Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

The Civil War in Normandy 1328 - 1355

The succession of Charles IV the Fair, who died in 1328, was complicated by the lack of a direct heir. Edward III of England, grandson of Philip IV the Fair, was ousted, and the crown was not to fall to a "foreigner". Joan II of Navarre, daughter of Louis X le Hutin and Marguerite de Bourgogne, one of the actresses in the scandal of the Tour de Nesle, was ousted and the crown should not fall to a "bastard".
1328 –  Philip, son of Charles of Valois, younger brother of Philip IV and Margaret of Anjou, aged 35, is chosen by an assembly of barons and becomes Philip VI.
1337 – In November, Edward III, King of England, defies Philip VI, marking the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. Philip VI asked the Normans for help. The latter supplied him with sailors and boats, among other things. Rouen was the only shipyard capable of building warships, merchant ships were fitted out in other Normandy ports.
1338 – The Normans, commanded by Robert Bertran, capture Guernsey.

1339 – On 23 March, Philip VI recognises the specificity of the Normans by confirming and completing the "Charter to the Normans" of 1315. Until 1789, it was the symbol of Norman particularism. At the conclusion of the meeting of the States of Normandy, the Normans undertook, among other things, to provide an army of 4,000 men-at-arms, 20,000 footmen and 5,000 crossbowmen, all recruited in Normandy, to invade England. Among the Norman representatives were: Pierre Roger, archbishop of Rouen, Guillaume Bertran, bishop of Bayeux, Jean Hautefune, bishop of Avranches, Robert Bertran, marshal of France, Raoul de Brienne, count of Eu and Jean, lord of Harcourt.
1340 – On June 24, the French fleet, 190 ships and 20,000 men, under the joint command of Admiral Hue Quiéret and Captain Nicolas Béhuchet, poor sailors, sinks in the face of the 250 ships and 15,000 men, commanded by Henry III, at the Battle of the Lock, near Bruges.
On 25 September, France and England concluded a five-year truce at Esplechin near Tournai.

Geoffrey of Harcourt
1306 – Birth of Geoffrey, youngest son of John III of Harcourt and Alix of Brabant, niece of Mary of Brabant, wife of Philip III the Bold, he is one of the most powerful lords of Normandy.
1326 – Geoffrey is knighted.
1330 -  He inherits the viscounty of Saint Sauveur.
1339 - He was one of the 50 Norman barons who pledged to take part in a future conquest of England, along with his elder brother Count John IV of Harcourt, an attempt that failed after the rout at the Battle of the Lock.
He coveted Joan Bacon, daughter of Roger V Bacon, sole heiress to the wealthy fief of Molay Bacon. Jeanne Bacon was also coveted by Guillaume Bertran, son of Robert II Bertran, Marshal  of France and Lord of Bricquebec, descendant of the Tancarvilles most faithful supporters of the crown of France in Normandy, and hereditary rivals of the Harcourts.Rejected, Geoffroy undertook a real private war against the Tancarville family.
1341 – On March 30, Philip VI forbids his two barons to wage war against each other.
1343 – Geoffrey does not give up and attacks the bishop of Bayeux, brother of Guillaume Bertran, openly contravening the king's orders.
1344 – On April 3, Philip VI seizes Geoffrey d'Harcourt's property and has three of his main supporters: Jean Tesson, Guillaume Bacon and Richard de Percy beheaded, accusing them of plotting to place Geoffrey d'Harcourt at the head of the Duchy of Normandy and a secret alliance with England. Their heads are on display in Saint Lo on a wheel in the middle of the market. Forced into exile, Geoffrey d'Harcourt retired to his lands in Flanders where he was welcomed by his cousin Duke John III of Brabant. With no hope of regaining his Norman fiefdoms, he went to England where he put himself in the service of King Edward III, to whom he paid homage.
1345 – On June 13, by letters patent, Edward III promised to provide him with lands in England and to have his Norman fiefs returned.
1346 – On 12 July, appointed Marshal of England by Edward III, he commanded one of the three army corps that landed at Saint-Vast la Hougue (Cotentin). Geoffrey led Edward III's army, which plundered and sacked Normandy, surprising the Normans after 150 years of relative peace. The English army met no resistance on its way where the fortresses and ramparts were in very poor condition, the result of neglected maintenance. Saint Lo and Coutances were burned, Caen was taken except for the castle. He convinced the King of England to put an end to the massacre of the Norman population, then provoked the King of France by burning Saint Cloud.

