it shouldnt be a problem)

With this 4 years have passed since the renewal of war and well, it had been nothing but english catastrophes on end.

So, lets hope that 1373 will be better for the Anglos.
John of Gaunt planned to have a triumphal campaign, to subdue haughty France and conquer Spain and it all will be very glorious and make the disgraces of the past forgotten, so be ready for further drama

(also i marked all the newly lost clay this year; it really doesnt look good)

Thanks OP.

Looking forward to the rest.

BUMP

up.

>the English were the bad guys in the HYW

dont ever stop these thread user, theyre great

But the Christmas and New Year weekends are over. There is just so little time.

>1373
>Winter
The last somewhat major southern lord, the Lord of Turrene, went over into the french royal camp

>February
With no further portuguese resistance, the Castilians began a major siege of Lisbon.

>March
Guesclin moped up Poitou, Clisson pacified the Vendee region between Poitou and Brittany, while the English only held on to Niort and otherwise started guerilla attacks.

Their main force though was unfortunately located by Guesclin, confronted and wiped out at the Battle of Chize, meaning the end of english presence here.

Niort surrendered with the news of Chize.

_____
The Pope intervened in the iberian peninsular and forbid Portugal and Castille to continue fighting; they should rather unite to kick out the last Muslims.
The Siege of Lisbon had to be raised, while Portugal once again recognized Henry II and ended all english alliances. They also had to give away some of their border fortresses as guarantee for good behaviour.

Returning home, the castilian army wheeled north and went directly into Navarre, where King Henry forced Charles of Navarre to agree to a marriage alliance, give back Logrono and to close all mountain passes against John of Gaunt in case he would ever claim the castilian crown (which is exactly what he was doing right now)

>June
Guesclin opened the siege of Brest, but the fortress-town was hard to take and the English agreed to surrender unless a relief force under the Duke appeared this year, so he left them alone for the moment.

>August
John of Gaunt had gathered 6k in Calais, roughly the same size as the last army that had marched from here on a major campaign (Knolles army 3 years ago, that had been defeated at Pontvallains), and it would also take the same route through Champagne and northern France, then moving behind Paris.

But Gaunts purpose was different: England wanted to finally have a large army active in the south in Aquitaine again, but was unable to go there by sea.
So a massive chevauchee is now organized, going from Calais all the way through France down to the south. It was also hoped that this would at long last trigger the French into stopping them on open ground, and so have the long waited for major battle.

John of Gaunt had other plans besides stabilizing Aquitaine,counting that a large army on the Pyrenees would encourage Aragon and Portugal to unite with him against the Trastamaran Dynasty in Castille, which throne he claimed.

At the middle of the month, John of Gaunts force moved out. He was accompanied by Hugh Calveley (who also had been with Robert Knolles) and the very unwilling (former) Duke of Brittany, John of Montfort, who still wanted to be reinstalled as breton duke, but feared to have become nothing more then a impotent english puppet.

>September
Philip of Burgundy had concentrated all his forces in Troyes, where John of Gaunt and Montfort now appeared.
He was very much itching for a fight and might have contemplated ignoring the direct orders of his brother the king, but in the end all his officers refused to go against the royal directive (although they all wanted to battle the enemy)

>September
Gaunt now found himself confronted with the standard response to chevauchees: emptied villages, burned down crops and fields and multiple forces hanging around the edge of his army and haunting everyone who would leave too far from the main host.

>October
While crossing the Ailer river in northern Bourbon, John of Gaunt was almost trapped between the converging forces of Guesclin, Burgundy, Anjou and the Duke of Bourbon, losing most of his baggage but getting away over the river.

While he went on to march southwest, the french forces dispersed.

>November
Marching in cold winter across the windswept plateau of Auvergne, the great host of John of Gaunt melted away, his horses were lost, his soldiers trodded onwards, hungry, freezing and ill.

>December
The survivors of the long march through France stumbled into Bordeaux.

The Great Chevauchee of 1373 had a major impact when looked at from the distance, but the clearer the picture became over time in which condition his army was, the more changed the evaluation.

At the moment it brought home to the French that the English still ruled the battlefields, that they could march an army all across France and the king would do nothing to stop them and hide behind the city walls.

It was now also feared, that the spring campaign of the English could very well reverse many of the french gains of the last years and they had no idea how to effectively stop a huge army of 6k in the south.
The news were interpreted in England that the glorious times of Edward III had returned.

