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The Treaty of Brétigny, 1360

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

The course of events, military and diplomatic, which led from the battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356) to the ratification of the treaty of Brétigny (24 October 1360) was fully worked out, half a century ago, by Delachenal, in his great Histoire de Charles V. His narrative, and his treatment of the policies and ambitions underlying the events, have won general acceptance. He had studied the French evidence apparently exhaustively and showed himself to be well acquainted with the English documents. It was he who first suggested that a document bound up into Cotton MS. Caligula D.III was a draft of the terms agreed upon in May 1358, and this, among other things, enabled him to give a connected and intelligible account of the diplomacy of these years, which is poorly documented even by medieval standards.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1960

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References

page 19 note 1 Delachenal, R., Histoire de Charles V, ii (Paris, 1909, repr. 1927), chapters II–VIGoogle Scholar. I am very much indebted to Dr Chaplais, Professor W. Croft Dickinson and Professor J. G. Edwards for reading this paper in draft and for their help and criticism; but I must take responsibility for the opinions expressed herein.

page 19 note 2 Tout, T. F., Chapters, iii (1928), pp. 221–30Google Scholar; Perroy, E., The Hundred Years War (London, 1951), pp. 136–40Google Scholar.

page 19 note 3 Rymer, , Foedera (Rec. Comm. ed.), III. i, 348–51Google Scholar.

page 21 note 1 Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, and Collier, P., ‘La Diplomatic française et le Traité de Brétigny’, Moyen Age, x (1897), pp. 135Google Scholar.

page 21 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 243Google Scholar.

page 21 note 3 Ibid., p. 244.

page 21 note 4 Ibid., p. 248.

page 21 note 5 Ibid., pp. 248 and 250, n. 1.

page 22 note 1 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 4767Google Scholar.

page 22 note 2 Treaty Rolls 35 and 36 (Rotuli Franciae, 31 and 32 Edward III). Delachenal's narrative could be usefully supplemented here.

page 22 note 3 Knighton, , Chronicon, ed. Lumby, J. R. (R[olls] S[eries], 18891895), ii, pp. 9495Google Scholar.

page 22 note 4 Chronica Johannis de Reading et Anonymi Cantuariensis, ed. Tait, J. (1914), p. 208Google Scholar; Chronique des règnes de Jean II et de Charles V, ed. Delachenal, R. (Soc. de l'hist. de France, 19101920), i, p. 176Google Scholar. Walsingham, (Historia Anglicana, ed. Riley, H. T., R. S. (18631864), i, p. 284) gives the date as 2 MayGoogle Scholar.

page 22 note 5 British Museum, Cotton MS. Caligula D. III, 84–88, printed in Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 402–11Google Scholar. The printed text could be improved considerably.

page 22 note 6 Chronique … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, pp. 143–44: ‘Le Samedy xxviie jour du mois de janvier, les messages du roy qui estoient venus d'Angleterre … firent leur rapport au duc de Normandie, en la presence de pluseurs de son Conseil … sur le traictié de l'accort fait en Angleterre …’

page 23 note 1 The ultra-violet lamp has so far failed to reveal the words erased.

page 23 note 2 Cotton MS. Caligula D.III, 129; Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 6667Google Scholar. This text could be improved also.

page 23 note 3 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 63, n. 2, and pp. 70–73Google Scholar.

page 23 note 4 Chronica Johannis de Reading et Anonymi Cantuariensis, p. 208. Other English chroniclers were not very clear about the agreement: Knighton, ii, p. 99 (ransom one million marks, 14 hostages); John, of Reading, Chronicon, p. 128Google Scholar (ransom 600,000 florins before release, to be paid by 11 November plus hostages); Walsingham, , Hist. Ang., i, p. 284Google Scholar (ransom 600,000 florins by 11 November and hostages ); Sir Thomas Gray connects the agreement with Anglo-papal affairs, Scalachronica (ed. Stevenson, J., 1836), p. 177Google Scholar. The French give no details: Chronique normande, ed. , A. and Molinier, E. (Soc. de l'hist. de France, 1882), p. 123Google Scholar; le Bel, Jean, Chronique, ed. Viard, J. and Déprez, E. (Soc. de l'hist. de France, 19041905), ii, p. 240Google Scholar; Chroniques … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, pp. 176–77.

page 24 note 1 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 402405Google Scholar; Chronicon, p. 208.

page 24 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 407Google Scholar.

page 24 note 3 Ibid., p. 63, n. 2.

page 24 note 4 Chronicon, p. 208.

page 24 note 5 Ibid.

page 24 ntoe 6 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 67, 69Google Scholar.

page 25 note 1 Le Patourel, , ‘Edward III and the Kingdom of France’, History, xliii (1958), pp. 179–89Google Scholar.

page 25 note 2 Above, p. 23, n. 4.

page 26 note 1 Foedera, III. i, 336–37; cf. Déprez, E., ‘La Querelle de Bretagne’, Mém. Soc. d'hist. et d'arch. de Bretagne, vii (1926), pp. 2560Google Scholar; Bock, F., ‘Some new documents …’, Bull. John Rylands Library, xv (1931), pp. 6099Google Scholar.

