Statue of Bertrand du Guesclin in
Dinan
Bertrand du Guesclin (c. 1320 – 13 July 1380), known as the Eagle of Brittany, was a Breton knight and French military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
He was Constable of France from 1370 to his death.
His Fabian strategy of wearing down the English while avoiding major battles allowed
the French to recapture most of what they had lost earlier in the war [1] .
Biography
Bertrand du Guesclin was born in Broons, near Dinan, in
Bretagne. His family was of minor Breton nobility, the seigneurs of Broons.
He initially served Charles of Blois in the Breton War of Succession (1341-1364). Charles was supported by the French crown, while his rival, Jean
de Montfort, was allied with England. Du Guesclin was knighted in 1354 while serving Arnoul d'Audrehem, after countering a raid by
Hugh Calveley. In 1356-1357,
Du Guesclin defended Rennes against an English siege by Henry of Grosmont, using the guerrila tactics that were to become his
trademark. Though the siege was ended by payment of 100,000 crowns, the brave resistance helped restore French pride after
Poitiers, and du Guesclin came to the attention of the Dauphin Charles.
Bertrand du Guesclin at the
Saint-Denis Basilica, near Paris
When he became King in 1364, Charles sent Du Guesclin to deal with Charles II of Navarre, who hoped to claim the Duchy of
Burgundy, which Charles hoped to give to his brother, Philip. On 16 May, he met
Navarrese forces under the command of Jean de Grailly, Captal de
Buch at Cocherel and proved his ability in pitched battle by routing the
enemy. The victory forced Charles II into a new peace with the French king, and secured Burgundy for Philip.
On September 29, 1364, at the Battle of Auray, du Guesclin and Charles of Blois were heavily defeated by John V, Duke of Brittany and the English forces under Sir John
Chandos. Charles was killed in action, ending the Blois pretensions in Brittany. Du
Guesclin was captured and ransomed by Charles V for 100,000 francs.[2]
In 1366, the King placed him at the head of the "free companies," the marauding soldiers who
pillaged France after the Treaty of Brétigny, and sent him to Spain to aid Henry of Trastamara against Pedro the Cruel. Though successful in the campaign of 1366, Henry's army
was defeated 1367 by Pedro's forces, now commanded by Edward, the Black Prince, at Nájera. Du
Guesclin was again captured, and again ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. In 1369, Henry of Trastamara won the battle of Montiel, gaining him the
throne of Castile.
War with England was renewed in 1369, and Du Guesclin reconquered Poitou and Saintonge and pursued the English into Brittany from
1370 to 1374. He disapproved of the confiscation of Brittany by
Charles V in 1378, and his campaign to make the duchy
submit to the king was halfhearted.
An able tactician and a loyal and disciplined warrior, Du Guesclin had reconquered much of France from the English when he
died of dysentery at Chateauneuf-de-Randon
while on a military expedition in Languedoc. He was buried at Saint-Denis in the tomb of the kings of France. His heart is
kept at the basilica of Saint-Sauveur at Dinan.
The family of du Guesclin remained in France until the revolution where a number of them were guillotined and the remainder
fled for their lives to England and possibly the Netherlands. Here they remained.
Because of du Guesclin's allegiance to France, 20th century Breton nationalists considered him to be a "traitor" to Brittany.
During World War Two, the pro-Nazi Breton Social-National Workers' Movement destroyed a statue of him in
Rennes.
In media
In the video game Age of Empires
II: The Age of Kings, Bertrand is, alongside Joan of Arc, Jean Bureau, and La Hire, a playable character in the Joan of Arc
campaign.
Bertrand du Guesclin appears as a secondary character in Arthur Conan Doyle's
historical novel "The White Company"(1892)
Du Guesclin was one of the main characters in a trilogy of children's books ("Geef me de ruimte", 1976; "Triomf van de
verschroeide aarde", 1977 and "Het rad van fortuin", 1978) by the Dutch author
Thea Beckman.
Notes
- ^ David Nicolle,
Medieval Warfare Source Book. p. 215
- ^ [1]
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Curry, Anne. The Hundred Years' War. London: Osprey Publishing, 2002. ISBN
1-84176-269-5
- Nicolle, David. Medieval Warfare Source Book: Warfare in Western Christendom.
London: Brockhampton Press, 1999. ISBN 1-86019-889-9
- Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York:
Ballantine Books, 1987. ISBN 0-345-34957-1
- Turnbull, Stephen. The Book of the Medieval Knight. London: Arms and Armour
Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85368-715-3
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