Gaunts appearance in Guyenne had come as even more of a shock to the various spanish kings.
Henry II of Castille had firmly counted on the army being dispersed like Knolles one three years ago or at least stopped at some point. He now had to expect an english invasion at a time where his own dynasty was not exactly sitting on the throne securely.
For Portugal -humiliated in two wars against Henry II- and Aragon is was a godsend to stop a castilian hegemony over the peninsular.

But noone had a clue in how desperate a condition the english army really was, its soldiers having lost their horses, their equipment, being ill and underfed.
Psychological the great chevauchee was a much needed english success, militarily it was a huge failure.

>1374

>February
Castille mobilized its power, gathering 11k along the Ebro valley in fear of an english invasion.

The problem of course was, that Najera (just 7 years ago) had shown the superiority of english arms. And that hardly any further troops were available against possible aragonese or portuguese agressive moves.

>March
Here comes Charles of Navarre again.

He met John of Gaunt in Bordeaux, promising to recognize his claim to the castilian throne and opening the mountain passes to him. In exchange he wanted to get Logrono and other border towns back, that had been """stolen""" by Castile last spring.

An aragonese embassy arrived soon after. They would not move on their own, but the very second that the english army would cross into Castille, he would declare war alongside them and invade Castille from the east.

>April
The bluff collapsed and all the grand strategy in Spain and Southern France vanished like mist.

With his army in no condition to fight and with no money left, John of Gaunt gave up all his schemes, fortified with whatever troops were still usable the local castles and frontline towns and then sailed back to England.

It was obviously a huge blow against english diplomacy and prestige.

>June
Well, the castilian army was ready, its not their problem that the English ran off. And the appearance of Gaunt had really spooked them

Knowing that largescale french offensives were starting at the same time in the Garonne valley, the castilian king led his army over the Pyrenees, proposing to the French a simultaneous attack on the two major cities left, Bayonne and Bordeaux, and collapse English Guyenne for good.

>June
The castilian army arrived in the last days of the month outside Bayonne, which suffered a huge WTF moment, but somehow hastily organized an improvised defense.
Shortly after, Henry II got the french response that its awesome that the Spanish would join them, but they still will first take methodically the Garonne strongholds and then would unite with them before Bordeaux. Maybe.

Thats not what Henry II wanted to hear, so he broke up and returned to his kingdom
(Its hard to judge how successfull a combined campaign would have been, there is after all no way that the spanish army could have been supplied for any longer time over the Pyrenees, but it surely would have been bad news for the English)

>August
Calveley had based himself in the strongest Garonne fortress of La Reole, but the French managed to enter the town behind a fleeing sortie, leading soon to the fall of its fortress.

The loss of La Reole was a major blow, purely from a tactical view, but also for the morale, because it had been the main object of the last war before the current 100YW, and also the starting point of this war (if you have read the previous thread maybe you remember it being mentioned from time to time)

In a certain sense it brought the borders of Guyenne back to its minimal pre-war extent, signifying roughly the total reverse of the Bretigny gains (actually Guyenne was even smaller then before, but on the other hand the English still held Calais and were present on the breton coast)

This was though for now the end of the french Garonne offensive.

>Spring
The Black Death returned for a third or fourth time to England, southern France and Lombardy

Thanks for that. Been meaning to learn more about the war.

>October
For the first time the english government realized just how fucked it was.

They had to acknowledge that without any decisive battle there would be no way for them to reverse the french successes.
They were faced with a losing war, which might just become worse,

So King Edward II permitted talks to make a truce and hold a peace conference.

>1375
>March
Okay, lets be honest, war can be nice, Crecy and Sluis and Poitiers had been awesome, but times have changed.

Even the French with all their recent successes had to concede that the warfare is ravaging their kingdom, that its draining its wealth and the Great Chevauchee of John of Gaunt a year ago had frightened them probably more then they would admit. Also, all french smugness aside, they were just one major battle away from losing everything once agin.

So maybe after close to 40 years it was time to end the war.

In neutral Bruges a peace conference began in lavish luxury, led by the two royal brothers John of Gaunt of Lancaster on one side and Philip the Bold of Burgundy on the other.

Calais and the english presence in Normandy and Brittany aside, the major point kept being Aquitaine.
The French were willing to restore some of the lands, the duchy would at least be as large as at the beginning of the last wars (so it would include Saintonge and Agenais) and they were willing to go over every province, every district ceded at Bretigny in 1361 and come to a compromise.
So, despite the dismal english performance recently, they would still come out as winners.

