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| John the Fearless |
Unto Us a Child is Born
Philip[i] was born on 31st
July 1396, the only son of the Count of Nevers, John the Fearless[ii] and his wife Margaret of Bavaria[iii]. The couple already had two
daughters, Mary[iv] born in 1393 and Margaret born in December 1393. They had three daughters who died
young; Catherine, Isabella and Joan and then in 1404 came the birth of Anne and in 1407 their last child Agnes[v] was born.
There is no
record of Philip’s upbringing, although he must have received a princely education
as his father’s only son. He could read and write with great facility, in later
life Philip read for pleasure and was known for his letter writing. He would
have been taught Latin and undoubtedly spoke French and possibly German[vi]. And from the age of three
he had a tutor who taught him to ‘read,
write and speak Flemish’ although he does not seem to have made much
progression under his masters Pierre Taquelin and Jehan de Rassighem.
Philip also
rode and found great pleasure in the hunt. Philip was taught the knightly
skills and had some knowledge of military command that he put into use as an
adult. He may very well have been shown some of the skills of the armourer as,
when he was old, one of his pleasures was mending knives[vii]. As a youth Philip also enjoyed
tennis, archery, and jousting.
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| Margaret of Bavaria |
From the
very beginning John’s children were seen as assets by both their father and
grandfather, who had used his own children similarly. Shortly before his death
Philip the Bold planned a Franco-Burgundian four way marriage alliance;
3.
Another daughter of John the Fearless,
unnamed, to marry John,
Duke of Touraine,
younger brother to the dauphin Louis.
4.
Jacqueline of Bavaria, daughter of William
of Bavaria and Margaret
of Burgundy, to marry Charles,
youngest son of Charles
VI.’[viii]
Between 1404
and 1407 the alliance began to take shape as Margaret duly married the Dauphin[ix]; but John’s niece Jacqueline
married John of Touraine rather than Charles.
At the age
of eight, on 28th January 1405 Philip was made Count of Charolais. About the same time Philip was engaged to Michelle. The
couple were married in June 1409; Michelle brought with her the promise of a
dowry of 120,000 francs[x], not all of which was
paid.
Death of the Duke of Orléans
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| Assassination of Louis d'Orleans |
In 1404 John’s father Philip the Bold[xi] died and John inherited the Duchy of Burgundy. He was now
the head of the House of Valois-Burgundy, a cadet line of the House of Valois, whose head
was the ruler of France[xii]. He passed the Countship of Nevers to his
brother Philip. John
inherited the Valois family infighting over who was to control France. Charles VI’s
minority had been notable for the free-spending of the king’s uncles on their
own interests.
In 1388 Charles had taken the reins of government into
his own hands, but in 1392 suffered a mental breakdown[xiii], killing four of his
knights and almost killing his brother Louis d’Orléans,
in the forest of Le Mans. Charles
bouts of insanity became more frequent and a battle royal developed between
Louis d’Orléans and John the Fearless as to who would control the king and the
kingdom[xiv].
In November 1407 John employed a gang of hired killers[xv] to attack and kill Louis
on his way home one night. The Paris Parlement recorded;
‘This evening, at
about eight o’clock, Messire Louis….was struck down and killed by eight or nine
armed men, who had been hidden in a house…for a week or two. They cleaved his
head in two with a halberd so that he was knocked from his horse and his brains
strewn on the pavement.’[xvi]
John immediately justified the killing by accusing
Louis of ‘vice, corruption and sorcery’ accompanied
by a long list of public and private villainies. John gained the support of the
masses by opposing the latest royal tax. He fled Paris on 26th
November narrowly escaping being killed himself. The result of Louis’ murder
was a vicious fight to the death between the Orléanists[xvii] and the Burgundians as
the new young Duc d’Orléans
joined with his father-in-law Bernard, Count of Armagnac to gain justice for his father.
Civil War
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| Queen Isabeau (L) |
John was a
member of the council advising Queen Isabeau who was in charge of the country while her husband was indisposed[xviii].
The civil war between the Burgundians and the
Armagnacs was of no real account abroad when France’s bitter rivals, the
English, were focussed on problems at home. Having recently taken control of
his own country and placing himself on the throne, Henry IV did not have the time to take up the
reins of the Hundred Years War; he was too busy consolidating his
power following the usurpation of Richard II[xix].
