- John II of France
Infobox French Royalty|monarch
name=John II the Good
title=King of France
caption=Portrait of John painted on wood panel around 1350,Louvre Museum
reign=22 August 1350 – 8 April 1364
coronation=26 September 1350,
predecessor=Philip VI
successor=Charles V
spouse=Bonne of Bohemia
Joanna I, Countess of Auvergne
issue=Charles V
Louis I of Naples John, Duke of Berry
Philip II, Duke of Burgundy
Jeanne, Queen of Navarre
royal house=House of Valois
royal anthem =
father=Philip VI
mother=Joan of Burgundy
date of birth=birth date|1319|4|16|df=y
place of birth=
date of death=death date and age|1364|4|8|1319|4|16|df=y
place of death=Savoy Palace ,London ,England
place of burial=Saint Denis Basilica |John II (16 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good ( _fr. Jean le Bon), was
Count of Anjou ,Count of Maine , andDuke of Normandy from 1332,Count of Poitiers from 1344,Duke of Aquitaine from 1345, andKing of France from 1350 until his death, as well asDuke of Burgundy (as John I) from 1361 to 1363. By his marriage to Joanna I, Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne, he became "jure uxoris" Count of Auvergne and Boulogne from 1349 to 1360. John was a member of theHouse of Valois , and was the son of Philippe VI and Jeanne of Burgundy.John succeeded his father in 1350 and was crowned at
Notre-Dame de Reims . As king, John surrounded himself with poor administrators, preferring to enjoy the good life his wealth as king brought. Later in his reign, he took over more of the administration himself.Early life
John’s father Philip VI took the throne of France in 1328 when John was still 9 years old. His succession had rested on a deliberate political choice resulting from the deaths of Louis X in 1316 and Charles IV in 1328 – preventing the crown from passing to women, and hence to
Edward III of England, son of Isabelle of France and grandson of Philip the Fair. The new king was therefore determined to assert the legitimacy of his dynasty. In 1332 the birth ofCharles II of Navarre presented what was claimed to be a better claim to the crown of France than that of Edward.Charles II of Navarre was son ofJoan II of Navarre and grandson of Louis X. Philip therefore decided to marry off his son—then thirteen years old—quickly to form a strong matrimonial alliance, at the same time conferring upon him the title ofDuke of Normandy .Thought was initially given to a marriage with
Eleanor , sister of the King of England, but instead Philip invitedJohn of Luxembourg ,King of Bohemia , toFontainebleau to propose an alliance which would be cemented by the marriage of one of John’s daughters with Philip’s son. Bohemia, which had aspirations towardsLombardy and needed French diplomatic support, accepted the deal. The military clauses of the treaty stipulated that in the event of war Bohemia would support the French army with four hundred infantrymen. The political clauses ensured that the Lombard crown would not be disputed if the King of Bohemia managed to obtain it. Philip selectedBonne of Bohemia as a wife for his son as she was closer to child-bearing age (16 years), and the dowry was fixed at 120,000 florins.Marriage with Bonne of Bohemia
John came of age on 26 April 1332, and received overlordship of the duchy of Normandy, as well as the counties of
Anjou andMaine . The wedding was celebrated on 28 July at the church of Notre-Dame inMelun in the presence of six thousand guests. The festivities were prolonged by a further two months when the young groom was finally knighted at the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Duke John of Normandy was solemnly granted the arms of a knight in front of a prestigious assistance bringing together the kings of Luxembourg andNavarre , and the dukes ofBurgundy ,Lorraine and theBrabant .Duke of Normandy
In 1332, John became Duke of Normandy in prerogative, and had to deal with the reality that most of the Norman nobility was already allied with the English camp. Effectively, Normandy depended economically more on maritime trade across the
English Channel than it did by river trade on theSeine . The duchy had not been English for 150 years but many landowners had possessions across the Channel. Consequently, to line up behind one or other sovereign risked confiscation. Therefore the Norman nobility were governed as interdependent clans which allowed them to obtain and maintain charters guaranteeing the duchy a deal of autonomy. It was split into two key camps, the counts ofTancarville and the counts ofHarcourt – which had been at conflict for generations [ Françoise Autrand, Charles V, Fayard 1994] .Tension arose again in 1341. The king, worried about the richest area of the kingdom breaking into bloodshed, ordered the baillifs of
Bayeux andCotentin to quell the dispute.Geoffroy d' Harcourt raised troops against the king, rallying a number of nobles protective of their autonomy and against royal interference. The rebels demanded that Geoffroy be made duke, thus guaranteeing the autonomy granted by the charter. Royal troops took the castle atSaint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte and Geoffroy was exiled to theBrabant . Three of his companions were decapitated inParis on 3 April 1344 [Jean Favier, La Guerre de Cent Ans, Fayard 1980, p. 140] .By 1345 increasing numbers of Norman rebels had begun to pay homage to
