Jean III de Grailly

Coat of arms Jeans III. de Grailly

Jean III de Grailly , KG († September 7, 1376 in Paris ) was Captal de Buch from 1347 to 1376 and one of the most important military leaders of the Hundred Years War . He became famous for Froissart's portrayal of himself as a prime example of chivalric virtue.

biography

He was the son of Jean II. De Grailly († 1343), the first Captal de Buch from the House of Grailly , and Blanche de Foix. Like his father, he was a loyal ally of the kings of England as dukes of Aquitaine in their battle against the kings of France . As Vice Count of Bénauges and Castillon , he was also the most powerful Anglo-Gascognic baron. The fact that his grandfather Pierre II. De Grailly outlived his father may explain why Jean III. de Grailly is known as Captal de Buch: this was the only important title he held until 1357.

Jean III is considered one of the founding members of the Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is ranked fourth on the list of members, although both the Choir stalls of the Captal de Buch in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle and the Order's oldest surviving statutes from the early 15th century show the name "Pierre, captal de Buch", which suggests that his grandfather was before Jean III. was already a knight. In fact, it is a transmission error, Jean III. was the first member of his family's Garter Order.

For the first time historically tangible he is as a member of a Gascognischen noble delegation who traveled to England to ask for help against the French (1355), which led to the campaign of Edward of Woodstock , the later so-called "Black Prince". His army reached Bordeaux in September 1355 and undertook two campaigns against the Kingdom of France together with the captal, the second of which ended with the victory in the Battle of Maupertuis (September 19, 1356).

All chroniclers emphasize the important role of the captal in this battle. With some of his Gascognischen riders he got into the rear of the French army, which contributed decisively to the victory. The Captal de Buch was then a celebrity throughout Western Europe, he was called in the same breath as his comrade-in-arms John Chandos and his French rival Bertrand du Guesclin . Jean de Grailly is one of the heroes of the chronicler Jean Froissart .

1357-1358 he took on the side of his blood relative Gaston III. Febus , Count of Foix and Vice Count of Béarn (1343-1391) took part in the annual "crusade" of the Teutonic Knights against the pagan Balts . On their return in 1358 they suppressed the part of the Jacquerie uprising that besieged the city of Meaux , in which the wife of the Dauphin and later French king Charles V was staying with her entourage.

Even after the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), the peace treaty between Edward III. of England and John II of France , Jean de Grailly fought on. He allied himself with Charles II , King of Navarre , and tried to defend his Norman possessions in the Battle of Cocherel (May 6, 1364), but was defeated and captured by the French under Bertrand Du Guesclin. After he had promised King Charles V that he would act as a mediator with the King of England in questions of the correct execution of the peace treaty, he was given back his freedom, and in this context also got the rule of Nemour , which was raised to a county for him and for which he paid homage to the French king. However, the Black Prince reproached him for this, whereupon Jean de Grailly Nemours returned to the king.

Apparently he also took part in the Castile campaign of the Black Prince, with which Peter the Cruel came to the Castilian throne in the battle against Heinrich von Trastamara and Bertrand du Guesclin ( Battle of Nájera on April 3, 1367).

After a call for help from Count Jean I of Armagnac , who turned against the “Fouage” (a tax levied on every fireplace) raised by the Black Prince in 1368, war broke out again in France. Of course, the captal fought with all available forces on the English side. On June 27, 1369, the Black Prince gave him the county of Bigorre , which the French king had previously given to the Count of Armagnac. After the death of John Chandos (January 2, 1370), Jean de Grailly was his successor as Connétable of Aquitaine. On August 23, 1372 it fell again in Soubise into the hands of the French, who this time did not release it again. He died in the Temple on September 7, 1376. Froissart reports that he was buried in Paris, but in his will of 1369 he had requested to be buried in the Franciscan church in Bordeaux (Saint-Michel district).

Marriage and offspring

Jean III de Grailly was married to Rose d' Albret , but had no children from that marriage. He bequeathed his property to his uncle Archambaud de Grailly , who succeeded him without resistance.

Out of wedlock he had a son who, like him, was called Jean de Grailly. He is not mentioned in the will of 1369, so it can be assumed that he was not yet born at that time. In 1372 his father was taken prisoner, so that he must have been from the years 1369 to 1372.

literature

• George Beltz, Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter… , Londres, 1841, pp 28–33.
• Jean-Paul Casse:
  • Fortunes d'immigrés en Aquitaine: les Grailly-Foix (1255–1789) ,
  • Les Pyrénées dans une Aquitaine, terre d'accueil, terre d'exil , Actes du XLVIe congrés d'études régionales de la fédération historique du Sud-Ouest (Bordeaux, 1996), p 273-283.
  • Les Grailly-Foix-Candale et Cadillac (approx. 1260–1594) ,
  • L'Entre-Deux-Mers et son identité . Actes du neuvième colloque tenu à Cadillac les 24, 25 and 26 octobre 2003, Bordeaux, 2005, p 95-125.