Of course the real issue was the sovereignity. The English demanded a fully independent Guyenne, the French insisted that without question it should remain a french duchy.

>May
Just to pile the pressure on the Bruges Conference, an english army landed in Brittany.

4k man strong, it was nominally commanded by the Duke of York for John of Montfort.
That army should have been strong enough to resecure his ducal position, but his local support among the nobility had always been weak and it didnt help that he was now fully allied with the English.

Olivier de Clisson moved instantly against him, but his plan to trap or kill Montfort failed.

....
There had been two proposals to end the impasse at Bruges.
The English wanted some sort of permanent truce, they would hold their current clay in Aquitaine in full sovereignity for the moment, while further peace conferences would work out a permanent settlement of a larger Aquitaine.

The French on their end proposed that not the english king himself should be duke if he had such a problem with making homage to his french overlord, but that he should give the duchy to one of his sons, so it would go to an english dynasty in a french duchy.
(Its heavily hinted by the French that they could imagine noone less then John of Gaunt himself as new Duke)

In the end, no agreement was made, but both sides would sign a truce until next summer and would continue the Bruges Conference at a later time.

As a sidenote to this truce, it also meant the end of Montfort/Yorks expedition in Brittany and his hopes to regain the duchy began to dim, though at least the French had not given it to someone else.

>Juni
Having not to worry about the English anymore, the Duke of Bourbon led his army into the hills of Auvergne to sweep out the companies, but sadly they were too widespread.
There is also the tragical fact that large parts of Aquitaine had been regained from the English only to be overrun by gascon and breton companies.

>December
The Bruges Conference renewed,
Burgundy was joined by his brother Anjou; John of Gaunt by his brother York

It still went nowhere.

>December
Down in the Pyrenees the Lord of Comminges had died and it could fall to the new Count of Armagnac (the old one, who had fought at the very beginning of the 100YW up until his successfull moves when reopening the war in 1369, was now succeeded by a weak ruler), but this would threaten the expansionist policy of Foix-Bearn, who was about to build for himself a block of territory along the mountains.

The Comminges War was another one of these minor conflicts that noone else cared about, but it meant that the two major southern lords would not actively support the french war effort anymore.

>1376
>March
The second session of the Bruges Conference ended without any results; the truce was still extended for another year until next summer, but unless any side would make a major diplomatic move, the war would restart then.

>May
In England the criticism against the disastrous war effort had been mounting.
People would just not accept that all the effort, all the victories, all the money and blood spend in the last 40 years should have been for nothing
(in a certain sense that already had happened during the long wars to annex or dominate Scottland)

The nobles and parliamentarians were not able to comprehend the underlying factors which had made France so weak before and partially strenghtened them right now.
They viewed the war throught the victories of Crecy and Poitiers, not as a conflict of a smaller country with a smaller population and less efficient taxation system, as well as an insufficient fleet, against the premier kingdom of Europe.

In short, it had to be the fault of the politicians and councillors.
In a first move the House of Commons united to force out a series of unpopular ministers and the royal mistress.

It was the first impeachment in english history.

>June
After long illness the frail Black Prince, Edward, died with 46 years.
His decline and end was the symbol of the current english mood, the invincible undefeated, most powerful most beautiful prince, the glory of England, being betrayed in Spain and by his sothern lords, vegetating towards a miserable premature death.

His burial became a cry against anything that went wrong in England and also against his brother John of Gaunt -ineffective and without success in France- who was about to take over the dominating role in english policies.

The Black Prince left a son, Richard, who would become new heir to the throne.

>Yes he did. He was pretty badass and was a good king; its a shame that his successors were all rather bad.
Actually, his son John I is considered to have greatly improved the royal standing after Henry´s II "largesse" (necessary to reach the throne, but you know, not that good to set a powerful dinasty).
His grandson Henry III left a good image too (but he died young, and everybody loves young kings who die too soon).
The following kings, John II and Henry IV are the ones considered to be the epitome of "weak king" (as noted by Henri IV nickname). After Henri IV came Isabella and I guess everyone knows the rest.

BUMP FOR BASED 100YW-user

>so his grandson had followed in the Duchy and now died in a hunting accident.
>EU4 flashbacks intensify

bump

...

