100 YEAR WAR PART 4: FRANCE WINS LOL

>July
There is still the question of the anarchy ravaging southern France to be adressed.
John III of Armagnac, Berrys commander for Languedoc, got royal and papal support to buy out the main Free Companies and led them out of France (the same solution as in the 60s, where they had triggered the castilian civil war).

Unbeknown to all sides, Armagnac favoured an attack against Aragon; he had married the heir of the former majorcan aragonese branch and intended to conquer northern Aragon for himself, despite it being pro-French and pro-Avignon.

>August
Ten months after being deprived of power by the parliament, Richard II intrigued against his permanent council.
He had his favourite, the Earl of Oxford, raise troops the year over and intended to make him Duke of Ireland (in England only the direct relatives of the king -his sons or brothers- had been Dukes, and there were never more then three at the same time, at the moment the royal uncles Lancaster, York and Gloucester)

A pro-royal judicial ruling also declared the parliamentary move last year as illegal.

>September
The last english remnants were evacuated from Portugal, ending the expedition as failure, with many of the english soldiers having died of starvation and illness.
With this ended the spanish theatre of the 100 Year War.

John of Gaunt sailed away to Bayonne.

>November
Richard II openly ordered the arrest of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Arundel, the heads of the anti-royal party and the Permanent Council.

Both fled from London, but raised their own troops, escalating the long-brewing crisis into open civil war.

Both nobles and their hawkish policies were controversial, but in general the nobility preferred the parliamentary move last year over a strong monarchy.
No resistance was found as the rebel nobles marched back into London and presented themselfs armed in front of the king, were they appealed against his 'traitorous' advisers

The King was forced to dismiss his councillors, but urged behind their back Oxford to gather an army and march on London to free him from the 'Appellants'

>December
Oxford had raised some 4k in northwestern England and moved south to Worcester to unite with the pro-royal forces around London.

The Appellants (as they were now called) moved against him north to Huntingdon, where they joined hands with two other nobles, the Mowbray Earl of Nottingham and Henry Bolingbroke, the only legitimate son of John of Gaunt.
At Huntingdon for the first time Gloucester and Arundel presented plans to depose the king altogehter; but this was unacceptable for the other rebel lords, who only wanted to get rid of Oxford and limit royal authority.

Gloucester, as uncle of the king, very likely was glancing at the throne for himself, though he still was far away in the royal succession (you had Richard II, then the distant Earl of March over his mother as granddaughter of Edward III, then his two sons, then would come John of Gaunt and his son; then the Duke of York and his two sons and only then Gloucester)

>December
At the end of the year the military campaign reached its decisive point.
The Earl of Oxford was hemmed in by the Appellants and tried to dash south but was confronted at the bridge of Radcot over the Thames by Bolingbroke
His attempt to force his way across was stopped, his army capitulated and he himself got a boat and fled down the Thames, going into french exile.

With this Richard II had lost, his senior advisers fled abroad, as the Lord Appellants marched into London and appeared before the king on an improvised throne, where he was humiliated and rid of all his power.
(thats actually the illustration in the post above)

In the aftermath once again Gloucester was considering deposing the king for good, but there was just no legal basis for getting the throne himself.

______________________
Civil war was also threatening in France, where Clisson had raised the anti-montfort camp in Brittany.
This was also feared to split the french government along pro-Clisson and pro-Burgundy lines and could easily escalate.

But it was made very clear that John IV of Brittany would very likely lose that conflict, especially with support of Burgundy not all that certain anymore, so he capitulated to all royal demands, giving back all the money and all the castles to Clisson.

Obviously it left a lot of bad blood in Brittany as well as in Paris.

>1388
A fourth wave of the Black Death swept over Europe, killing a large portion of the male adult generation.

The population of Europe had been reduced to a half of what it had been at the beginning of the century and all trends were just pointing further down.

>February
With most of the senior advisers of Richard II having fled, many of the minor persons were condemned, executed or banned from the country by the Appellants

_____________________
The sons of the old and sick scottish king Robert II, the Earls of Carrick and Fife, suppressed the last vestiges of his power, which passed to cliques growing around them.

This meant a more open move to offensive warfare on the english border.

>April
The english Council presented its war strategy by which John of Gaunt would act out of Gascony with his spanish army, while Arundel would lead an army of 4k to Brittany to ally with its Duke against the french crown.

At the same time in Paris the Duke of Burgundy presented the official french campaign to end the 100 Year War for good .....
..... by taking down the principality of Guelders.

>June
The Duke of Brittany met the king and his uncles at the Louvre in Paris and confirmed his full and whole loyalty to the crown.
He got a royal pardon and for once a potential crisis did not blow up.

At the same time in Brittany Arundels fleet had arrived at the coast but found the whole duchy hostile and not willing to host any english troops anymore.

At the scottish border meanwhile large raiding parties penetrated on both sides deep into England, with neither the english government nor the border lords ready for such large-scale attacks.

>July
Having been successfully at sea like always, Arundels force landed north of La Rochelle.
But here once again the limits of english power projection became clear, as his own troops were too small to threaten any major town, while John of Gaunt had lost his manpower in Spain and was rather negotiating a truce for Aquitaine (unless the French realized that there are still many undefended towns left there)

The old marshal Sancerre soon took troops into La Rochelle, stopping any potential moves of Arundel, who had to cancel his campaign.

>August
The main scottish army under the royal son Earl of Fife and Archibald Douglas, advanced into Cumberland in the west.
A smaller but more elite force of 3k Scots under the most powerful noble, the border Earl of Douglas operated in the east in Northumberland to bind english forces there.

Against this second army the english border levies from Northumberland and Yorkshire under Henry 'Hotspur' Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland, were marching.
At Otterburn he split his troops to attack the Scots frontally while the others would fall in their rear.
In bitter hand to hand fighting both sides lost 500 man, among them the Earl of Douglas, but the other english troops arrived too late and the english army was defeated, with Percy himself being captured.

The Battle of Otterburn was celebrated as finally a traditional knight battle how it used to be in the good old times, it was also the first scottish field victory for a long long time and seen as another sign of the fall of english military prowess.
But all the while it had no strategic value, as both scottish armies withdrew over the border soon after and the death of the Earl of Douglas led to a split of the major Douglas clan and increased tensions inside Scotland.

Okay, thats a good place to stop before the revitalization of the english and french kings and the moves towards a peace.

The deal is the same as always, someone has to bump it in 6-8 hours or so, that the thread survives.
I have enough time tomorrow, so the thread can continue until the end of the century and maybe further.

Also, have another drawing of Otterburn

And the 300-hours-in-paint tactical map of the supposed La Rochelle/Poitou campaign, that didnt materialize

bump

This thread reminds me of the Great Game thread, glad to see a quality thread in Veeky Forums for once in a while.

>Wikipedia tier information
>Quality

bump

Thanks for the bumps

>September
A vast french army (16k, under the king Charles VI and all three royal uncles, the Constable Clisson, the lord of Coucy and Admiral Vienne) began the Guelders campaign.

Okay, wait, what the fuck did they even want there?
Guelders was practically the only principality in the Low Countries that had stood against the french domination of the region, but was of course completely irrelevant.

Still, Burgundy wanted to make an example and unleash the whole power of the french monarchy against it.
The army was led through the Ardennes -the most practical way would have been through Flanders and Brabant, but Burgundy would rather not have a major army waltz through his realms-, were it soon was stuck by torrential rain, mud and the heavily wooded terrain

North of Aachen in the german duchy of Julich it grounded to a halt.

