Ransom of King John II of France

The ransom of King John II of France was an incident during the Hundred Years War between France and England. Following the English capture of the French king during the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, John was held for ransom by the English crown. The incident had serious consequences for later events in the Hundred Years War.

Context
By the time of his capture in 1356, King John II's reign had been marked by tensions both within his kingdom and without. John's Valois claim on French territories was disputed by both Charles II of Navarre and Edward III of England. Vital provinces such as Normandy maintained a high level of autonomy from the crown and frequently threatened to disintegrate into private wars. Worse, many nobles had closer links to the English crown than to Paris. The Hundred Years War that had begun nineteen years before was not a modern war of nations; as one scholar has put it, it was 'an intermittent struggle... a coalition war, with the English often supported by Burgundians and Gascons, and even a civil war, whose combatants looked back to a heritage that was partly shared.'

The French defeat at Crecy under John's father, Philip VI of France and the loss of Calais had increased the pressures on the Valois family to achieve military success. John himself was an unlikely candidate as a warrior prince. John suffered from fragile health and engaged little in physical activity, practiced jousting rarely, and only occasionally hunted. He enjoyed literature, and was patron to painters and musicians. Potentially in response to this, John had created the Order of the Star; like Edward III and the creation of the Order of the Garter, John hoped to play on the concepts of knightly chivalry to bolster his prestige and authority. John had grown up amongst intrigue and treason, and in consequence he governed in secrecy only with a close circle of trusted advisers, frequently alienating his nobles through what they perceived as arbitrary justice and the elevation of unworthy associates, such as Charles de la Cerda. The issues of friction within the French nobility, weaknesses in personal administration and chivalric ideals would play out in the ransom of King John.

The Capture
After a three-year break, the war had resumed in 1355, with Edward, The Black Prince, leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid, termed a chevauchée across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into Normandy, John led an army of about 16,000 south, crossing the Loire in September, 1356, attempting to outflank the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at Poitiers. The Prince's situation was poor; his forces were now trapped, outnumbered and weak from illness. John was confident of victory and, rejecting both the Prince's efforts to negotiate a solution, insisting on the Prince's surrender as a hostage, and advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince, the King ordered a direct attack. In an era in which chivalry placed high importance on winning renown through personal feats of arms, or 'prowess', and in which victory was a sign of God's favour, the prospect of a decisive battle must have been politically appealing to the troubled King.

The battle of Poitiers was a disaster for the French. As at the battle of Agincourt sixty years later, many French forces did not fully participate. Prominently, the Dauphin, Prince Charles and his younger brother Prince Louis left the battle early, possibly as a result of an order from John. At least their departure meant that they avoided capture by the English; King John was less fortunate. John had taken precautions against his own capture; he was guarded in the battle by the ninety members of the Order of the Star, and had nineteen knights from his personal guard dressed identically to confuse the enemy. Surrounded and with most of the Order dead, the King fought on with considerable personal valour until Denis de Morbecque, a French exile who fought for England, approached him.

"Sire," Morbecque is said to have announced, "I am a knight of Artois. Yield yourself to me and I will lead you to the Prince of Wales."

King John is said to have surrendered by handing him his glove. That night King John dined in the red silk tent of his enemy, where the Black Prince attended to him personally. He was then taken to Bordeaux, and ultimately from there to England, where he was at first held in the Savoy Palace, then at a variety of locations, including Windsor, Hertford, Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire and briefly at King John's Lodge in East Sussex. Eventually, John was taken to the Tower of London. As a prisoner of the English for several years, John was granted royal privileges, permitting him to travel about and to enjoy a regal lifestyle. His account books during his captivity show that he was purchasing horses, pets, and clothes while maintaining an astrologer and a court band. Philip, John's fourth son, had also been captured at Poitiers and followed him into captivity.

The Ransom
Now in English captivity, King John began the challenging task of negotiating a peace treaty, which would likely require the payment of a large ransom and territorial concessions. Meanwhile in Paris, the Dauphin, Prince Charles, was facing his own difficulties in his new position as regent. Charles had returned to Paris with his honour intact, but popular feelings over a second French military disaster were running high. Charles summoned the Estates-General in October to seek money for the defense of the country, but furious at what they saw as poor and secretive management under King John, many of those assembled organized into a body led by Etienne Marcel, the Provost of Merchants. Marcel demanded widespread political concessions - Charles refused the demands, dismissed the Estates-General and left Paris.

