The Definitive Blow of the Hundred Years War: A Commander in the Final Major Battle of the French “Conquest of Normandy” in 1450, Which Ended the War, Receives His Compensation from the Treasury of King Charles VII

We can recall nothing similar having reached the market

 

From the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, so this not been offered for sale in nearly a century

The Hundred Years’ War was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages. For 116 years, interrupted by several truces, five generations of kings from two rival dynasties – the English House of Plantagenet and the French House of Valois – fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe – France. The war’s effect on European history was lasting. Both sides produced innovations in military technology, and tactics, such as professional standing armies and artillery, that permanently changed warfare in Europe; chivalry, which had reached its height during the conflict, subsequently declined. Stronger national identities took root in both countries, which became more centralized and gradually rose as global powers that expanded into the New World.

In the 1430s-50s, the English clung to their dwindling possessions, while French King Charles VII of the Valois dynasty slowly chipped away at them, one piece at a time. By 1440, the French had driven the English completely from the valley of the Loire, and the English retained only Normandy in the north and Gascony in the south. The Truce of Tours in 1444 gave the French a much-needed respite, during which time Charles completed some necessary military reforms and prepared for the final grinding campaigns in a conflict that had begun more than a century earlier—well before anyone’s living memory.

Soon, the war started up again. Under the weak kingship of Henry VI, England seemed powerless to stop the French offensive of 1449 to recapture Normandy. The last major battle occurred in April 1450. With no other significant English forces in Normandy, the whole region quickly fell to the victorious French. Caen was captured in June and Cherbourg, the last English-held fortress in Normandy, fell in August.

Among the commanders on the French side were the Count of Armagnac and his son, the Viscount, both named John.

Autograph document signed, “Jehan [John] D’Armagnac,” October 18, 1450, receiving 2000 livres, a significant sum, originally bestowed by the French King to Estienne Petit, the treasurer to King Charles VII in the region, the “last march,” as the document notes, for the purpose of attacking the English in April 1450 and after. “I, Jehan d’Armagnac, Vicomte de Lomagne, swear that I have received from Mr. Etienne Petit, treasurer and collector of Languedoc, the sum of 2,000 livres that Mons. the King, by distribution of his finances for Languedoc, of 170,000 livres awarded to the said Seigneur a Montpelier in the month of March last, gave to furnish for us our expenses and to compensate for our efforts, done in the surveying and conquest of Normandy….”

Jehan V was the last in the line of powerful Armagnac rulers. He fell out of favor with Charles, who dispatched “John the Bourbon” to capture him but John fled to Spain. He was granted a return by Louis XI, but soon revolted against him as well. Armagnac was part of the league that called itself “Bien public” or “public good” and threatened Paris at the head of 6,000 mounted men. In 1469, Louis responded, under the pretense that John was treating with ambassadors from England, and sent an army under Antoine de Chabannes to rout him. John fled to Spain, only to reappear in 1471 in the train of the king’s rebellious brother, the duc de Guyenne. John was stabbed to death in the 1470s without eligible male heir.