Pierre le Bègue de Villaines

Pierre de Villaines , called le Bègue de Villaines (Spanish Pedro el Vesque de Vilaines ; * around 1330 in Beauce ; † 1406 ) was a captain, adviser and chamberlain ( Chambellan ) of the French kings Charles V and Charles VI. His military activity falls in the early phase of the Hundred Years War .

Life

Pierre de Villaines was a member of a family of small French aristocrats who lived in the border region between the Paris Basin and Beauvaisis. He embarked on a warlike career, in the course of which he was always loyal to the royal dynasty of the Valois . First he took part in 1356 under the spell of King John II in the siege of the Charles of Navarre owned Évreux . In 1357 he became captain ( Capitaine ) of Bayeux . In 1360 he became Chamberlain of the Dauphin (and later King Charles V), bought the fortress La Ferté-sous-Jouarre from the English captain Thomas Vagorne (Waghorn) in the same year and acted as captain of Meaux . From 1360 to 1362 he was also the Seneschal of Toulouse and Carcassonne . Around 1361 he suppressed a revolt in Clermont. Towards the end of 1362 his wife Luce de Chevreuse, Lady von Neauphle, died . In 1364 he first fought at Cocherel , then took part in the Battle of Auray on September 29 of the same year and was temporarily taken prisoner.

After Charles V acceded to the throne, Pierre de Villaines regrouped the large companies demobilized after the War of Breton Succession together with the military leader Bertrand du Guesclin on the orders of the king . These troop contingents were then to be used to support Henry of Trastámara , who led a bitter struggle against Peter the Cruel and the English allied with him for the Castilian throne. Pierre de Villaines commanded the White Company in Castile and fought on April 3, 1367 in the Battle of Nájera on the side of Henry of Trastámara, but after his devastating defeat in this battle against Peter the Cruel and the Black Prince he was captured again who he was released after paying a ransom. Like Bertrand de Guesclin, he continued to take part in the Castilian civil war and commanded a company of 300 men in the decisive battle of Montiel (March 14, 1369). He managed to capture the fleeing Peter the Cruel, whom he handed over. Heinrich von Trastámara, who now became the new Castilian king as Henry II, was unable to raise the funds promised to Bertrand de Guesclin and his mercenaries and transferred the county of Ribadeo to Pierre de Villaines on December 20, 1369 , which he transferred to the Castilian Konnetabel in 1401 Ruy López Dávalos sold.

In 1373 Pierre de Villaines returned to France and was now in the service of Duke Louis of Anjou in Languedoc . On September 1, 1377, he took part in the capture of Eymet , which succeeded the French troops led by Bertrand de Guesclin. In 1380 he became chamberlain to the new French king Charles VI. In 1381 he was in action in the war between John I of Castile and Ferdinand I of Portugal. He also took part in the Battle of Roosebeke (November 27, 1382), which ended in a French victory . At the end of 1383 he went to the Iberian Peninsula to do military service in the Portuguese War of Succession .

Pierre de Villaines rose in 1388 to one of the leading advisors, the so-called Marmousets , King Charles VI. to what position he remained in for four years. In 1390 he acted as governor of La Rochelle , at the end of that year and in the first half of the following he was twice on diplomatic missions in Castile and in September 1391 he went as an envoy to the English King Richard II. When Charles VI. In 1392 he was finally insane, his uncles, Dukes Jean von Berry and Philip the Bold of Burgundy, took over the government again and drove the Marmousets from power. On this occasion, Pierre de Villaines was imprisoned in the Palais du Louvre . Although he was soon allowed to leave his prison, he had to go into exile in Castile.

In 1394, Pierre de Villaines regained the favor of the French royal court and was able to resume his duties as royal councilor. Again it was used to maintain diplomatic contacts between France and England and Castile. Furthermore, in 1397 he was one of the godparents of Louis de Valois, duc de Guyenne , third son of King Charles VI. He maintained a good relationship not only with Ludwig von Orléans , but also with Philip the Bold. In 1401 he became Prince of Yvetot . In 1403 he made a donation to the collegiate church of Saint-Cosme de Luzarches. Until his death in 1406, Pierre de Villaines, who had been a Knight of the Order of the Star , remained royal advisor.

literature

• Philippe Contamine : Villaines, Pierre de . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 1676.