>October
The Count of Guelders offered an apology for having questioned the continual annexation of german land by the French and of course he gladly would accept his french and burgundian overlords.

All is well that ends well, so Burgundy broke up the expedition and had it trot back through the mud in bitter cold.
Much of Luxembourg, where it went through, was emptied, the rural population increasinly hostile and morale and order broke completely down in the french army.

The massive host -five or six times larger then the armies confronting the English successfully in the previous decade- stumbled back over the border as a ragged defeated ruble.

>October
Needless to say, Burgundy found himself the most hated man in the government and army.

The whole insane enterprise had been his idea, he had refused the easily suppliable way through Flanders and Brabant and he had ended the campaign in the most dissappointing way possible.
His grip on power might still have been secure enough, but it was also the first major campaign of the king and he felt just as humiliated as everyone else. That of course is rather bad news.

Also, it might have been blacked out by most of the people, but France was supposed to be back as premier power, its army back to its former glory.
But besides the successfull first flemish Roosebeke campaign, all these insanely expensive and on a large scale conceived campaigns -the second flemish campaign against the english crusade, the attempted invasion of England, Anjous italian army, the Guelders campaign - had all failed miserably.

Together with the fact that England still held all its bridgeheads on the continent -which were somehow completely ignored-, you might fear that if the Anglos ever get their shit together again it would bode pretty ill for the French.

>November
On his way back from Guelders, Charles VI (20) stopped at Reims to celebrate the anniversary of his coronation.

But in a completely unexpected move -unlike Richard II in England he had shown no frustration of being ruled by his relatives- he dismissed the regency council and took over all power for himself.
At the same time he would announce the formation of a new government under the highly experienced ministers and advisers of his father, the previous king.

Berry and Burgundy and their creatures could not believe what had happened, they had miscalculated just how unpopular they had become and the Guelders fiasco was just the last straw.

At the same time they were right to suspect that the real driving force was someone else: It was Olivier de Clisson who now got his revenge for the breton episode last year and his near-death in prison; he was the one who placed the king on the throne.
Also, he closely cooperated with Louis d'Orleans, the brother of the king, who very much resented the power of his uncles and what he saw as erosion of royal authority.

>1389
>January
The new government reacted fast, the concept of special tailles taxes is abandoned and taxation in generally cut by a third.
A major effort is started to battle the corruption of the last decade and overnight the political and economic conditions of the kingdom improved significantly.

It was in these months that Charles VI got the ephitet "Charles the Beloved"

As strange as it may sound, but things for once looked promising for the common people and maybe, just maybe the 14th century would prove at the end to not be a complete shitshow

>April
Destructive scottish raids resumed over the border, with hardly any resistance due to power struggles and financial chaos of the english government.

>May
Richard II and Charles VI, just one and a half years apart in age, had found themselfs all the time in very similiar circumstances and maybe the events at Reims had inspired now Richard II.

Aided by the unpopular regime of the Lord Appellants, Richard II declared to took over the reigns himself, dismissing his chancellor, his treasurer, all the newly appointed judges and purged Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick from his council.

With this he not only turned back the setbacks of the previous two years, but also assumed more direct power then ever before.
At the same time he kept the other parliamentary decisions, did not prosecute the Appellants and did not recall his former senior advisers and favourites

____________________
The disastrous lieutenancy of Berry in Languedoc is ended, his administrator there the Count of Armagnac was replaced by Marshall Sancerre, who went south together with the Lord of Coucy to fight the anarchy and free companies (though Armagnac would still pursue his plans to lead a company army against Aragon) and King Charles VI announced he would visit the whole region in person soon.

>June
Lets have a look elsewhere:
It was in just two short decades, in which the ottoman Turks had gotten their small foothold in Europe at Gallipoli and then had expanded rapidely under Sultan Murad, gaining Thrace, Macedonia, much of Bulgaria and Thessaly.
The main power in the Balkans had been the Serbs, but their self proclaimed empire had split in different realms; still they managed the last three years to beat back turkish attempts to further advance north.

Both sides now went for a final decisive clash as Murad I led 27-40k into the Kosovo, where he was confronted by 12-30k Serbs.
In the Battle of Kosove the heavily armed Serbs had the better beginning, destroying one wing and were on the verge of victory, when the more disciplined and organized turkish infantry stopped their advance, then actually turned the tide, killing the serbish leader.
At the end both armies were destroyed and in the following hours Murad I assassinated by a serbish knight.

The Battle was tactical a draw, that was seen afterwards as a serbish victory as the highly aggressive sultan had died and his offensive stopped, only to turn into a turkish strategic triumph as the Turks could deal with these kind of casualties better then the Serbs, whose military power was broken for good.

The Turks would also get for a third time in a row a highly capable and aggressive Sultan in Bayazid (the 'thunderbolt'), who would in a short timespan conquer the other seljuk-turkish realms in Anatolia, subjugate the Serbs and conquer the rest of Bulgaria, reaching the hungarian border.

What this had to do with the 100YW?
There was now a universal call throughout europe for the christian nations to end their strife and launch another crusade against the turkish menace.
This call was positively received by the two new regimes in both France and England, who agreed that this war should finally end and more important issued tackled.

You're a legend user. Tell me, do you think that England ever stood any chance at any time during the 100YW of actually enforcing a personal union over France?

>June
At the small village of Leulinghem, where five years earlier both sides had moved towards a solution on many core points, another peace conference is opened, this time with good will on both sides.

As the first point, immediately a truce for three years was announced.
Then a register was made, listing all territorial issues and their contested sovereignity, which should be negotiated over patienly and in detail, to prevent any unclear clauses like in the Bretigny Treaty of 1361

____________
The Earl of Nottingham, one of the Appellants who remained in royal favour, was named in charge of the defense of the scottish border, but the border lords (chiefly the Percys) did their own thing and he had close to no authority.
All planned campaigns into Scotland dissolved.

>August
Sullenly and unwilling, Scotland joined under french pressure into the Leulinghem peace process, fearing that it would otherwise be left alone to face the wrath of England

>September
Charles VI and his brother Louis d'Orleans, together with the 'good duke' Bourbon set out to tour southern France, exhibiting kingship in Languedoc and confer with the Pope in Avignon about the continued schism and the turkish threat.

Explicitely both uncles, the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon were forbidden to join the king.

>October
In Avignon, Louis II of Anjou (still only 12 years old) is crowned by the Pope as rightful King of Naples.
Louis d'Orleans proposed another italian invasion, to get Anjou his kingdom but also to repeat the idea of the former Duke of Anjou, to kick out the roman Pope and transform the Papal States into a new Kingdom of Adria, which would go to Orleans himself.

Maybe at the heights of Henry V reign around 1420.
He had been extremely competent, treated his french subjects with respect and the french had no real government for a long time.
But even then I would bet that in the next generation it would have fallen apart again.

For simply "winning" the 100YW by conquering certain areas, the English had the problem that they were too successfull and wanted too much clay. And a large independent Aquitaine like envisioned in 1361 or the Normandy+surrounding areas of 1420-40 were not realistic war goals in the long term

>October
After more then 11 years of one of the worst pontificates in history, the roman Pope Urban VI died, pretty much hated by everyone, even the ones who recognized him as rightful pope.

There was of course now a call to not elect another Pope and put a stop to the schism, but in the end it was feared that it would just empower the avignon pope, so the cardinals elected another Neapolitan as Boniface IX, who was an astute politician who soon mended much of the mistakes of his predecessor

______________________
The Count of Armagnac had his brother, Bernard d'Armagnac, lead a company army into northern Catalonia.

