Nicolas Béhuchet

Bust in the Battle Gallery of Versailles Palace

Nicolas Béhuchet , sometimes also called Colin Béhuchet (* before 1310 probably in Le Mans ; † June 24, 1340 at sea off Sluis ), was treasurer of the French king Philip VI in the 14th century . and Admiral of France .

biography

Treasurer in the service of the Valois

Of bourgeois descent from Le Mans (Mans) had Béhuchet around the year 1310 as a financial consultant for Charles of Valois . In 1314 he was named the Prince's representative in his hometown of Mans. After the death of Charles, he worked for his son King Philip VI. out. Even if he mostly acted in the background, he seems to have carried out his tasks with great conscientiousness. From Philip VI. it is said that in 1328 he called Béhuchet "master of my waters and forests". In the same year, after the Battle of Cassel, he helped organize the garrison in Flanders . In September 1328 he was made a knight and appointed maître lais at the Chamber of Finance (French Chambre des comptes ), with which he was responsible for taxes and financial negotiations. In this role he introduced, for example, a tax on trade in the kingdom. In 1331 Béhuchet was in addition to the treasurer appointed the king.

His career in the service of the king was very unusual at the time, given his civil parentage. He married Philippa von Dreux, a descendant of Louis VI. , Dame von Châteauneuf , later Viscount von Beu, from the House of France-Dreux , a branch of the Capetians .

Commander of the French fleet

Despite his ignorance of naval warfare, Béhuchet first appeared in the Hundred Years War as the commander of a French squadron with the title of "General Captain of the Army at Sea" (French: "Capitaine general de l'armée de mer"). In the naval war on the English Channel 1338-1340 he carried out a number of successful raids on the English coasts. His ships looted and pillaged on March 24, 1338 Portsmouth and shortly afterwards captured Guernsey . On September 23, 1338, he and Hugues Quieret won the naval battle of Arnemuiden , in which he had all English prisoners executed after the French victory.

The naval battle of Sluis

In 1340, Béhuchet was ordered by the king together with Hugues Quieret to land Edward III with the French fleet . and to prevent his troops on the continent. The two commanders decided to form a barricade with their fleet at Sluis to stop the English ships. On June 24th the French fleet was defeated in the Battle of Sluis , and large numbers of French seamen fell, drowned or were taken prisoner. Immediately after his capture, Béhuchet was hanged by the English for the cruelty he had shown at Arnemuiden.

literature

• Raymond Cazelles , La Société politique et la crise de la royauté sous Philippe de Valois , Bibliothèque elzévirienne, Paris, 1958.