The Treaty of Brétigny: English temporary triumph over the French

On the 24th of October 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny was ratified, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War.  This treaty was a sheer calamity for France and a temporary victory for England.  This document was drafted on the 8th of May 1360 between King...

Unfit to rule: the merry captivity of King Jean II of France after the 1356 Poitiers catastrophe

King Jean II of France, called the Good (le Bon), was the second Valois monarch, and, as some historians say, ‘The shame of France’.  How could the ruler who also has the nickname ‘the Good’ deserve such an epithet?  The clue to the understanding of this reasoning is in the...

The Battle of Crécy: in the Footsteps of Edward III of England and Philippe VI of France

The Hundred Years’ War…  Doesn’t this sound daunting?  Frightening for everyone, indeed.  It lasted more than 100 years and was one of the most bloodthirsty and longest military conflicts in history.  Jean Froissart (a French-speaking medieval author from the Low Countries) became the most famed chronicler of this war, and...