The peace-minded aragonese king send an urgent message to Paris, asking why the hell a french noble with french troops was invading his realm?

>November
The Leulinghem truce was extended to Spain, where hostilities between Castille and Portugal ceased.

Both sides recognized the other new dynasty, then exchanged the last castilian bastions in Portugal for the portuguese-captured border areas.

While it was seen as a castilian defeat, it ended four decades of war on the Iberian Peninsular.

>Winter
Charles VI toured Languedoc, being received by the joyous population in Nimes, Montpellier, Narbonne and Toulouse.

Everywhere the heaviest taxes were lifted and Berrys chief minister executed.

>1390
>March
John of Gaunt returned from Spain and Guyenne back to England, where he found the unfamiliar situation with the newly-empowered Richard II

He still had supported Richard II in his youth, was the voice of moderation and rationality in the highly charged political atmosphere of the last years and his influence and riches were needed to secure Richards II rule.

He got now the Duchy of Aquitaine for life, removing another large hurdle to the peace process (because only Gaunt had to do homage not Richard II, though it was unclear what would happen after Gaunts death)

>Spring
Martin of Montblanc, brother of King John I of Aragon, drove the free companies -weakened by winter and burned earth strategy- back over the Pyrenees.

The Armagnac brothers were financially ruined.

(Interestingly both the brother of Armagnac and Montblanc would play extremely important parts in the history of their respective kingdoms in the future)

>July
Genua was tired of always fighting Byzanthines or Venedians, and wanted to launch an attack against the north african piracy center of Mahdia to kill some infidels for a change.

They invited the French to join and got a positive reply.

A french force of 5k, led by the Duke of Bourbon, the Lord of Coucy, the Comte d'Eu (a famous crusader), as well as a small english force under John of Gaunts bastard son John Beaufort, was embarked on the genuese fleet.

>July
The negotiations at Leulinghem were suspended for the moment.
The French would restore many of the conquered areas of Bretigny-era Aquitaine and would accept that the Duchy is now held by John of Gaunt.
Gaunt would accept to do homage as a french duke.

There is still the open question, just how much of Aquitaine would be restored (the Anglos obviously wanted all of it, while the French pointed out that they are the ones who had won the war) and what would happen after Gaunts death: would it go to his son Henry Bolingbroke and thus a lancastrian dynasty or back to the english king?

>August
Louis II of Anjou sailed with a provencal fleet and french officers to the city of Naples, which was mostly held by his partisans and now completely secured.

Still, roughly half of the kingdom was pro-Durazzo.

>October
The city of Mahdia was too strong to be taken by storm and the siege armies harassed by Berbers.
In the end the campaign was declared by the Genuese, French and English as success, Mahdia (still unconquered) confirmed to their enemies that yes, of course it was defeated and thus the crusade army sailed happily away.

Well, okay.

>December
As first major campaign under his own rule, Charles VI greenlighted the invasion of Italy.
It was expected that an english-french peace would soon be signed, and then the king and his brother would lead 12k into Italy to depose the roman pope.

Anjou already was in southern Italy; his cousin Orleans (who had married the daughter of the Visconti despot of Milan) went to Milan, to coordinate a joined campaign of both sides.

For Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who tried to conquer northern Italy, but was faced with a united league of all the other italian powers, this was a great opportunity, that he didnt wanted to miss, so he promised troops and especially all the money needed.
At the same time he didnt want for France to become too powerful and especially the idea of a Kingdom of Adria was not something he was looking forward to.

I make a pause

Have another miniature of the Mahdia crusade. Somehow I kinda doubt that an african muslim town looked like that and especially that it had a fuck-huge cathedrale.

Another small stop at heraldry

The guy in the large middle ship is Bourbon and as leader of the expedition his flags (the crossed out french lilies) are everywhere. Interestingly he has on his shield just three crossed out lilies, which is the chivalric arms only adapted by the Bourbons some 20 years later

The one on the ship in the front is the Count of Eu, a grandson of the wanna-be Count of Artois, that was one of the reasons for the start of the 100YW.
Because the Artois-line is a branch of the royal Carpetian Dynasty they can have arms based on the french flag.

The ship on the left is obviously the english one, with the english shield clearly visible, though I cant find the exact arms.
The one of Beaufort is different and his father, the Duke of Lancaster has the white beam above it [the label of three points], but it isnt crossed out by a white strip. Who knows.

>1391
>February

There are notable successes against the southern companies, many of which were crushed or bought out and their most prominent leaders executed.
It also helped that the English in Guyenne, who had been their major supporters, now had turned neutral/pro-french.

Many companies also went to Italy, where things looked better.

_______________________________
A definitive peace could still not be attained, so the italian project is placed on ice as long as the peace process continued.

Both sides agreed, that their respective kings should meet in summer to kickstart the negotiations, but in the end nothing came out of it.

>July
The Duke of Armagnac, having failed in Aragon, allied with the Duke of Bavaria and led southern companies over the Alps to join the anti-Visconti league that Florence is building, but while descending the mountain passes he is ambushed by the Milanese and killed.

Thats it already for 1391, not much happened.

>1392
>March

In Amiens another peace conference is started, attended by the brothers Lancaster and York and the whole french royal family (Charles VI himself, Louis d'Orleans, Burgundy, Berry)

The French would pay the rest of Johns II ransom (which had still a large 1 million ecus left) and give back a fully restored Aquitaine minus the rich Poitou as fief to John of Gaunt.
The English would accept with the condition, that once the Duke of Berry died, who was holding Poitou as appanage, it would also be included in Aquitaine.

At the same time the fate of Calais came to the forefront: If the English did not want to give it back, it should nominally be hold by them but all its military fortifications and its settlements razed.

There was no solution to the Poitou and Calais questions, and thus yet another peace conference ended without a result.
At least the truce was prolonged.

>June
The royal brother Louis began to build his own powerbase, by gaining various appanages.
He had only been given the small Touraine, because too much of the royal domain had already been distributed among the major nobles (Anjou, Maine, Poitou, Burgundy, Alencon, Artois, Bourbon, Nevers)

He now exchanged Touraine for the large Orleans (actually only now becoming Duke of Orleans) and nearby County of Blois; next year he would get rich Vertus and Valois in the Champagne and Angouleme in the south.

_________________________
While coming back from a meeting with the king in Paris, the Constable Oliver de Clisson is attacked by assassins and heavily wounded, but would survive.

The attempted murder shocked the royal court, especially when soon links to breton agents were revealed.

Clisson was confirmed in his opinion that noone should ever trust the treacherous, pro-english Montfortists and called for the deposition of the Duke of Brittany (again)

(Its actually never proven that Duke John IV of Brittany was behind it, and while he of course would profit from the elimination of his largest rival, openly trying to kill him would be pretty foolish)

>July
King Charles VI had only recovered from a longer illness, but agreed with Clissons view and refused the pleas of his uncles Berry and Burgundy to not yet again opening the whole breton can of worms.

In the next days he fielded a royal army and declared war on Brittany.

>the rest of Galicia reluctantly accepted John of Gaunt as new king
FUCKING STOP ALREADY

>armies gathered that couldnt be paid at all and immediately dissolved again.
Holy shit

>Charles the Beloved
No, no !

yeah, about that .......

