Battle of Fréteval
The Battle of Fréteval was a military clash in medieval France . It took place on July 3, 1194 near Fréteval in what is now the Loir-et-Cher department . It was also the first direct military encounter between the warring kings Philip II of France and Richard the Lionheart of England .
In the course of Richard the Lionheart's captivity in Germany (1192-1194), Philip II attacked his territory in France and took several castles from him, in the summer of 1194 he besieged the castle of Vendôme . At this time, however, Richard returned to England from his captivity and landed a little later with an army on the coast of Normandy . He marched south while at the same time his brother-in-law and ally, Prince Sancho of Navarre , advanced towards him with another army and began the siege of Loches . Richard marched up to him to join forces with him, but before that happened the Prince of Navarre learned of his father's death at the end of June 1194, broke off the siege and marched back to his homeland.
On the march to Loches Richard crossed the Vendômois region, which Philip did not go unnoticed. He ended the siege of Vendôme to withdraw to the crown domain . But already at Fréteval, about 20 km northeast of Vendôme, he collided with Richard's army rather unexpectedly. Due to the rapid retreat, Philipp and his knights had ridden several kilometers ahead of his entourage, which was almost undefended. Richard seized the opportunity and attacked the entourage, because after a brief skirmish he captured. Philipp himself did not intervene in the fighting and continued to retreat quickly.
Philip lost his entire archive and the royal seal to Richard. He learned from the documents of the betrayal of his younger brother Johann Ohneland during his imprisonment in Germany. At that time Johann had promised the French king in a secret agreement the surrender of large territories, as well as the homage as King of England, in the event that Richard was ousted from the throne. Richard returned his booty to Philip in the Peace of Louviers in 1196, but reduced by some documents and tax lists that affected Richard's areas in France. As a consequence of this loss, Philip abolished the custom of transporting the royal archive with the person of the king and instead set up a central archive in a wing of the Palais de la Cité in Paris . From this the French National Archives emerged. The war resumed in 1196.
literature
- Maurice Powicke: Loss of Normandy, 1198-1204 (1999)
- Jean Flori : Richard the Lionheart. King and Knight (2006)
source
- Roger von Hoveden , Chronica , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 51 (1870), Vol. 3, pp. 255-256