page 26 note 2 Foedera, III. i, 372–74; cf. Balfour-Melville, E. W. M., Edward III and David II (Historical Assoc. Leaflet, 1954)Google Scholar; Burnett, G., Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ii (1878), pp. xxxvii ffGoogle Scholar. The history of the earlier treaty of Berwick, 1354 (Foedera, III. i, 281, 291, 293), and the obvious relation it bears to the course of the negotiations with the French in 1354–55, show that events on the French and Scottish fronts were intimately connected at this time.

page 26 note 3 This provision is not found in the documents we have for the 1358 agreement with the French, but it appears in 1359 (§ 39), and King John's return to England in 1363 is well known.

page 26 note 4 Foedera, III. i, 228; Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 17Google Scholar.

page 27 note 1 Chroniques … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, p. 144: ‘Le quel traictié plot moult aus diz duc et conseilliers, si comme ilz disoient.’

page 27 note 2 Chronique normande, p. 123: ‘De ces lectres ne peurent riens savoir ceulz des III estaz par le regent ne par son conseil …’

page 27 note 3 Chronicon, p. 208.

page 27 note 4 Hist. Angl., i, p. 284.

page 27 note 5 Tout, , Chapters, iii, p. 221Google Scholar; Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 7377Google Scholar.

page 27 note 6 Ibid., pp. 72–73.

page 28 note 1 Chronicon, p. 128. This story is repeated by Walsingham.

page 28 note 2 Exch[equer] K. R., Acc[ounts] Var[ious], 508/27.

page 28 note 3 Foedera, III. i, 412–13.

page 28 note 4 Printed (indifferently) in Froissart, chroniques, ed. de Lettenhove, Kervyn, xviii (1874), pp. 413–33Google Scholar, and Cosneau, E., Les grands traités de la Guerre de Cent Ans (1889), pp. 332Google Scholar. Delachenal (ii, p. 81, n. 1) lists three copies (two of the fourteenth century); there is a fourth in the John Rylands Library (Bock, F., ‘An Unknown Register of the Reign of Edward III’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xlv (1930), p. 370Google Scholar). Although the date is given, in the text, as ‘le xxiiiie jour de mars, l'an de la Nativité Nostre Seigneur, l'an mil trois cens cinquante et neuf’, the year can be none other than the historical year 1359; cf. account of de Collors, Denys, printed in Notes et documents relatifs à Jean de France et à. sa captivité en Angleterre, ed. d'Orléans, Henry, due d'Aumâle (Philobiblon Soc., 1854), pp. 87, 113, 125, 138Google Scholar; nor can there be any doubt that this was the very treaty which was rejected by the French Estates on 25 May 1359 (Chroniques … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, pp. 232–36).

page 29 note 1 Cosneau, , op. cit., p. 17Google Scholar.

page 30 note 1 By the agreement of 8 May 1358 the first instalment of the ransom was due by 1 November following: by this agreement of 24 March 1359 the first instalment was due by 1 August following.

page 30 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 84Google Scholar; Foedera, III. i, 423, 425.

page 30 note 3 ‘Et après ce que ilz orent eu deliberacion, ilz respondirent au dit regent que le dit traictié n'estoit passable, ne faisable. Et pour ce ordenerent à faire bonne guerre au dit Anglois’—Chroniques … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, p. 236.

page 31 note 1 Foedera, III. i, 487–94; Cosneau, , Les grands traités, pp. 3368, 173–74Google Scholar.

page 31 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 196201Google Scholar.

page 31 note 3 Rouergue was added in 1360 and Poitou defined more precisely.

page 31 note 4 Chaplais, P., ‘English Arguments concerning the feudal status of Aquitaine in the Fourteenth Century’, Bull. Inst. Hist. Research, xxi (1948), 203–13Google Scholar; Le duché-pairie de Guyenne’, Annales du Midi, lxix (1957), pp. 538Google Scholar.

page 32 note 1 Save, if it can be regarded as an achievement, the ransoming of Burgundy (Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 161–72Google Scholar). For the army, see Prince, A. E., ‘The Strength of the English Armies in the Reign of Edward III’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xlvi (1931), pp. 367–68Google Scholar.

page 32 note 2 Cf. the words attributed to Lancaster by Froissart, (Chroniques, ed. Luce, S., vi, p. 4)Google Scholar, ‘Si vous conseille que, entrues que vous en poés issir à vostre honneur, vous en issiés et prendés les offres que on vous presente; car, monsigneur, nous poons plus perdre sus un jour que nous n'avons conquis dedens vingt ans.’

page 33 note 1 Edward himself seems to have had no part in the negotiations at Brétigny, but he accepted the terms a month or so later.

page 33 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 241Google Scholar.

page 33 note 3 Chapters, iii, p. 229.

