Treaty of Paris (1259)

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Document of the Treaty of Paris

On December 4, 1259, the Treaty of Paris between Henry III. , King of England , and Louis IX. of France was supposed to settle the longstanding territorial disputes that had arisen a hundred years earlier since the formation of the so-called Angevin Empire under King Heinrich Plantagenet of England.

prehistory

Heinrich Plantagenet had succeeded in becoming master of large parts of north, west and south-west France, which led to long-term wars with the French king Philip II, who was the liege lord of the English kings for these areas. Philip II finally succeeded in conquering large parts of these lands against Heinrich's son Johann Ohneland in the Franco-English War from 1202 onwards . The defeats of the English kings culminated in the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, which considerably weakened the English crown on the mainland. The French position was further expanded under Louis VIII through the Franco-English War from 1224 to 1225 . The rule of Plantagenet in France was thrown back to Gascony and Bordeaux . Attempts to recapture Johann's son Heinrich III. 1230 (→ Henry III's campaign in France (1230) ) and 1242 (→ Saintonge War ) were unsuccessful.

Conclusion of contract

The reason why Louis IX. in the treaty allowed the English king to regain part of the lost territories is not uncontroversial. Neilland states that the English king seemed to be of great use to France as a vassal in order to exert significant influence on English foreign policy in the future.

The English King Henry III. In contrast, found himself facing a powerful aristocratic opposition in England, which had taken over essential parts of the government. A foreign policy success like a peace with France would consolidate his position. He should first receive the rights and obligations over the dioceses of Limoges, Catur and Pierregort,

"Sauve les choses, qui li Rois de France ne peut meter hors de sa maine par lettre de lui, ou de ses ancesseurs" (1).

He also receives the rights to the southern Quercy and the Saintonge area south of the Charente River (4). This paragraph also records the future status of Aquitaine, which the English king now held as the Duchy of Aquitaine as a fiefdom of the French king:

"... Li Rois de France donra al Roi de Angleterre, ou a ses heires, en siez, ou en domaines, li Rois de Angleterre, & si heirs seront homage lige au Rois de France, & a ses heires Rois de France: Et ausi de Bordiaus, & de Baion, & de Gascoigne ... & tendra de lui com Pers de France, & Dux de Aquitaigne "

In return, Heinrich III. for himself and all his descendants claims to Normandy , Anjou , Touraine and Poitou . The French King Louis IX. he had to swear the feudal oath.

In addition to the territorial rights, which were regulated in this way, there was also a section on financial compensation to Heinrich III. He should by Louis IX. receive a cash payment equivalent to the maintenance of 500 knights over 2 years. Presumably Heinrich III wanted. use this sum to support his son Edmund on his Sicilian adventure . However, the wording in the contract also gave the barons ("les hauz homes de la terre") a right of participation in the sums of money.

Louis IX did not want to accept the contract until Heinrich III. swore the feudal oath. He also waited until all members of the Plantagenets family submitted their claims to additional areas in France. In particular, Henry III's sister, Eleanor , refused to take an oath. Henry III. was forced to give part of the promised money in custody as security. Thereupon Eleanor gave in and Ludwig IX. agreed to ratification and publication. In a solemn procedure in the orchard of the royal palace in Paris, the English kneeled before the French king and swore homage to him , which emphasized the personal character of the oath.

Legal consequences

This created a legal problem. Malcom Vale comments on this feudal relationship: "Two sovereigns of equal authority ... were put on an unequal footing, because one of those sovereigns held land from another." The English king was obliged to be loyal to the French and thus also to serve in the arms , i.e. . H. to an array of able-bodied men in the vassal area. This could become extremely problematic when the King of England was allied as sovereign with a ruler with whom the French king was at war and against whom he could claim the duties of the English king. In addition, there were also inaccuracies in the content, B. the determination of the Agenais . This area would only revert to England after the childless death of its current owners.