Bump

bump

bump

blump

BEST THREAD IN THE HISTORY OF 4CHIN

Thanks for the bumps.
These will be the last posts for this thread, so lets end the 70s
:
:

But first: I fucked up a lot and left out two major events

First, there is a gap here
The breton nobles were angry at the looming alliance of their duke with the English.
But suddenly you have a siege of Brest and the Duke being an english exile.

I left out, that in April the royal army actually moved into Brittany in force and disposed John of Montfort.

Also I left the status of Brest open; it was kept by the English, who were holding it for Montfort on paper but practically took it over for themselfs when a relief fleet arrived there in the summer.

The other one is even worse, because it was so important at the time.

The Count of Flanders had only one daughter, who would inherit his realm.
To make it even better, he had dominion over Brabant and it was agreed upon that one of his (male though) childs or grandchildren would get the County of Brabant once its current Countess died.
He himself was married to the Countess of Artois and the (german) Imperial Free County of Burgundy.

In short, whoever married his daughter would be one of the most powerful princes in europe, and she was the most sought-after bride of her time.

Originally a marriage with one of the sons of Edward III was planned and there were also talks to marry her to one of the lords of the Low Countries, to unify many of them into one dynasty.

But to everyones surprise, in 1369, just as the 100 Year War was being restarted, Louis of Flandern married her off to the son of the french king: Philip the Bold.

It was a major diplomatic coup and it laid the cornerstone for the burgundian empire of the next century.

It was not just out of respect for the newfound strenght of the french monarchy, but Flanders would also get back (as dowry for Philip the Bold) Walloon Flanders, its southern regions that had been taken by France during the wars at the beginning of the century and for which Flanders had initially allied with England at the start of the 100YW

It happened in June 1369 so should go here
Im really sorry,

>September
The Pope again like his predeccesor left Avignon for Rome.

Goddammit, when will they learn?

>Autumn
John of Gaunt had fully neutralized the House of Commons and brought over many of the Lords to his side; he now annulled all decisions of the previous parliament and got all the dismissed ministers back.

>1377
>February
London boiled over against the hated John of Gaunt.
He had to flee his palace, which was about to be stormed by the mob.

The situation was only with a lot of difficulty calmed down.

>Spring
The war was about to resume and the French prepared for a multitude of campaigns to finish the English for good.

A heavy focus laid on naval raids, where castilian and french fleet now would unite to hit the english coast again.
Anjou had raised an army in Languedoc to hit the frontlines of eastern Aquitaine.
Burgundy would try for a second time against Calais.
Olivier de Clisson would clear the pro-Montfort and anglo presence from Brittany, targeting the last two towns that remained: Auray and Brest.
Berry and Bourbon would intensify their attempts to clear out the Free Companies from central France.

>May
With the truce about to run out, the French made their final offer:
Anything lost north of the Dordogne (Saintonge, Poitou) would remain french, but anything south of it would be restored to the English once they gave up Calais.
There would be another, longer truce where everyone would figure out the question of sovereignity.

The English made clear, that Calais would never be given up.

>June
Just as the naval campaign against southern England started and its coast was hit for the first time since 37 years, the old senile King Edward III (64) died, having ruled a long 50 years.

He was not blamed for the current reverses (which was not his fault, because he was by now far removed from politics), and was regarded back then and even in the following centuries as one of the very best kings that England ever had.

He was without question the most popular one, he formed England into a Great Power of its time, he made the english army almost unbeatable and he conquered Scottland and brought France down.
Only to see all of his successes turn to dust.

How much could be blamed on him? Surely, he should have made a more realistic peace in 1361, something that might have be acceptable for France as well, but he had been even then criticized for being too lenient, to not have gotten more out of the total french collapse.

Maybe he should have realized the limits of english power, even at its prime, maybe he should have learned by the total failure of his scottish policy to moderate the peace forced on France even more, but all that really became obvious in hindsight only.

In the end he was fighting, like all the four kings after him, a war that was impossible to win for England as long as no peace would end it for good.

The son of the Black Prince followed as Richard II, but was only 11 years old.
Real power lay with a regency council formed from the party of the late Black Prince and with his uncle John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster

>June
The french-castilian fleets (50-60 ships, Admiral Vienne) took Rye opposite Bolougne and in a widespread naval campaign raided down the southern english coast, attacking Hastings, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Dartmouth

>July
Olivier de Clisson stormed Auray, leaving the Montfortists/English just with a bit of the northwestern coast.