>August
Now we have come to one of the strangest episodes in the whole war or even french history in general, some utterly unbelievable turn of events and proof that GOD really hated France or at least was afraid that everything was looking too rosy and boring here.

The royal army marched through the woods of La Mans into Brittany, led by the king, the uncles and Clisson.

But it was high summer, it was brutally hot, especially if you want to ride in heavy armour, the king -only partially recovered from illness- was feverish, and the monotonous clanging of the army lulled everyone into sleep.
In this weary state, suddenly a mad monk intruded, who cried about treason and the death of the king and how the end was near; he was harmless and allowed to follow the army, constantly crying and raving, just adding to the whole dream-like sequence.

And then suddenly a page, having fallen asleep while riding besides the king, accidently dropped his lance, which hit a helmet with a sudden lout noice, at which the nerves of the king broke.

He sprang into action, thinking himself attacked by assassins, didnt recognize anyone and cut the people arround him down (its kinda shitty that you cant defend yourself against your rightful liege, even if he kills you).

When he was finally wrestled to the ground, he fell into a deep coma.

>August
Immediately Burgundy and Berry sprang into actions, cancelling the whole expedition and when returning to Paris, seized complete power for themselfs.
While everyone was still in shock, they dismissed Clisson and all the senior government officials who had tried to bring back France to its former prosperous state and end the corruption.

Its even today hard to diagnose the madness of Charles VI (it was some inherited trait from the Bourbon family, which had manifested itself in some sort of mental illness in that family before; but now broke out in a very much more potent form in the king), but back then the explanation was just sorcery, and it was easily linked to the Brittany expedition and the ones who had pushed for it.

Clisson would flee to Brittany, where he would live as major noble, but banished from the rest of the kingdom.
The famous crusader, but otherwise inexperienced Philip of Artois, Count of Eu (from the Mahdia expedition) followed as Constable.

Louis of Orleans, the brother of the king, was completely wrongfooded by Burgundys power grap and could do nothing to stop it.
He was confirmed in his vast new appanages and he would build his own faction in the coming years, bringing senior officials like the Duke of Bourbon, the Lord of Coucy and the Admiral Vienne to his side, but in generally had no chance to challenge Burgundy's power anymore.

>September
While it had looked like Charles VI might die, he slowly regained strenght, was mentally back and recuperated.

You can actually link those archived threads by just typing the post/thread numbers.

But than you cant open the pictures, right?

>1393
>January
Louis d'Orleans and his Visconti father-in-law tried to revive the italian project and the tri-partition of Italy (Milan got the north; Orleans the middle as King of Adria; Naples the south)

Bourbon would lead a major force to southern Naples to fully secure Louis II of Anjous kingdom, while Coucy and Orleans would kick out the roman pope.
Aragon, which also recognized the Avignon Pope would support the campaign with its fleet, that was already busy in that area conquering Sicily.

Burgundy was very much interested in having his potential rival go off to Italy (that was afterall what had worked so well with his first rival Anjou) and would bring the resources of France to bear; while making the expedition not as dependent on an anglo-french peace like the previous planned ones.

But in the end it failed on the Avignon Pope Clement VII, who feared that he could not give away the Papal States and that it would just strenghten the roman Pope.

>April
This time in small Leulinghem again the peace conference of last year was continued, again with Burgundy and Berry on one side and Lancaster and Gloucester (who rejected the peace, but wanted at least make sure that the english side would not fall easily to the french treachery and deception) on the other.

At the beginning, both English and French agreed that the two major threats to their countries or christian europe in general were the turkish advances on the Balkan and the schism. To adress both, England and France needed to cooperate and for this the conflict (which is resting for the last 14 years or so) should finally end.

>(its kinda shitty that you cant defend yourself against your rightful liege, even if he kills you).
Actually, that´s one of the reasons for which a vassal could break it´s link towards his lord according to Carolingian cartularies.
The others being: Your lord tries to take your property, to take advantage of your wife or daughter or tries to be beat you with a cane.

>June
The Leulinghem conference agreed to core points:
#Aquitaine would be restored in its Bretigny-era borders minus Poitou and the northern strip of Saintonge
#as compensation for these areas there would be a payment of 1,2-1,5 million ecus, but at the same time the French didnt need to pay the rest of the ransom of King John II
#the duchy would remain a french fief, given to John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine; no matter if it would go after his death to his son or back to the english king, whoever it was needed to do homage
#the English would give up their claim to the french throne
#Calais could be kept by the English, but Cherbourg be given back (and as it was understood but not directly addressed also Brest)

Well okay, thats a great step.

It would leave open the exact amount of money to pay, for the English to decide the future of Aquitaine and now also the legal status of Calais (it was right now held in some strange agreement by the merchants of London, while the fortifications and garrison belonged directly to the english king)

When the conference ended, it was assured that the final points would be classified by autumn and both kings should meet next year to sign a concrete peace treaty.

Thus after 57 years the Hundred.... Fiftyseven Years War ended.

Okay it was badly worded, what I meant was you cant actively resist or draw your sword or push pack your king.

Of course you can try to passively defend yourself or run away. But a couple of pages were killed by the insane Charles VI because they didnt dare to act against the king.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude before. Yes, you can too if I remember correctly, though I'm not sure if I get what you mean. If you use 4chanx you automatically get directed to the pruned archive threads in desuarchive (for Veeky Forums). Doesn't matter anyway (it would just look a bit tidier). Sorry again for autism.

Oh, I got what you meant, don´t worry, I was just adding some more info.
More than his retainers being restrained by the liege/vassal link between them is likely that they were kept from defending agaisnt Charles VI just cause he was the anointed King, bearer of a numinous power.
“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”
>Psalm 105:15
This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’
>1 Samuel 24:10

The whole Charles VI story, and then Charles VII and Jeanne d'Arc of course, sound like the mad ramblings of a feverish, fan fiction avid hack when you think about it.

>tfw actually more interested with bayezid and his clash with timur

Are you gonna continue until the crusade of nicopolis at least OP?

Goddamnit i utterly fucking hate WIN10, it just is so bad and fucks up my computer and internet. fucking hell leave me alone
/rant

I would have liked to go until the english-french royal marriage and the "its definitely peace now, guys" moment this night and then continue tomorrow if the thread survives. If my OS allows me to use my internet, that is.
And to answer your question, yes that would include the Nicopolis crusade in all its glory.

For Timur vs Bayezid its probably the wrong thread, though I will mention it in a one-liner or so.

Nothing rude at all.
I tried and yeah, apparently with the threads being archived you can use the pictures. I dont know if I will make a fifth thread, I intend to go some way with this one, but if then I will use just the post numbers.

That is something that fascinates me with the 100YW, the completely unbelievable stuff that is happening there.
I still have a hard time believing that the whole Jeanne d'Arc thing actually happened.

>June
While things looked great at Leulinghem, the just recovered king Charles VI fell back into madness, not recognizing anyone, not remembering where and who he was. He had to be locked up in his palace until he came back to his senses 6 months later.

And that was the great tragedy of the french monarchy which would lead it straight down towards almost annihilation: If the king would have died or even if he would have been constantly mad, you could somehow cope, you can name a regency or crown the next king.
But in this state, were he constantly came back to his senses, was again the uncontested supreme being of the state, only to relapse again into madness, there was no constancy anymore and especially increasingly no royal authority at all.

A solution to declare the king permanently unable to govern and crown his sons or his brother as co-monarch or sole ruler (something which very likely would have happened in England or the HRR in the same situation) was unthinkable for the proto-absolutist monarchy in France.

