Chronicles

Shocked at the news of the destruction of Limoges, Charles V appointed a celebrated knight, Bertrand du Guesclin, as Constable of France, a position that made him the commander of France’s armies. Guesclin was reluctant to accept the job, but Charles V insisted. The Hundred Years War now turned in France’s favor, with French forces seizing English territories in France. Guesclin led the capture of Poitiers while the port of La Rochelle was threatened by the French.

The mayor of La Rochelle, Jean Caudourier, tricked the English squire left in control of the town, Philippot Mansel, into believing that Edward III ordered all the soldiers stationed at La Rochelle march in a military parade. When the soldiers marched past some abandoned houses, they were attacked by pro-French citizens. Taking control of the town, they handed control of La Rochelle to Charles V in exchange for Charles V promising to mint the same quality of coin for La Rochelle as for Paris, that La Rochelle be directly administered by the monarchy and never handed back to the King of England or another foreign lord, that no tax could be imposed on their tenant farmers without the town’s consent, and that Charles V seek to have the Pope himself absolve them of their former oaths to the King of England (185-186).

Efforts led by Edward III’s son-in-law the Duke of Brittany and others to salvage the situation in France faltered. In fighting the English, Charles V resorted to harrying tactics and skirmishes rather than direct battles. In Paris, some of the leading French nobles argued against this strategy, finding it dishonorable. During the debate, Froissart credits Charles V as saying, “I have no intention of marching out and hazarding my knights and my kingdom for a bit of farming land” (190). The debate concluded with a decision to stick to the current strategy of avoiding battles. The tactics were successful, literally starving out the English.