By late 1407 John was viewed as the most powerful
noble in France; the podestà of Lucca was informed that;
‘You may be quite
sure that the Duke of Burgundy will remain the most influential and powerful
prince of this kingdom. His power is based on the troops which he can raise in
his lands. He can muster so many that he fears no one.’[xx]
John not
only used his own men in his war with the Armagnacs, but also persuaded his
relatives to loan their soldiers to help fight his battles. He was possessed of
some military skills[xxi] and also employed
capable captains whose advice he paid attention to.
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| Ghent |
While John
was off fighting his wife and son ruled his Burgundian lands for him. Margaret
of Bavaria spent much of her time in the southern Burgundian lands, based in Dijon[xxii]. In 1410 the fifteen year old Philip
was made John’s resident personal representative in Flanders. John commissioned his son as;
He acted as
ruler with the assistance of John’s Chancellor Jehan de Saulx. Philip stayed in
Ghent, always a trouble spot, with the burgesses and townspeople
jealous of their freedoms. Philip was an effective and active head of
government acting in collaboration with the town council of Ghent. Philip also
had two Flemish nobles attached to his hotel; Guillaume de Halewyn and Jacques
de Lichtervelde.
John’s
influence extended over the Netherlands and in 1409, 1411 and 1413 summonsed
the rulers of the Low Countries to conferences over which he
presided. At the 1409 conference John settled a dispute between Anthony of Brabant[xxiv] and William of Bavaria. Philip and Michelle were present at
the 1413 conference.
Bibliography
The
Fifteenth Century – Margaret Aston, WW Norton and Co 1979
The Hundred
Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005
Europe:
Hierarchy and Revolt 1320-1450 – George Holmes, Fontana 1984
The
Fifteenth Century – EF Jacob, Oxford University Press 1997
A Distant
Mirror – Barbara Tuchman, Papermac 1989
John the
Fearless – Richard Vaughan, Longmans, Green and Co Ltd, 1966
Philip the
Bold – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2011
Philip the
Good – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2014
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
Later given the sobriquet ‘the Good’
[ii]
Known in French as Jean Sans Peur
[vi]
There is no record of Philip taking a translator when he visited the Holy Roman
Emperor’s court as an adult
[vii]
Along with, inter alia, mending broken glasses and making clogs; Philip had a
mobile room made, where he could indulge in his hobbies; it was taken with him
on his peregrinations. His son had it destroyed after Philip’s death
[viii]
John the Fearless - Vaughan
[ix]
Who died in December 1415; Margaret then married Arthur de
Richemont, Duke of Brittany. Louis’ brother John then became Dauphin and he died
in 1417, possibly because of an abscess in the head or, as rumour had it, the
old medieval standby – poison.
[x]
In 2015 the relative: historic standard of
living value of that income or
wealth is £76,240,000.00 labour earnings of
that income or wealth is £770,200,000.00 economic status value of that income or wealth is £2,539,000,000.00 economic power value of that income or wealth is £44,120,000,000.00 www.measuringworth.com
[xi]
Philip had been one of four of the king’s uncles who ruled France during the
minority of Charles
VI. The others were John, Duke of Berry, Louis,
Duc d’Anjou and Louis, Duke
of Bourbon (grandfather of Charles of Bourbon (see note vi above)
[xiv]
There had been rivalry between Philip the Bold and Louis d’Orléans but the
rivalry escalated once John took charge of Burgundian policy
[xv]
The leader of the gang was pensioned off and lived in John’s capital in Bruges
for the rest of his life
[xvi]
John the Fearless - Vaughan
[xvii]
Often referred to as the Armagnacs as the fight was led by Bernard of Armagnac
[xix]
There were numerous rebellions against his usurpation of power and he was also
ill during the last years of his reign
[xx]
John the Fearless - Vaughan
[xxi]
See John the Fearless pp147-50
[xxii]
The capital of the southern part of Burgundy
[xxiii]
John the Fearless - Vaughan
[xxiv]
One of John’s brothers
I know it's flippant, but the picture of John the Fearless appears to be examining the end of his rather long nose in terrified contemplation that it may be growing. Was the painter incompetent, or did John piss him off and that was his revenge, one wonders!
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