So everyone could just hope that he would recover for good (which wont happen) or die already (he would become one of the longest reigning french kings).

>Summer
Political opposition to the Leulinghem peace became ever louder in England.
In Chester and Lancaster local uprisings against the 'traitors' who had betrayed Englands glorious achievements in the war broke out, though they were calmed down by John of Gaunt.

There was hardly any voice that may point out that besides the sovereignity (which admittedly was the core issue of the whole war) Aquitaine would almost be as large as it had been at the summit of english glory, despite all the setbacks and defeats of the last decades and that any serious french offensive might easily overrun the sad remnants of english rule in Guyenne.

>1394
>January
As part of the Leulinghem process, Cherbourg was sold back to its previous owners, the House of Navarre (Charles III, the new head after the old Charles of Navarre had burned, was an unimpressive french noble, who immediately gave the town back to the french state)

____________
A heated debate raged in the English Parliament about the peace.

The main problem was that Aquitaine should remain with the english nation, that means it would fall back to the crown on John of Gaunts death; but all the while the thought of seeing another english king doing liege homage to the French was utterly unacceptable and disgusting.

There was an accusation of some (led by the frustrated Arundel) that it all was just a ploy by John of Gaunt to get Aquitaine for himself without any thought to the english national welfare, but Richard II made clear that he stood fully behind the negotiation results and in a clear sign how much things have changed since the Appellant era noone dared to directly accuse the king.

>May
The royal brothers of both nations Berry, Burgundy, Lancaster and York met each other and apologized that a peace still wont be signed anytime in the near future with that much parliamentary resistance.

They all still stood for the peace process, the truce was prolonged for the next four years and yet again the project of a combined anglo-french crusade against the Turks was raised.

>The Count of Guelders offered an apology for having questioned the continual annexation of german land by the French and of course he gladly would accept his french and burgundian overlords.

Hearty keks

>June
The University of Paris, the leading legal authority in the kingdom, spoke in a major royal audience among all major and minor nobles about the schism.

It was clear after 16 years that it wouldnt end all alone or through any internal ecclesial action.
They also argued that the previous french strategy -to force the Roman Pope down- was not realistic anymore and even if successfull would very likely not convince anyone else to suddenly recognize the Avignon Pope.
So they proposed to either have both popes abdicate by the same time, arbitration by a selected group of learned theologians or through a General Council of the Church.

Charles VI refused all three alternatives, but the argumentation of the university had struck a chord.

>September
As answer to the universal audience speech, the Avignon cardinals agreed with the reasonings and would support one of the three ways.
Their own pope Clement VII threw a fit when he heard it and died from it.

There was an express royal order to not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES elect a new pope, but when the messenger arrived in Avignon the conclave was already under way and chose as second Avignon Pope an aragonese cardinal as Benedict XIII
He, just like any other potential candidate had to swear before the election that he would abdicate if the roman Pope did as well to end the schism.

Among the royal court the enthusiasm for a forceful removal of the roman pope sank to a new low.
They had now for a first time again a non-french Pope, thats bad enough. They also had to admit that the current roman Pope was pretty popular and thus even more difficult to replace.

>October
Ireland, that had slipped away in the last decades, had been a major concern and now with truces with France and Scotland and no flemish or spanish expeditions to finance, for the first time the english government had some spare money, ships and soldiers.

Richard II personally led 5k to Ireland, where in 7 months he led a successfull campaign to restore english rule and order over the eastern parts.

At the same time John of Gaunt sailed with 1,5k down to his Aquitaine, where the local authorities refused to accept that they would be seperated from the english crown and were in open revolt.

>November
Genua -destroyed by internal feud and bankruptcy- would agree to have either Visconti or Orleans (as son-in-law and father the same coin) as overlord.

Orleans send the Lord of Coucy (who had actually fought as young man in papal service in the 60s against Milan and led in the 80s the rescue expedition for Anjou into Toscany) as his lieutenant to Northern Italy, where he pacified Liguria and Genua and then went on a diplomatic mission to Milan to have Visconti accept the orleanist possession of Genua.

>1395
>February
Burgundy, who would have enjoyed for Orleans to entangle himself in italian policies but not just gain easily more valuable clay for himself, allied with Florence against the Orleans/Visconti axis.

The king, on the edge of renewed madness, was convinced by the Duke of Burgundy to buy the claim to Genua himself for 300k, partially financed by Florence.

>July
A High Embassy of the Dukes of Berry, Burgundy and Orleans travelled to Avignon.

They made clear that the french policy had changed and that the only sensible way to end the schism was for both Popes to abdicate.

Benedict XIII agreed in principle, but refused to be the first one to do so.

In the next two months there was a compromise worked out, under which the Pope would sign a papal bull in which he legally committed himself to step down the moment when the roman pope did the same.
(The idea was that the German Emperor and English King would do the same for the roman pope and both bulls would be activated at the same time)

But even when all the avignon cardinals agreed to that compromise and reminded the pope that he had sworn at his election to give up the papacy to end the schism, still Benedict XIII remained steadfast that he was the only rightful pope and would never give up his title like that.

With the failure of the mission, there were open thoughts that France would unilaterally refuse to accept the Avignon Papacy anymore (while not recognizing the other Pope, because that would mean to acknowledge to have supported a heretical pope in the past).
But these were the Middle Ages and the idea of a national Church was still unthinkable.

>August
Genua openly submitted to Charles VI and became a french town.

This was seen as provocation and increasingly as a threat by Visconti Milan, which ended its very pro-french policy.

>August
In Paris arrived a mission from the hungarian king Sigismund, a brother of the german Emperor Wenzel.

They implored that a crusade is urgently needed unless the Danube falls to the Turks.
Even without english participation the united french, german and hungarian might should be more then enough.

The King Charles VI was half-mad, but Burgundy agreed and would promise a large-scale french contribution in troops and money.
This actually was also welcomed by many french lords and military leaders, who feared that with no 100YW anymore and no other larger expedition thanks to their insane king this would be the perfect opportunity to gain glory.

While the news would not reach western europe soon enough to influence the crusade decision, Bayazid had ordered at the same time a loose but permanent siege of Constantinoble.

>September
Richard II had been given a marriage proposal of the daughter of Charles VI.
It was understood in both countries that this would only be after a permanent peace had been signed, but Richard II now offered to marry her right now and for this occassion meet the french king to get that peace done.

The rest of the english leadership was not enthusiastic, first because she was a dirty frenchwoman, second because the king really needed some heirs and she was.. you know... kinda young (only 6 years old)

>1396
>February
Charles VI recovered from long months of half-madness, he agreed now fully to the annexation of Genua and the crusade project, also because it was promised to be heavily burgundian financed and led.

(Actually, he wanted to lead the crusade himself, but was convinced that its a rather bad idea in his mental condition)

>March
Charles VI agreed to marry his daughter Isabella to the english king and both are betrothed together with the signing of a long-tern 28-year truce.

The two kings would meet the same year at Calais, where the bride would be handed over and wed.

>April
At Dijon, capital of Burgundy, the french crusader host of 10k was fielded.

Nominally it was led by the son of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless.
Practically the Lord of Coucy, the Admiral Vienne and the new Constable the Count of d'Eu had control over the army.