Shortly after he opened the Siege of Brest, their last remaining stronghold.

>August
Scottish border lords burned down the fortress Roxbourgh and when the english garrison of Berwick-on-Tweed came to help, they walked straight into a scottish ambush.

Peace was soon restored, but the possibility of the scottish conflict reopening gave the broke english war council nightmares.
::

A second naval attack targeted Southampton, which had been burned in 1339, but was right now too well defended, so the fleet rather blundered the Isle of Man
::

The Duke of Anjou and Marshal Sancerre (3k) started their Aquitaine campaign by besieging the town of Bergerac at the Dordogne.

When a large siege train was ordered from Languedoc, the governor of Guyenne decided to ambush them with 700 man, but in the ensuing battle the gascon force lost badly, with most of the english officials captured.

Demoralized, Bergerac -which had been lost 32 years earlier after the famous battle that heralded the beginning of english southern expansion- capitulated.

>September
The major Dordogne fortress of Castillon falls after a hard siege.

While the English tried to establish a new line down the Dordogne in front of Bordeaux, Anjou had his troops switch suddenly south to the now completely undefended Garonne.

>September
Burgundy began his second attempt to take Calais (last at 1369)

This time he had a french-castilian fleet to support him and a larger army (up to 7k with naval troops).

The campaign started strongly with him taking the most powerful of the outlying forts, Ardres, but the weather was bad, it rained all the time and the marshes became flooded.

Calais itself was defended by a large garrison of 1,800 (under the old warhorse Calveley) and it soon became clear that it would be impossible for a regular siege to start.
Nothing you can do about it.

>October
At the beginning of the month Anjous army came suddenly before the twin fortresses that blocked the Garonne, St Macaire and Langon.
With no defenders and no money, both capitulated.

Thus the frontlines had at long last reached Bordeaux itself.
A winter siege by the small army was out of question though and with this ended the highly successfull french campaign.

Anjou was praised for his success down south, which had reduced the Duchy of Guyenne, which had in its Bretigny borders just 9 years ago encompassed almost a third of France and was now not more then Bordeaux and Bayonne and a bit of hinterland.

But at the same time the two main cities still remained and with hindsight the situation was so bad that a determined (maybe a bit larger and better financed) effort might have overrun Guyenne completely.

Noone knew it, but it would be the last french campaign down there for a quarter of a century.

All the lost clay and I have roughly marked the new borders of Guyenne

>December
In a lavish ceremony the french king Charles V welcomed the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (who as bohemian prince had been present at Crecy) in Paris; they spend the next weeks in banquets and reveling in luxury

It should show that France is back to where it used to be and is also a dynastic triumph for the still new french Valois monarchy.

:
:
A largescale english naval expedition (50 ships, Earl of Arundel, [later Duke of Gloucester]) appeared in front of the breton coast, sailing to Brest where it broke through the castilian naval blokade and relieved the besieged town.

After 6 months of siege, just like Guesclin before him, Clisson now had also failed on Brest.

But the town had been mostly defended by the english garrison for Montfort, who more or less took over the town for themself

100 yw where are you from? also please don't ever stop, this shits amazing

>1378
Now lets stop for a short while with the 100YW and look at Italy, where a major Happening was going on.

In March the old pope had died, he was the second pope who had returned to Rome but also was in the process of going back to Avignon.
Obviously, there was huge pressure in Italy to somehow keep the papacy there and the conclave was in its final moments even stormed by the mob.

The cardinals choose in April the neapolitan Archbishop of Bari as Urban VI (it was a compromise, because he was italian, but from the Kingdom of Naples, which was ruled by a french dynasty)
Almost immediately that proved to be a mistake, because the new pope went off the rails, ranting about the desolate state of the church, how he hates everyone and how everyone but himself was corrupt and unfit for serving the true faith (he is not completely wrong, just should not behave like a moody teen)

So in response the cardinals met anew, declared the papal election due to mob pressure as unlawful and elected in September a new one, Robert of Geneva, as Clement VII

Unfortunately, while normally it might have worked, they choose the wrong person for the situation they found themself in: He was practically french and hated in Italy when he had in papal service wiped out a rebellious town.
So all of Italy just ignored the new Pope and stood with the old one (apart from Naples, which was pro-french and recognized the new one)

Now, if the French had played their cards better, maybe they could have convinced the rest of christianity to recognize the legality of the second election, but by openly declaring for Clement, they triggered a move where England and Hungary (an old enemy of Naples) went for Urban, which was soon followed by the HRE.

