John II (Ligny)

Jean II de Luxembourg-Ligny in the costume of a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (1473)

John II of Luxembourg ( Jean II de Luxembourg , * 1392 ; † January 5, 1441 in Guise ) was a Count of Guise (1425) and Count of Ligny (1430).

origin

Jean II was a younger son of Johann von Luxembourg († 1397), lord of Beauvoir , and the Marguerite d'Engien, countess of Brienne. His brothers were Count Peter I of Saint-Pol († 1433) and Chancellor Ludwig († 1443).

Life

From the inheritance of his father, Johann received the Beaurevoir castle. During the civil war of the Armagnacs and Bourguignons he sided with Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy , by whom he was appointed governor of Arras in 1414 . In 1418 John conquered the city of Senlis against the Armagnacs and was appointed military governor of Paris ; two years later his troops set fire to the town of Vitry on the Marne . He was wounded in a battle near Mons-en-Vimeu in 1421. He fought for the Anglo-Burgundians in 1423 at the siege of Landrecies and at the Battle of Cravant and in the following year freed the city of Guise from the Dauphin's troops together with the Duke of Bedford . On January 10, 1430 he was a founding member of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Bruges .

The Siege of Compiègne 1430. (Illumination from the Vigiles du roi Charles VII by Martial d'Auvergne, 15th century)

In the spring of 1430, Johann took up the siege of Compiègne . There one of his followers managed to capture Joan of Arc on May 23, 1430 , who had attempted to relieve the city. Johann had her brought to his castle in Beaurevoir, where she was supervised by his aunt and wife. He received ransom offers from all parties to the Hundred Years War to sell the prisoners. Since he was a supporter of the Duke of Burgundy, he intended to sell Jeanne to the English Allies. His aunt Jeanne de Luxembourg, however, made him refrain from selling it, especially since she was a godmother of his enemy, King Charles VII . On October 26, 1430, Johann was seriously wounded in the fighting at Compiègne, but two days later the city surrendered. On September 18, 1430, his aunt died during a trip to Avignon , whereby Johann not only inherited the County of Ligny, but now also had a free hand to sell Jeanne to the English. Under additional pressure from Pierre Cauchon and the University of Paris, he left his prisoners to the English after paying 10,000 livres tournois .

In the following years, Johann continued to fight against King Charles VII, but despite the capture and death of Joan of Arc, the fortunes of war had turned in his favor. In 1435 John signed the Treaty of Arras with the Duke of Burgundy , which ended the war between Burgundy and the French crown. Johann died in Guise in 1441 and was buried in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Cambrai .

Marriage and offspring

Johann was married to Jeanne de Béthune († 1449), Vice Countess von Meaux , since 1418 . The couple had no children, which is why his inheritance fell to his nephew Ludwig von Luxemburg .

literature

• Régine Pernoud , Marie-Véronique Clin: Jeanne d'Arc. Man and legend ("Jeanne d'Arc"). Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1994, ISBN 3-404-61210-8 (translated by Sybille A. Rott-Illfeld).
• Raphael de Smedt (ed.): Les chevaliers de l'ordre de la Toison d'or au XVe siècle. Notices bio-bibliographiques. (Kieler Werkstücke, D 3) 2nd, improved edition, Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt 2000, ISBN 3-631-36017-7 , pp. 29–31.

Web links

Commons : Jean II de Luxembourg-Ligny  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann	Lord of Beauvoir 1371-1397	Ludwig I.
René of Anjou	Count of Guise 1425–1441	Ludwig I.
Johanna	Count of Ligny 1430–1441	Ludwig I.