It was joined by many middle nobles, as well as the famous knight and newly-created marshal Boucicaut and yet again by the english John Beaufort (who had been at Mahdia with the French)
The crusade was supported and blessed by both roman and avignon popes and would be coordinated with a venedian fleet on the Danube and Black Sea (or the Aegean if neccessary)

>July
Marching slowly through southern Germany, partying in Vienna for a longer time, the crusade army reached the hungarian capital Buda.
The whole march was accompanied by massive display of luxury, feasting and jousting and the occasional plundering and raping.
It was not exactly what people had in mind when thinking of crusading.

King Sigismund in Buda was also not quite excited to have that host now in his Hungary and would remind his guests that its a serious and probably quite dangerous campaign and not some excuse to overawe anyone with how rich you are (he probably could now understand how all the foreign adventures of the French had recently failed)

Well, whatever, he still had now probably the strongest cavalry force in europe at his disposal and something of a european dream team (english archers would have been nice)

It was agreed to march down the Danube, freeing the riverways and then going south towards Thrace (and the former Adrianople, now the turkish european capital of Edirne) to provoke a major battle, then end the Constantinople siege/blokade and free the rest of the Balkans.

>August
Richard II went to Calais for his marriage, where he met the Duke of Burgundy.

Both agreed the Way of Cession (forcing both popes to abdicate and elect a new universally accepted one) and Richard II also confirmed the previously a bit unclear clause in the Leulinghem protocols, that if he can keep Calais he would give up Brest.

>September
The large crusader host (12-20k, King Sigismund, John the Fearless) moved down the Danube, liberating the former western capital of Bulgaria in Vidin and then moved on to besiege the major river fortress of Nicopolis.

But only days after opening the siege they got the best possible news: A turkish army, likely under the Sultan himself, was coming up.
So no shitty siege, no long campaigning waiting for the main battle, but an easy early victory (maybe even a decisive one) against a hastily raised turkish force.

Sigismund was a bit more sceptical, he knew for a fact that Bayazid was supposed to be with most of his forces fighting in Anatolia, and also that he was known for rapid movements.
Did this mean he somehow had gotten his main army to europe?

Noone, in the french camp cared, but that was exactly what happened: Some 12-20k highly experienced Turks (a quarter larger then the Europeans) were coming their way.

In the Battle of Nicopolis, the french cavalry component did not had patience for any scouting or taking up positions or that bullshit, but just launched a massive cav charge against the center of the Turks, which reeled back under the impact and almost broke
But the elite janissaries held the line somehow, all the while the light turkish cav surrounded the french force and engaged the english and hungarian troops that tried desperately to prevent the encirclement of the French.

Soon after the wallachian components of Sigismunds army fled and a serbian cavalry force of 1,2k -now fighting for the Turks- arrived on the battlefield, which put the Hungarians to flight for good.
The hungarian king only barely managed to get to the Danube and onto the river fleet, but many of his troops died or drowned, while the fully surrounded french army was forced to surrender.

Many thousands were killed in the battle and up to 3k more afterwards, when everyone who would not get a nice ransom had their throats slit in mass executions by the Turks.
The old admiral Vienne was killed in battle, the Constable d'Eu and the Lord of Coucy died on their wounds in captivity, while all the other french nobles including John the Fearless were captured.

well, fuck

The Nicopolis Campaign was the last major crusade, it was a destructive catastrophe from almost any view, it showed that after all the raping they had received from the English and all the successes of the unconventional strategy of Guesclin the French had learned absolutely nothing, throwing their cavalry blindly into battle without any regards to tactics, terrain or scouting out (or even caring about) their opponents strenght.

It was also great that there was no internet back then because the turkish shitposting would have been intolerable

The only good thing out of it was that Bayazid would return to conquer Anatolia and then at the beginning of the century had to face the onslaugt of Tamerlane

The King of Hungary getting on his ship

Now lets end it with some really really creepy pic.

>October
All was sunny still in oblivious France.

Richard II and Charles VI met personally near Calais, embracing publicly and signaled the end of the war after almost exactly six decades.
In a series of meetings and banquets around the royal wedding the nobles of both nations reconciled and celebrated the peace.

There was a bit of an elephant in the room that noone wanted to adress, that of course no firm peace had been signed and after all the time and all the agreements, that still neither territory was exchanged, nor the sovereignity issue cleared.

Well, there is always time in the future.

I will be back in 12 hours or so, then with all the major HAPPENINGS in merry England

Someone has to give the thread one or two bumps halfway in.

bump

thanks for doing this again op, I appreciate the effort you put into these threads. no one else posts shit like this, except for the napoleon biography guy

bump

Bump

I bump for the TÜRK BÜLL

>it took France A HUNDRED FUCKING YEARS to beat a numerically and economically far weaker enemy

Why are the French so fucking shit lads

They should have listened to the Hungarian who was quite correctly shitting bricks at the implications of the Turks showing up hundreds of miles away from where they were supposed to be. Underestimating the Ottomans prevented the Seljuks and the twitching corpse of the Byzantine Empire from smothering them in the cradle instead, with colossal ramifications. Instead, the French succumbed to their fatal flaw, overestimating their abilities.

It has to be mentioned here that Ivan Sratsimir, tsar of the Vidin tsardom and one of the most loyal Balkan vassals to the Ottoman empire, switched sides and joined the Crusaders, which cost him his state in the end.

Not only underestimating them. The Byzantines hired the Ottomans to fight their Balkan enemies, which must have helped the Ottomans in their later conquest of the peninsula.

bump for best thread saga on Veeky Forums

minus the snake poster

bumping

>minus the snake poster
The anaconda one? Yes, I cant hold a candle to him.

>1397
>March

Its peace now.
So after practically holding it for half a century; as fully english-annexed fortress for 23 years, Brest was given back to the French for an indemnity of 120k francs

It was end-of-the-world news among the english critics of the royal reconciliation policy and there was a saying that once Brest would be given up Calais would soon follow shortly after.

>June
Paris had to deal with the destruction of the crusader army at Nicopolis.
A ransom of 200k was under venedian mediation paid to the Turks to get all the nobles back home.
Interestingly another equally large sum had to be found for those nobles to travel back in style and luxury- After all it shouldnt look like they had lost the campaign, it was just the last battle that went a little bit haywire

>July
The Brest Garrison, multiple of them having made the fortress and its hinterland their homes, returned full of bile to England.
The old Gloucester took like always their side, decrying it as national shame.

The Brest issue, which led to overt expressions of frustration among many otherwise pro-royal figures and those who feared a similiar fate for Calais, became a major concern for Richard II, who feared a second Appellant crisis.

And so he struck first:
In a coordinated action he had the old appellant leaders Warwich, Arundel and Gloucester arrested, together with many of their partisans.

>July
As it turned out, it had been an overreaction due to royal paranoia: the Duke of Gloucester had lost much of his influence and his selfproclaimed image as national hero who would lead England back to glory had long been exposed.
The Earl of Arundel had been a successfull military figure, especially at sea, but still his achievements had been overshadowed by the general english military failures and both Arundel and Gloucester were essentially now just old, bitter men.

Sure, they resented the peace with France, but they had no means to do anything against it, a fact they were themselfs painfully aware.

>September
Gloucester had been send to prison to Calais and then announced to have died of '''natural''' causes on the way there.
Actually the local commander there, the Mowbray Earl of Notthingham (himself one of the Lord Appellants ironically) should have helped with this natural cause but had gotten cold feet and hesitated.
He now finally smothered Gloucester with a pillow to death.

In England Parliament was forced to revoke all pardons of the Appellant era; the Earl of Arundel was for his role back then convicted and executed, his brother the Bishop of Arundel -back then forced upon the king as Lord Chancellor and still in that role today- was just as the old infirm Earl of Warwick condemned to life-long exile.