Political strife ensued. In an attempt to raise money, Charles tried to devalue the currency; Marcel ordered strikes, and the Dauphin was forced to cancel his plans and recall the Estates in February, 1357. The Third Estate - the townsfolk - with support from many nobles, presented the Dauphin with a Grand Ordinance, a list of 61 articles that would have severely restricted royal powers. Under pressure from the mob, Charles eventually signed the ordinance as Regent, but when news of the document reached King John, still at this point imprisoned in Bordeaux, he immediately renounced the ordinance. During the summer, Charles began to successfully enlist support from the provinces against Marcel and the Parisian mob, successfully breaking back into Paris. The final act of violence was the murder by the mob of key royal officials; Charles fled the capital, but the attack broke the temporary alliance between townsfolk and nobility. By August 1358, Marcel was dead and Charles was, once more, able to return to his capital.

Back in England, King John signed a treaty in 1359 that would have ceded most of western France to England and involved a colossal ransom of 4 million écus for his freedom. Charles had little choice but to reject the treaty as invalid, and King Edward used this as an excuse to reinvade France later that year. Edward reached Reims in December and Paris in March, but Charles, trusting on the improved defences around Paris, refused to give battle. Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, and eventually agreed to reduce his terms. The Treaty of Brétigny, signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France — mostly in Aquitaine and Gascony — to the English, and lowered the King's ransom to a still-enormous 3 million crowns.

John's return
In the medieval period, large ransoms or payments could not be raised quickly and arrangements usually had to be made to ensure delivery over time. In the case of the Treaty of Brétigny, a clause was inserted that offered the surrender of forty high-born hostages as guarantee for the payment of the king's ransom. Prince Louis, who had avoided capture at Poitiers, was in this group and sailed to England from Calais in October 1360; his father, King John, was then released after four years in captivity. The treaty anticipated the payment of the full ransom within six months, but in reality further installments from an economically weakened France failed to materialise to schedule. After several years in captivity, Louis tried to negotiate his freedom in a private negotiation with Edward III of England and, when this failed, decided to escape, making it back to France in July 1363.

King John had not returned to a positive situation in 1360. France was still divided; he had lost considerable territories; the exchequer was faced with huge payments to England. The Dauphin too had faced tragedies: his three-year-old daughter, Jeanne, and his infant daughter Bonne died within two weeks of each other; Charles himself had been severely ill, with his hair and nails falling out; some suggest the symptoms are those of arsenic poisoning. Most of his inner circle had died at Poitiers. His royal administration continued to perform weakly. When John was informed that Louis had escaped, he announced that he would voluntarily return to captivity in England. John's council tried to dissuade him, but he persisted, citing reasons of "good faith and honor." He sailed for England that winter, being welcomed warmly in London in January 1364, but became ill and died the following April. His body was returned to France, where he was interred in the royal chambers at Saint Denis Basilica.

Why John returned to captivity remains open to question - even at that time, when chivalry was perhaps at its height, his reasoning seemed incredible. Acts of mercy and clemency were commented upon positively in medieval times, but behaviour which went against the chivalric code was generally forgotten if it was clearly in the interests of the state. Escaping from captivity was unchivalric, and would carry consequences - but hardly unheard of. John's critics alleged that he returned to London for "causa joci" (reasons of pleasure), referring back to his unmartial lifestyle. Historians have speculated that perhaps John simply could not face the difficulties of kingship in France. Potentially John may have seen his failures and Charles' misfortunes as a sign from God, and been seeking religious redemption. John may also have hoped to negotiate with Edward III directly. In any event, the true reason for John's return to England will remain unknown.

In the longer term, the ransom of King John would have considerable impact. The money paid to England buffered the royal treasury up until the reign of King Henry V Although the short reign of Prince, now King Charles V, proved successful, the political chaos that had ensued after the capture of King John fed into the instability of the reign of King Charles VI, weakening France throughout much of the Hundred Years War.