So christian Europe was split between two popes, both having quite good arguments for being the right one

Merkel-Land.
And I will sadly stop today; maybe there will be a Part 3 next weekend, I dont know.

>1379
>March
Charles of Navarre feared new spanish moves against him and thus decided to firmly ally with England for a defensive alliance (and probably hoping like always to then get better offers from the french king for breaking this alliance again)

But unfortunately, his correspondence (where he offered to open his norman castles and towns to english arms) was captured on the way by french officers.
It also had been in the luggage of the navarrese heir without his knowledge, and he was so indignant about the traitoros behaviour of his dad, that he promised to fully cooperate with the royal authorities.

>April
Burgundy and Guesclin marched into the Normandy and attacked all navarrese possessions, who hardly offered resistance.

In two months all of them were captured and many of the fortresses demolished, while the navarrese chancellor and his collegues were executed in Paris and the young son of Charles of Navarre was taken in and raised by the Duke of Burgundy.

The english troops that had been stationed here for decades, withdrew to the port of Cherbourg, the only town to hold out.

But in general Navarre was destroyed as a french power.

>June
The Earl of Arundel returned with his successfull fleet to the northern french coast; initially he had planned to take the main harbour of Harfleur, but that had proven impossible, so he sailed up to Cherbourg.

In the harbour town it was confessed by the Navarese still there, that they are finished and would all capitulate to the french king or sail back to the Kingdom of Navarre.
They offered to the English, that they can keep the town if they want, i mean, they had been pretty bros the last two decades.

The Anglos happily agreed.

Well thank you for this thread mein freund it was extremely interesting and informative. I'm sure I won't be the only one to look forward to reading the next part next weekend hopefully.

A MORT L'ANGLOIS !

Bumping good content.

>June
The collapse of navarrese Normandy was also registered in Spain.

Henry II of Trastamare marched his army into the Kingdom of Navarre to finish them for good, freely plundering, killing and burning down the countryside.

>August
John of Gaunt needed urgently some military success to deflect the increasing criticism against him, especially with his brother Gloucester having been successfull last winter in Brest.

So he united with Arundels fleet and launched a larger campaign with 5k soldiers into Brittany.
Strangely, he choose the island town of St Melo off the coast has his first target, which was naturally extremely difficult to effectively besiege, and all english troops in the region were harassed by the royal/breton forces of Guesclin and Clisson.

>September
John of Gaunt broke off the siege of St Melo and ended his breton campaign in disgrace.

That was pretty pathetic.

(also, have you noticed that with St Melo, Brest and Cherbourg, its a lot about famous WW2 places?)

>November
The German Emperor died, he had successfully reformed the HRE internally, but could neither use the french weakness, nor halt the Visconti expansion in Northern Italy. He was followed by his incompetent and drunken son Wenzel.

There is nothing to worry about from this side for the near future.

i like 100 yw user, hes not biased, writes well, and makes it interesting. but we all know l'albion was being a rebellious colony and france was in the right.

please archive this someone

>November
A gigantic siege train was gathered among massive preparations by the french troops in Normandy, who under Guesclin opened a siege of Cherbourg.

It was a naturally strongly situated town and with a large enough garrison very hard to attack.
The siege in bitter winter showed no signs of having any effect and after just a couple of days Guesclin ended it again.

In the next months the English fortified the town and expanded into the Cherbourg pensinsular; the port would now become a second Calais (or third after Brest)

>December
Charles V had been a very competent and strategically minded king, someone who long weighted his schemes and consulted advisers.

But he now made a very fatal decision, by ordering the complete annexation of Brittany into the french crown.
Sure the duchy had been occupied by royal troops for six years now and the breton nobility were all against Montfort, and the last campaign of Gaunt had shown that it could be easily targeted from England.

Still, his annexation attempt led to universal opposition throughout Brittany.

>1379
>March
With castilian troops having devastated all of Navarre, its king had to surrender.
He gave up all his southern border fortresses and towns as guarantee and had his mountain passes controlled by spanish troops from now on.

With this, Charles of Navarre was finished for good.
What had started way back in 1354 with the murder of the french constable and had found its highest peak by his grip towards the french crown in revolutionary Paris of 1358 had now 25 years later brought him down to being the humiliated vassal of his enemies as king of a tiny impoverished and burned down mountain realm.