Although the treaty had been accepted by both sides, the implementation of the French agreement was delayed until 1273, since Alfons , a brother of Louis IX, was still lord of Saintonge as Count of Poitiers. Only after his childless death in 1271 did the French vacate this area. In addition, the contract did not meet with undivided approval on either side. Some of the English continued to view the French conquests as illegal and the treaty, especially the final abandonment of Normandy, as a disgrace. The French, on the other hand, believed that the feudal oath of Henry III. was bought too dearly. After the death of Henry III. and Louis IX. it was up to Henry's son Edward I of England to sign the treaty of 1259 with Ludwig's son Philip III. to renew. In this newly set up work shows the conditional form that Edward I compared to Philip III. used, ( "to receive" ) that the agreements of 1259 were not yet fulfilled. A final contractual solution only seemed to be possible with a further contract, which was also concluded in 1286.

This treaty was preceded by the feared case that the English king might be forced to take action against an ally with whom France was at war. In 1275 war broke out between France and Castile , triggered by disputes over Navarre . England had with the Kingdom of Castile but already under Henry III. 1254 formed an alliance. The Castilian King Alfonso X turned to Edward I and asked him for support. This promised him conditional support, but he would not do anything against the French king because of his loyalty oath. Instead, he offered himself as a mediator in this conflict in order to free himself from his complicated situation. The death of Alfonso X and Philip III's attention drawn to Aragon. only gave Edward I a sigh of relief for a brief moment. The same case was already looming in a Franco-Aragonese conflict. Here, too, Edward could not stand against his liege lord; he could only try to fulfill his covenant duties as slowly as possible. The behavior of the Gascony is remarkable. The Seneschal Jean I de Grailly reacted positively to a troop request from Edward I, as he did not know that the troops were intended for the French king. But after the crisis was over, doubts arose as to whether the English king should really render such feudal services to the French. 1285, probably shortly before Edward I should have embarked for France to take the army of Philip III. to support, the conflict between Aragon and France was settled.

Shortly afterwards Philip III died. and his son, Philip IV the Fair , ascended the throne. Edward I then saw the opportunity to renew the treaty of 1259 and to enforce the still pending delivery of the Saintonge by the French. However, the text of the contract does not contain the conditional at the crucial point as in 1273.

“... Dominus Rex Edwardus fecit homagium suum Domino Regi Franciae, sub hiis verbis; [...] Jeo devint votre homa des terres, que jeo tenez de vous de ces la, solonc la form de la Pees, que fu fait entre noz ancestres. "

Edward I thus recognized the status quo in the areas practically formally. The inhabitants of Gascony were not happy with the conclusion of the 1259 contract alone. Because the country has not been formally bound by a feudal oath since 1202. The former Duchy of Aquitaine was part of the County of Poitou, and although both areas were under the supervision of the Counts of Poitou from 1063 to 1202, Gascony was in itself a kind of autonomous region and saw itself as an allodial estate, without a superordinate French ruler. When Henry II of England swore the feudal oath to Louis VII of France for the Poitou region, the English view was that Gascony was not affected. The French rulers, however, endeavored to submit this area to their direct control, i.e. to incorporate it into the crown possession . By the treaty it was now indirectly bound to France by the English king.

The territories that remained in the possession of the English kings continued to lead to minor disputes that led to the Franco-English War from 1294 to 1298 , to the War of Saint-Sardos from 1323 to 1325 and finally to the Hundred Years War .

literature

  • P. Chaplais: The Making of the Treaty of Paris (1259) and the Royal Style. In: English Historical Review. 67, 1952, pp. 235-253.
  • P. Chaplais: Essays in medieval diplomacy and administration. The Hambledon Press, London 1981, ISBN 0-9506882-2-3 .
  • Anne Curry: The Hundred Years War. St. Martins Press, New York 1993, ISBN 0-312-09142-7 .
  • Klaus van Eickels: From staged consensus to systematized conflict. Anglo-French relations and their perception at the turn of the high and late Middle Ages. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-4261-2 .
  • Michel Gavrilovitch: Étude sur le Traité de Paris de 1259. Paris 1890.
  • R. Neillands: The Hundred Years War. TJ Press, 1990.
  • HW Ridgeway: Henry III (1207-1272). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  • Malcolm Vale: The Angevin Legacy 1250-1340. TJ Press 1990.