For Richard II these events marked the final revenge for that old humiliation and the beginning of a real, french-style absolutist monarchy.
But in England there had been an unspoken compromise to let the Appellant time rest and this was now broken, as many wondered who else would now be targeted.

It was what many saw as the beginning of overt royal tyranny without regard to customs and laws, and reminder of the old bad times of John IV some 150 years ago or Edward II at the beginning of the century and its royal-noble conflicts.

>September
Well, there was some good in all of that, because with lots of land and estates confiscated, there were now multiple new dukes raised, for the first time outside the direct royal family: For example Mowbray got one for his role, as well as the sons of the Duke of Lancaster and York, so they dont need to wait for their fathers to die to already be dukes.
Nice-

>December
In a chance meeting the two new dukes Mowbray and Henry Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt, kept in mind how they both despite all royal favour were the only remaining Lord Appellants and wondered how secure their position would be in the future.

There was also the undeniable fact that the ultra-rich and influential House of Lancaster was now the only major obstacle to any absolute power of Richard II, with Mowbray revealing that there already were plans in motion to destroy it.

>January
Henry Bolingbroke and his father John of Gaunt confronted the king about his supposed plans against them.
Richard II repudiated that he ever had any such ideas and that it was just bold lies from Mowbray, who in turn now denied to ever had said it in such a way and that it was just another move of the Lancasters to discredit him.

In the end Richard II stripped Mowbray of his offices and ordered a judicial duel between the two.

There is no real indication how Richard II and John of Gaunt stood to each other.
Gaunt had been a major figure in defusing the appellant crisis and to keep internal peace in the kingdom and he had become the main pillar of support for Richards domestic strenghtening and of course his peace policy abroad.
He still cant deny that the king now presented a major threat to his house, especially once he himself would have died.

For Richard II he needed the Lancasters for his policy of consolidation, but would at one point had to reduce their power and wealth.

>1398
>February
John the Fearless brought the remnants of the crusader army back to Dijon.
It was agreed by all that the campaign had been a success, a major show of faith for all participants, a honour to their immortal souls and that it had projected french power into the Balkans.

Still, to adress the effects: The hardly returned marshal Boucicaut was send with 1,2k knights back to Constantinople to help the besieged city and there would be further small troops sailing that way in the next two years.

Also, there was yet another Constable needed. It went to the last remaining figure of the successfull 60-70s (with Clisson exiled and Guesclin, Viennes, Anjou and Coucy all dead), the Marshal Sancerre, who already acted as Lieutenant for Languedoc, but was old (he would die just 4 years later) and it was mostly a nominal honour to get him a nice pension

>March
The german Emperor Wenzel visited France and met the french King Charles VI in Reims.
The main issue was the end of the schism and the meeting lasted multiple days.

Sadly Charles VI was half-mad and got worse with each day while Wenzel was constantly drunk, so nothing at all came out of it apart from a lot of embarrassment.
(this was also in stark contrast to the splendid majesty of the meeting of Emperor Charles IV and King Charles V in Paris a couple of years back, were both current rulers were even present)

>May
With Burgundy turning older, increasingly the political scene became dominated by Louis of Orleans, to whom belonged the future.
He now for the first time since Burgundy had regained power in 1392 managed to outplay him as he blocked the anti-papal policy and got for himself command of the gascon march.

Here, also directly against Burgundys wishes he initiated a major escalation when he had the County of Perigord invaded and its ruler kicked out (just to remember: Orleans owned the Angouleme region directly nearby and so wanted Perigord for himself)

>July
Ireland was again growing unstable and restive; the Earl of March who had control there was killed just like his father had been.
He was legally the next-in-line of the royal succession and this role now went to his two sons Edmund and Roger Mortimer (7 and 5 years old). He also had a daughter, which meant that thanks to the english laws of succession-through-female-lines her descendants could also claim the throne.

The Mortimer Earls of March though were not supposed to inherit anything.
The King was still young and healthy so he had enough time to get his own children, and if not he favoured his direct male line descendants from the House of York (Richards II father had been the Black Prince, whose brother is the current Duke of York, who is politically irrelevant, but his son the Earl of Rutland stood in high favour with Richard II)

>July
In a major move, maybe also to show Orleans and his pro-papacy politics his limits, France under burgundian influence withheld obedience to the Avignon Pope.

The majority of the cardinals actually supported the decision and wanted to depose the pope and end the schism already.
While the city and region of Avignon was taken over by french and papal troops, the Pope Benedict XIII himself was besieged in his palace

>September
The time for the duel between Bolingbroke and Mowbray had come, an event that had been harshly criticized in England and France as too over the top.

It also obviously was opposed by John of Gaunt, because Bolingbroke was his only fully legitimate son (Bolingbroke himself had three sons at that time, so the Lancaster line would continue, but it still would be pretty shitty)

At the very last moment Richard II stopped the duel out of mercy; Mowbray was exiled for life to fight in the Holy Land and Bolingbroke was exiled for 10 years.

>October
Bolingbroke settled in Paris in Clissons former manor; there he got into contact with another prominent exile, the Bishop of Arundel (who had been exiled with Lancaster political leverage ironically)

>Winter
After keeping something of a hold over the Kingdom of Naples for 8 years, it now slipped out of the hands of Louis II of Anjou, as his Durazzo rival confined him to the capital.

In the next months he would lose the kingdom for good.

>1399
>Winter

The Count of Foix died.
Without any issue of his own, it would fall over his sister to her husband the Captal de Buch (uncle of the famous english knight and general and still head of one of the most prominent noble houses in English Guyenne)

This was unacceptable for the French and Sancerre ordered an army to march into the County of Foix.

>February
Unfortunately at one of the decisive points for the fate of his newly-founded line, John of Gaunt died with 59 years.
He had dominated english policy for the last quarter of a century, he held the largest and richest of the noble lands in England and left now the title of 2nd Duke of Lancaster to his exiled son Henry Bolingbroke (32).

He also had multiple sons by a mistress, who had been legitimized but excluded from any succession of the Lancaster titles and realms and any potential english royal succession. They would form the Beaufort branch of his house and come to prominence in the next years.

As a sidenote, his two daughters were the current Queens of Portugal and Castille, not bad at all for a mere third son of a king.

>February
The french king Charles VI recovered his senses after nearly a full year of more or less insanity.

There was some faint hope that things might get better now with him fully healthy, but during the whole year he suffered a series of six new attacks, each one more serious then the last, until he was reduced to a wreck covering in a corner believing himself made of glass or running howling and batshit insane through his empty castles.

>March
John of Gaunt was buried in a magnificent funeral.

Only days after Richard II declared the Duchy of Lancaster as forfeited and Bolingbrokes exile extended for life.
It was the golden opportunity to destroy the last hurdle of absolute rule and to get his hands on a large stack of money and land.

Obviously it was not exactly undisputed and there were not the slightest bits of legal basis for that.

>May
The Ireland expedition four years ago had been a high point of royal prestige, and the situation looked as bad as ever; so Richard II with all his favourites sailed over there for another attempt to pacify the region.

This was a risky step with the Lancaster crisis, but maybe it was also supposed to be a sign that the king felt completely secure in his decision and did not have to fear any internal opposition anymore.

_________________
The Captal de Buch sued for peace with Constable Sancerre.
He would be accepted as Count of Foix but had to do homage to Charles VI and hand over his strategic castles on the Gironne estuary.