On 26 August, he was one of the victors of the Battle of Crécy (Somme) where the British army crushed the French army despite its numerical inferiority. That same evening, he recognized the body of his brother, Count Jean IV d'Harcourt, governor  of Rouen, who had been killed in the French ranks, as well as that of his nephew, the Count of Aumale. Remorse pushed him to join the camp of his brother and nephew where he obtained the pardon of King Philip VI of France who was then very weakened by his defeat.
1347 – He is made captain-sovereign of Rouen and Caen, with permission to levy taxes and troops.
On 5 March, Edward III, noticing his change of allegiance, confiscated his English property.
On 4 August, Calais, after a siege, surrendered to the King of England.
In November, at the request of Philip VI, his son John, Duke of Normandy, convened a meeting of the States of Normandy to obtain "aid for the fact of wars". A subsidy of 450,000 pounds was granted.
1348 – In March, a new meeting of the Estates is held in Pont-Audemer. The ordinance shall specify the conditions for the withdrawal of the subsidy and the guarantees obtained by the taxpayers.  
On 23 April, Edward III, on the occasion of a ball in Calais, his mistress and dancer, the Countess of Salisbury, dropped her garter. The king, gallantly, picks it up under the jeers of the dancers, ties it to his knee and puts an end to the taunts by pronouncing "Honni soit qui mal y pense, those who laugh now will be very honored to wear a similar one, for this ribbon will be put in such honor that the scoffers themselves will seek it with eagerness." He had just created the Order of the Garter.
In July, the  Normans were struck by the deadly epidemic of the Black Death that spread across Europe, and suspended military operations. In two years, towns and villages lose between 15 and 50% of their population. This scourge was compounded by the military disasters and economic crisis at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. The power of the Valois was strongly contested.

1354 – On January 8, Charles of Navarre has his rival Charles de la Cerda, Count of Angoulême, who succeeded Raoul de Brienne as constable, assassinated with impunity. On 22 February, while taking responsibility for his crime, he obtained John II the Good, threatening him with an alliance with the English, territorial concessions and sovereignty at the Treaty of Mantes.
1355 – On Epiphany Sunday, the Dauphin Charles, Duke of Normandy, summons his vassals to Rouen. Geoffroy d'Harcourt, leader of the Norman nobility, brandished  the "Charter to the Normans" to him, declaring: "My natural lord, here is the charter to the Normans, if you consent to swear and observe what is contained therein, I am quite ready to do you homage". Despite this audacity, he returned to the Dauphin's Council.
In March, John II commissioned the Dauphin Charles to organise the defence of Normandy. Despite the growing influence of Charles II of Navarre, the Dauphin was skilfully respected. The Normans were reluctant to collect taxes, especially since the Navarrese encouraged them to do so.
On 24 September, Charles organized a ceremony of reconciliation between the kings of France and Navarre. Edward III, King of England, takes umbrage at this new turnaround, and is now wary of this competitor to the crown of France, the landing, which they had envisaged, will not take place. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, uncle of the Dauphin, already worried about the growing influence of the French in the west of his empire, suffered a diplomatic offensive by the English that led him to threaten his brother-in-law, John II the Good, to renegotiate their alliance. He emancipated the Duke of Burgundy, Philip I, aged 6, for his possessions in lands of empire, possessions managed by his father-in-law, the King of France. The Dauphin, close to his uncle, in danger of losing the Dauphiné, in disagreement with his father, set up against him by Robert Le Coq, a fervent Navarrese who played a double game with John II, and who never ceased to convince him that his father wanted to oust him from power, organised a runaway in order to meet the emperor in December, pay homage to him and ease tensions. Informed of the plot, the king summoned his son and entrusted him with Normandy as an appanage to reassure him and counter the work of the Navarrese to undermine them.
1356 – The king is informed of a plot to divide the country between Charles the Bad and the English.
On 5 April, the Dauphin, Duke of Normandy, invited all the Norman nobility, including Charles II the Bad,   Count of Evreux, to his castle in  Rouen. John II, exasperated by his plots with the English, threatened the King of Navarre by letting out his anger, which had been simmering since the death of his favourite, the Constable Charles de la Cerda, in which Jean d'Harcourt, his nephew, had been involved. Arrested with three of his companions, King John II the Good had him executed, without any other form of trial, all the more so as he protested against the new taxes that were imposed on Normandy.
On 7 April, Charles the Bad was imprisoned in the Louvre, then in the Châtelet and finally in the fortress of Arleux, near Douai.