War of Saint-Sardos

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King Charles IV negotiates with his sister Queen Isabella. Illumination from the 15th century

The War of Saint-Sardos (also French-English War from 1323 to 1325 ) was a military conflict between England and France . The trigger for the conflict, which lasted from October 1323 to September 1325, was renewed tension over rule in the Duchy of Aquitaine , the rest of the Angevin Empire in France, which had been a French fiefdom of the English king since the Treaty of Paris in 1259. The French king could not accept English rule over part of his empire, while the English king could not accept the interference of an overlord in his rule. Most recently, in the Treaty of Paris in 1303, a Franco-English war over Aquitaine was settled. The French king was finally able to gain territories through the peace treaty concluded in Paris in 1325, but parts of south-west France still remained in the possession of the English kings.

prehistory

Saint-Sardos is a village in the Agenais that fell back to the English king in the Treaty of Amiens . The prior of the Benedictine priory of Saint-Sardos, which was a subsidiary of the Abbey of Sarlat in France , turned to the Parlement in Paris in 1311 at the latest to obtain the abolition of English jurisdiction over his priory. The case was not decided at first, until after the death of the French King Philip V in January 1322, his brother Charles IV ascended the throne and anti-English forces gained considerable influence. Above all, Charles of Valois , an uncle of the king, was hostile to England. The anti-English mood at the French court intensified when the English King Edward II tried to postpone the homage he had to pay to the new French king for Aquitaine. In the dispute over Saint-Sardos, the French parliament decided in December 1322 in favor of the prior. The decision allowed the French king to build a fortified bastide in Saint-Sardos . This provoked opposition from the surrounding landowners, who feared that if this happened, the rural population would move to the new fortified city. On the night of October 15, 1323, just after a French official had taken possession of the place for the French king, the Aquitan nobleman Raymond-Bernard of Montpezat burned the village and left the French official hanging. Montpezat obviously had the support of Ralph Basset , the English Seneschal of Gascony , who was at least near Saint-Sardos during the deed. It is not clear whether Basset had discussed his risky policy with the English king. In any case, the English king affirmed that the attack had not been initiated by him. The French king accepted this and thereupon ordered Ralph Basset, Raymond-Bernard von Montpezat and other English officials to investigate. The English king now called Basset back to England to protect him. When the other English officials did not appear before the French king either, he ordered Montpazet to be occupied. For this he called up an army on April 1, 1324. The French king was probably not planning a war for Gascony, but he was determined to avenge the murder of his official in Saint-Sardos and to punish those responsible.

After the suppression of the aristocratic opposition in the Despenser War from 1321 to 1322 and the failed campaign to Scotland, the English king was not prepared for a war with France. He therefore sent his half-brother Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Archbishop Alexander Bicknor of Dublin to negotiations in Paris in early 1324 . The anti-English mood at the French court had grown stronger after the English king broke off negotiations in the summer of 1323 about the marriage of the English heir to the throne, Edward, with a daughter of the French king. In the spring of 1324 Edward II sent the experienced Earl of Pembroke as a further negotiator to France, but he died during the trip in June. King Charles IV asked the Earl of Kent to deliver Montpezat and the officials concerned immediately. Given his poor negotiating base, Kent agreed to these demands on June 10th, promising that his brother the king would come to France and pay homage to the French king for Aquitaine on July 1st. The English king then refused to consent to the extradition of those responsible. When it became evident on June 24th that the English king would not appear, King Charles IV declared the Duchy of Aquitaine forfeited and ordered the occupation of the English possessions.

Course of war

In August 1324, Charles von Valois von Moissac led an army that comprised around 1,000 men in arms and 6,000 foot soldiers into the Agenais. After the failure of the negotiations, the English king had appointed the Earl of Kent King's Lieutenant of Gascony, where he was to lead the defense against the French attack. There, however, he could only muster 400 men in arms and 4,000 foot soldiers, and Kent quickly made himself unpopular with the population through high demands for money. Agen , the capital of Agenais, opened its doors to French troops on August 15th . Then Karl led his troops to Port-Sainte-Marie , which, like Tonneins and Marmande, quickly surrendered. The Earl of Kent had withdrawn to La Réole , where he was trapped by French troops on August 25th. After five weeks of siege, Kent surrendered the fortress on September 22nd. However, in the face of a revolt by the citizens of Bruges and further unrest in Flanders , the French were ready to sign a six-month truce with Kent. At that time, with Bordeaux , Bayonne and other fortresses such as Libourne and Saint-Émilion, most of Aquitaine was still in English hands.

The Earl of Kent had also agreed to the armistice, hoping for reinforcements from England. The English king was reluctant to send further troops to south-west France. It was not until July 28, 1324 that he called a fleet to Portsmouth . Delays and adverse winds prevented the fleet from leaving. Only a small fleet with little reinforcements and £ 8,000 for wages was able to leave Falmouth for Gascony and reached Bordeaux on October 3rd. In November 1324 another fleet with about 300 men in arms, a few hundred foot soldiers and 14,600 marks reached Bordeaux. From autumn 1324, however, rumors began to circulate in the south of England that a large French fleet was being pulled together for an attack on the English south coast. These rumors were completely unfounded, but for fear of French attacks, no further reinforcements were sent to south-west France in 1324. It was not until May 1325 that a fleet under the command of John Sturmy with 300 other men-in-arms, 4000 foot soldiers and £ 20,441 reached Gascony. Since peace negotiations were already being held at this time, the English troops were no longer involved in any fighting.