page 33 note 4 Foedera, III. i, 514–47. Some reality is given to this mountain of clerical labour by notes of payments to certain clerks ‘pro labore suo ac scriptura diuersorum litterarum instrumentorum et aliorum munimentorum tractatum pads inter nos et carissimum fratrem nostrum Francie apud Cales' nuper habitum tangencium’, to John Bras ‘pro officio spigurnelli ibidem facto’, to William Winterton ‘pro irrotulamento litterarum instrumentorum et aliorum munimentorum predictorum ac pro labore et expensis suis eundo de Castro de Farnham vsque Ciuitatem nostram London' pro certis transcriptis quarumdam litterarum obligatoriarum dictum tractatum tangencium scribendis …’ Warrants for Issue, file 41 (13 March).

page 34 note 1 Chaplais, P., ‘Some Documents regarding the fulfilment and interpretation of the treaty of Brétigny’, Camden Miscellany, xix (1952), pp. 67Google Scholar.

page 34 note 2 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 211–12, 216–18Google Scholar.

page 35 note 1 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 218–19Google Scholar.

page 35 note 2 Ibid., pp. 221 ff.

page 35 note 3 Ibid., pp. 226–27.

page 35 note 4 Ibid., p. 241, note 2.

page 35 note 5 Ibid., p. 220.

page 35 note 6 Pipe Roll, 33 Edw. III, m. 36; Warrants for Issue, file 41 (19 April): ‘du temps q' nous lui enuoiasmes ore tard' de Londres tanq' a nostre ville de Caleys pur aucunes secrees busoignes dont nous lui auions chargez; deuant ce q' nous y enuoiasmes illeoqes les grantz de nostre conseil’.

page 35 note 7 Pipe Roll, 35 Edw. III, m. 43.

page 35 note 8 Warrants for Issue, file 40, no. 73.

page 35 note 9 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 241Google Scholar.

page 35 note 10 Exch. K. R., Acc. Var. 314/1–12, 620/12; Pipe Roll, 35 Edw. III, m. 51.

page 36 note 1 Exch. K. R., Acc. Var. 314/2–5, 7, 12; Issue Roll, no. 401 (34 Edw. III), mm. 26–28.

page 36 note 2 Enrolled Accounts (W. and H.), 4, m. 5; Chaplais, , ‘Some Documents …’, Camden Miscellany, xix, pp. 67Google Scholar.

page 36 note 3 Pipe Roll, 35 Edw. III, m. 43.

page 36 note 4 Exch. K. R., Acc. Var. 314/11.

page 36 note 5 Chronique … de Jean II et de Charles V, i, p. 320.

page 36 note 6 Pipe Roll, 33 Edw. III, m. 36—‘in quo breui inter cetera continetur quod Rex nuper intendens tractatum pacis inter ipsum et Regem Francie facte paruo tempore esse duraturum assignauit prefatum magistrum Johannem ad transfretandum vsque Cales' et ibidem morandum super tractatu predicto’. Later Brancaster was rewarded ‘ob fructuosa obsequia nobis per ipsum in partibus tam transmarinis quam cismarinis non absque laboribus solicitis et indefessis laudabiliter impensa’ (Warrants for Issue, file 39, no. 48). Apparently it is his initials that appear on one copy of the treaty of 1359 (Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, p. 81, n. 1Google Scholar). On Brancaster himself, see Tout, Chapters, index s.v. ‘Brancaster’.

page 37 note 1 Foedera, III. i, 522–25.

page 38 note 1 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 220–31, 252Google Scholar.

page 38 note 2 Ibid., p. 240.

page 38 note 3 Ibid., p. 332. Edward had been enquiring about the transfer of Guines, perhaps in August and September (Pipe Roll, 35 Edw. III, m. 43).

page 38 note 4 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 240, 332Google Scholar.

page 38 note 5 Foedera, III. i, 535–36.

page 38 note 6 Edward even secured letters from John undertaking that he would not hold up the execution of the treaty because ‘one or two’ fortresses had not been evacuated within the stipulated time (Foedera, III. i, 536–37).

page 38 note 7 Delachenal, , op. cit., ii, pp. 331–45Google Scholar; Chaplais, , ‘Some Documents …’, Camden Miscellany, xix, pp. 78Google Scholar; Perroy, E., ‘Charles V et le traité de Brétigny’, Moyen Age, xxxviii (1928), pp. 255–81Google Scholar.

page 38 note 8 Exch. K.R., Acc. Var. 314/4: ‘ad tractandum super deliberacione Regis Francie’; Pipe Roll, 33 Edw. III, m. 36 (Brancaster's account): ‘pro tractatu … super liberacione Regis Francie’.

page 39 note 1 Foedera, III. i, 532; cf. Ibid., 550–51 (1 November).

page 39 note 2 This general consideration is a further argument for thinking that the evidence we have for the 1358 treaty is complete in all essentials.

page 39 note 3 Cf. the negotiations at Avignon in 1344, Froissart, , Chroniques, ed. de Lettenhove, Kervyn, xviii, pp. 235–56Google Scholar; Déprez, E., ‘La Conférence d'Avignon (1344)’, Essays … presented to Thomas Frederick Tout, ed. Little, A. G. and Powicke, F. M. (1925), pp. 301–20Google Scholar; History, xliii, p. 177.