Connetable bertrand du guesclin biography

He distinguished himself by a brilliant action at the siege of Vannes in ; and after that he disappears from history for some years. Inhaving shortly before been made a knight, he was sent into England with the lords of Brittany to treat for the ransom of Charles of Blois, who had been defeated and captured by the English in When Rennes and Dinan were attacked by the duke of Lancaster inDu Guesclin fought continuously against the English, and at this time he engaged in a celebrated duel with Sir Thomas Canterbury.

He finally forced his way with provisions and reinforcements into Rennes, which he successfully defended till Junewhen the siege was raised in pursuance of the truce of Bordeaux. For this service he was rewarded with the lordship of Pontorson. Shortly afterwards he passed into the service of France, and greatly distinguished himself at the siege of Melunbeing, however, taken prisoner a little later by Sir Robert Knollys.

Inand he was continually in the field, being again made prisoner in In he married, but was soon again in the field, this time against the king of Navarre. In May he won an important victory over the Navarrese at Cocherel, and took the famous Captal de Buch prisoner. Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon.

Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Texts Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs.

Connetable bertrand du guesclin biography

Pour les articles homonymes, voir Du Guesclin. Bertrand du Guesclin est issu d'une rustique seigneurie de la petite noblesse bretonne. Bagarreur, il se sent la vocation de guerrier. Il promet « qu'il ne trouveroit jamais occasion qu'il ne chargeast les Anglois quelque part qu'il les renconstrat » [ 18 ]. Hugues de Calveley devient par la suite l'un de ses lieutenants en Espagne.

Du Guesclin laisse une image de grand homme dans l'histoire de France. Article Discussion. Outils Outils. Biographie [ modifier modifier le code ]. Origine [ modifier modifier le code ]. Enfance [ modifier modifier le code ]. Once there, after crossed accusations of bastardythe two half-brothers started a fight to the death, using daggers because of the narrow space.

At a moment when they fought on the floor, Pedro got the upper hand and was about to finish Henry. But then Du Guesclin, who had stayed inactive for he was compromised to both, made his final choice. He grabbed Pedro's ankle and turned him belly-up, thus allowing Henry to stab Pedro to death and gain the throne of Castile. War with England was renewed inand Du Guesclin was recalled from Castile in by Charles Vwho had decided to make him Constable of Francethe country's chief military leader.

By tradition, this post was always given to a great nobleman, not to someone like the comparatively low-born Du Guesclin, but Charles needed someone who was an outstanding professional soldier. In practice, du Guesclin had continual difficulties in getting aristocratic leaders to serve under him, and the core of his armies was always his personal retinue.

He immediately defeated the remnant of an English army, which had been led by Robert Knolles until his retreat at Du Guesclin's coming, at the Battle of Pontvallainand then reconquered Poitou and Saintongeforcing the Black Prince to leave France. Inthe Franco-Castillan fleet destroyed the English fleet at the Battle of La Rochellewhere more than English knights and soldiers were captured.

He disapproved of the confiscation of Brittany by Charles V inand his campaign to make the independent duchy submit to a French king was halfhearted. He was buried at Saint-Denis in the tomb of the Kings of Francewhich was later sacked and destroyed during the French Revolution. His heart is kept at the basilica of Saint-Sauveur at Dinan.

Because of du Guesclin's allegiance to France, the 20th century Breton nationalists considered him to be a 'traitor' to Brittany. In the Breton Liberation Front destroyed a statue of him in Broons. He is also a major character in the trilogy of Dutch historical youth novels Geef me de Ruimteby Thea Beckmanthe first part of which was published in The main protagonist, a free-spirited young Flemish woman, ends up in Brittany during the Years' War.

Contents move to sidebar hide.