Peace negotiations

Difficult start of negotiations

In view of his military weakness, the English king tried in the meantime to end the war through negotiations. These efforts were made by Pope John XXII. promoted, who urged the French king to peace. In December 1324, an English delegation consisting of the bishops Salmon of Norwich and Stratford of Winchester and the magnates of French descent John of Brittany and Henry de Beaumont reached Paris. However, the French distrusted English diplomacy, especially because of the English negotiations with Castile and Aragon about a marriage alliance, so that the negotiations were difficult.

Mediation through Queen Isabelle

As early as April 1324, however, it had been suggested that the English Queen Isabelle should mediate a peace, since she was a sister of Charles IV. Bishop Salmon, Beaumont and Brittany supported this, and the King of France also accepted mediation through his sister. On February 7th, the English king agreed to the mediation through his wife, in addition he accepted the suggestion made earlier that not he, but his eldest son and heir to the throne Eduard should pay homage to the French king. In this way he avoided the ceremony that was humiliating for him as king, and above all he did not have to leave England, as he feared that opposition magnates would use his absence to attack his favorites, the Despensers. The younger Despenser was banished from France in 1321 and was therefore not allowed to travel to France again. Thereupon the English queen set out for negotiations in France, which she reached on March 9th. The English king, on the other hand, stayed in Kent so that he could be quickly informed of the course of the negotiations by messengers. On March 10, Isabelle met the previous English ambassadors in Poissy , who informed her that negotiations with France had stalled. The French king reached Poissy before March 31, and Isabelle was quick to get the peace negotiations to resume. The French king was understandably reluctant to return the Agenais and other occupied territories to the English king. Thanks to the mediation of Bishops Hugues von Orange , Stratford and Salmon, Henry de Sully and papal legates, the draft for a peace treaty could be drawn up by March 31st. After that, the English king should hand over Gascony and Ponthieu to the French king. After paying homage to the French king until August 1325, the English king would get his possessions back up to the Agenais. The King of England should agree to the transfer of the Agenais, as long as a French judicial commission did not confirm his claims. While Isabelle was solemnly entering Paris on April 1st, Bishop Stratford returned to England. Edward II initially considered the draft treaty unacceptable, but since the French king expected a swift answer, the military situation made him reluctant to give his approval on May 2nd or 3rd. He now authorized Bishop Stratford and William Airmyn to conduct the final negotiations.

Peace treaty and homage

Before May 18, Stratford and Airmyn were back in France where they met Isabelle in Vincennes . The French king has now agreed to final negotiations, and on May 30 the treaty was sealed in the Palais de la Cité in Paris. With regard to the Agenais, the English had only been able to obtain minor concessions. On May 31st the French king and on June 13th the English king accepted the treaty.

Edward II wanted to travel to France himself to pay homage to the French king. On August 23, he was in Dover, where he wanted to embark, but under pressure from his favorites, the Despensers, he canceled the crossing because of an alleged illness. John of Brittany and Bishop Stratford traveled to France again to renegotiate the homage. On September 1, they met the English queen in Paris, who again suggested that the heir to the throne should pay homage to the French king instead of the English king. Stratford and Isabelle submitted the proposal to Charles IV, who approved on September 4th. Stratford now traveled back to England, where the king received the proposal with suspicion. The Despensers, however, were taken with the idea, whereupon the king also gave his approval. On September 10, 1325, the twelve-year-old heir to the throne, Edward, was made Duke of Aquitaine, and on September 12, he set out for France with Bishop Stratford, Bishop Stapeldon , Henry de Beaumont and other barons. His mother received him in Boulogne , and she escorted him to Paris. On September 22nd, Isabelle and the heir to the throne reached Paris, where Charles IV received them. On September 24th Eduard paid homage to his uncle in the royal hunting lodge Vincennes . Immediately thereafter, Charles IV ordered the withdrawal of French troops from Gascony, except for the Agenais, which was to fall to France as compensation for French losses to the French king. The war was officially over.

consequences

France was able to win further parts of the Agenais through the conflict, but in the end parts of Aquitaine remained in English hands. However, the war had far-reaching consequences, especially in England. Although he was able to resolve the conflict, the British defeat was a humiliation for King Edward II and further deteriorated his standing in England. What was more serious for him was that both his wife and heir to the throne refused to return to England after the negotiations were over, as long as the king was under the influence of his favorites Hugh le Despenser and his father of the same name . The exiled queen was joined by other opponents of the king in France, including the Earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer . Mortimer raised an army with the queen, landed in England in September 1326 and overthrew the queen's consort from the throne.

In 1337 there was another conflict between France and England over Aquitaine, which led to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War .

literature

  • John A. Wagner: Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War . Greenwood, Westport 2006. ISBN 0-313-32736-X , pp. 277-278
  • Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3
  • Seymour Phillips: Edward II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 134.
  2. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , p. 463.
  3. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 141.
  4. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 142.
  5. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 134.
  6. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 158.
  7. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , p. 464.
  8. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 465.
  9. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 145.
  10. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . Yale University Press, New Haven 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , p. 469.
  11. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 164.
  12. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 174.
  13. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 177.
  14. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . Pimlico, London 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 179.