Even when there is peace between France and England, somehow France wins against England.

>June
Archbishop Arundel united with Henry Bolingbroke and his own nephew, the heirs to the forfeited Duchies of Lancaster and Earldom of Arundel in France and all three organized a small fleet in Boulogne, with which they sailed to England.

In the Kingdom itself there had been alarms raised about a possible move by Bolingbroke, but the royal regent (the old Duke of York) had expected for them to land in the south.
They rather sailed north to Yorkshire and went directly into the lancastrian heartland in Lancastershire and southern Yorkshire.

>July
Another major noble clan who might have to fear the absolute monarchy envisioned by Richard II were the Percys on the scottish border, who ruled the whole region autonomously.

The Percy Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Percy went over to the lancastrian rebels.

It was now obvious that a major rebellion was going on, but sadly much of the royal forces were in Ireland and there were not enough boats to sail them swiftly back.

Richard II thus send only the Earl of Salisbury with whatever could be shipped over to rally his support in Wales and Chester.
That turned out to be a grave mistake, because while people would have rallied to the king they did not do so to merely Salisbury as long as it was unclear how strong the royal position was (and interpreted Richard staying in Ireland rather as a bad sign)

>July
In the south the Duke of York split his forces, parts of it holding the major city of Bristol, the other going to the welsh marches to join with the royal army there (which of course did not exist)

South of the town of Gloucester the royal troops were confronted by the rebel army.
To prevent a battle both York and Bolingbroke met and at the end the old risk-averse York was convinced that the royal cause was doomed.

In the last days of the month finally Richard II with his irish army could return to northern Wales, but found everywhere his support breaking away.

Bolingbroke and York secured Bristol and then stationed themselfs in Chester, which was supposed to be the center of pro-royal power.
Increasingly it became clear that the game was over.

It might be at that time, with everyone denouncing Richard II and his tyranny, that Bolingbroke sincerely considered his future.
The plan of the rebellion had been to give him his ducal title and lancastrian lands back, but he always had to fear to end like the Appellants once Richard II regained power.
There might still be the alternative that had been raised back then as well, to dispose Richard II and then have power over the child kings that would follow.
At the same time he himself was the next male relative to the king, so what is stopping him from taking the crown himself?

Man, spending the last your looking through english genealogic tables to show the succession and there a hundreds out there, but all focus to declare the Lancaster/York succession at the Wars of the Roses and non really good for the current issue.

I will use some simplified tables (with spoilers removed)

In England there is succession through female lines allowed, which makes it pretty confusing the longer back it goes.
I have described the line of succession already a couple of times, but lets go back over it again, because that is important and would dominate the english internal policy over the whole century and lead to the bitter Wars of Roses.

You had King Edward III, the great king; he had five sons
In order they were Edward the Black Prince, Lionel of Antwerp, the Lancaster Duke John of Gaunt, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester.

The Black Prince would inherit the crown, but died too soon and was followed by his only son Richard II. That one had no kids yet, so without him it would switch to another line.

Lionel had died young but left a daughter, who had married the Mortimer Earl of March, so their son -as male descendant of Lionel and great-great-son of Edward III would be next in line.
He also died last year, but left two sons.

But these kids would only (well its the law, so there is no 'only') have a claim through their grandmother and would be as great-great-great-sons of Edward III pretty far apart from royal blood.

If there would have been succession purely through male lines (like in France) then first John of Gaunts Lancaster line would be next, after them the York line, (the Gloucester line had died out, with the execution of its Duke and the death of his son shortly after)

[In the picture is left out, that Roger Mortimer himself is dead, so its about his kids]

So in short, strictly just through male lines, Henry Bolingbroke would be next-in-line of succession, or if you consider them excluded and their titles and claims forfeited according to royal orders, it would be the Duke of York and his sons, exactly how Richard II himself wanted it.
Legally, the Earls of Marchs stood in their way.

Either way, Henry Bolingbroke now claimed the throne himself as next in line through male succession
(and yes of course, the whole Hundred Year War was fought because the English refused to acknowledge succession through purely male lines on the french throne, while disregarding it now at home.
If succession through female lines is the right way then the English would had a claim to the french throne, but Bolingbroke had no right to the english throne.
If succession through male lines is the right way then the English would had never a claim to the french throne, but Bolingbroke would be rightful king of england)

>August
With no support anymore and Salisburys army nonexistant, Richard II gave up, capitulating to Bolingbroke, of course still under the illusion that he himself would remain king.

what a clusterfuck

>September
Henry Bolingbroke forced Richard II to abdict and took the crown himself, being crowned next month as King Henry IV.

With this the main Plantagenet Dynasty ended and its branch the Lancaster line took over.

The new king found himself in a difficult situation, because he only got the throne through his allies, who everyone were shocked by his grasp of power, none of them had wanted to crown him (many had contemplated to kick out Richard, but just for the rightful Mortimer heirs)

With this also the attempt to build a sacral kingship supported by rituals borrowed from the french court was dead.

________________
France was appaled as well.
They never once deliberated to get rid of their insane king because no matter what he was still the anointed rightful sovereign by the grace of god.
The English now had deposed for the second time in a century their king and while the first time at least his son followed, now it was completely unlawful.

Also, the Scots now ended their truce, in which they were forced by the Leulinghem Peace, and resumed crossborder raids with the argument that there is no longer any lawful king in England just a pretender.

>November
The Duke of Brittany (60) died after having ruled for 35 years.
Despite all hostility and multiple successfull and not so successfull attempts by the french court to kick him out, he got his realm until the end.
His son followed as John V (10) with his wife as regent, who as first step allied herself with the old Clisson, despite all disgrace still the most powerful breton noble and head of the anti-montfort camp, thus preventing any new civil conflict.

>1400
>January
There was a move by Salisbury and the other old favourites to free Richard II, but it failed spectacularly and they were all killed during the attempt or lynched by mobs.

Richard II himself was shortly after transferred to the lancastrian fortress of Pontefract and immediately starved to death.

What to say about him? He had his faults, but obviously his reign was tainted by the narrative of the next lancastrian-ruled dynasty and the Tudor dynasty thereafter.
He was certainly not as incompetent or a blood-thirsty tyrant as painted, he also was far more active then his french counterpart -even when he was still sane- and to humble the english nobles was not per-se the wrong move.
He just did it too hastily after the Gloucester/Arundel affair and without any concern how it would weaken his own standing and prestige in the kingdom

Also, with regards to later english successes in the 100YW his peace with the French and his concessions were harshly criticized, though it was probably the right course at that time to end the war as long as England still held multiple lands there.

Interestingly, in France it was seen purely from the 100YW angle. They could not understand how anyone would not want a strong king and saw nothing wrong or even debatable done by him.
They considered the deposition as purely anti-french move to prevent a peace and as declaration of war.

At the end, lets hear an emotionless and impartial voice by the official french court historian
>‘No reasonable man, high or low, could be indifferent to events so perverse, so detestable, such a terrible example to others nothing so shocking can be found in any of our ancient histories.’

The King in Prison

And his death, painted somehow as some epic struggle

Kek

Bump

My family came from Stasbourg. Were does this put me?

Liked part 4 the most I think. Learned a lot from your threads user. Do you have any recommendations for books other than Sumption's? I ordered Volume I, but am unsure if I will commit to purchasing the whole set. Maybe not necessarily a book on the whole war, but perhaps a book on a history or person within the war you particularly like?