Edward III , constituting a major threat to the legitimacy of theValois kings. The defeat atCrécy and the rendering ofCalais further damaged royal prestige. Defections by the nobility increased - particularly in the north and west whose land fell within the broad economic influence of England. Consequently the French king decided to seek a truce. Duke John met Geoffroy d' Harcourt, to whom the king agreed to return all confiscated goods; even appointing him sovereign captain in Normandy. John then approached the Tancarville which represented the key clan whose loyalty could ultimately ensure his authority in Normandy. The marriage of John, Viscount ofMelun to Jeanne, the only heiress of the county of Tancarville ensured the Melun-Tancarville party remained loyal to John the Good, while Godefroy de Harcourt continued to act as defender for Norman freedoms and thus of the reforming party [ Françoise Autrand, Charles V, Fayard 1994, p. 60 ] .Treaty of Mantes
In 1354, John's son-in-law and cousin,
Charles II of Navarre , who, in addition to his small Pyrenean kingdom, also held extensive lands inNormandy , was implicated in the assassination of theConstable of France ,Charles de la Cerda . Nevertheless, in order to have a strategic ally against the English inGascony , on 22 February 1354, John signed theTreaty of Mantes with Charles. The peace did not last between the two and Charles eventually struck up an alliance withHenry of Grosmont , the firstDuke of Lancaster . The next year (1355), John signed theTreaty of Valognes with Charles, but this second peace lasted hardly longer than the first. In 1355, theHundred Years' War flared up again.In the
Battle of Poitiers (1356) againstEdward, the Black Prince , (son of King Edward III of England), John suffered a humiliating defeat and was taken as captive back to England. While negotiating a peace accord, he was at first held in theSavoy Palace , then at a variety of locations, including Windsor, Hertford,Somerton Castle inLincolnshire ,Berkhamsted Castle inHertfordshire and briefly atKing John's Lodge , formerly known asShortridges , inEast Sussex . A local tradition inSt Albans is that he was held in a house in that town, at the site of the 15th-century Fleur de Lys inn, before he was moved to Hertford. There is a sign on the inn to that effect, but apparently no evidence to confirm the tradition [http://www.salbani.co.uk/Med%20Web/market_place.htm] . Eventually, John was taken to theTower of London .Prisoner of the English
As a prisoner of the English, John was granted royal privileges, permitting him to travel about and to enjoy a regal lifestyle. At a time when law and order was breaking down in France and the government was having a hard time raising money for the defense of the realm, his account books during his captivity show that he was purchasing horses, pets, and clothes while maintaining an astrologer and a court band.Fact|date=February 2007
The
Treaty of Brétigny (1360) set his ransom at 3,000,000 crowns. Leaving his son Louis of Anjou in English-heldCalais as a replacement hostage, John was allowed to return to France to raise the funds.While King John tried to raise the money, his son Louis, accorded the same royal dignity, easily escaped from the English. An angry King John surrendered himself again to the English, claiming an inability to pay the ransom as the reason. The true motive of John's decision remains murky today, with many pointing to the devastation in France caused by war with England and the
Jacquerie peasant uprising as likely candidates. His councillors and nearly the whole nation was critical of the decision, since they had sacrificed much to raise the ransom. When John arrived in England in early 1364, however, he was viewed with admiration by ordinary citizens and English royalty alike. Although treated with honor while held in theSavoy Palace , he died inLondon a few months later.His body was returned to France, where he was interred in the royal chambers at
Saint Denis Basilica .Personality
John suffered from fragile health. He engaged little in physical activity, practised jousting rarely, and only occasionally hunted. Contemporaries report that he was quick to get angry and resort to violence, leading to frequent political and diplomatic confrontations. He enjoyed literature, and was patron to painters and musicians.
The image of a 'warrior king' probably emerged from the courage in battle he showed at Poitiers, and the creation of the
Order of the Star . This was guided by political need as John was determined to prove the legitimacy of his crown - particularly as his reign, like that of his father, was marked by continuing disputes over the Valois claim from bothCharles of Navarre andEdward III . From a young age, John was called to resist the de-centralising forces which impacted upon the cities and the nobility; each attracted either by English economic influence or the reforming party. He grew up amongst intrigue and treason, and in consequence he governed in secrecy only with a close circle of trusted advisers.He took a wife
Bonne of Bohemia , and fathered 10 children, in eleven years. Some historians [J. Deviosse, "Jean Le Bon", Paris, 1985] also suggest a strong romantic attachment toCharles de la Cerda . La Cerda was given various honours and appointed to the high position of "connetable" when John became king; he accompanied the king on all his official journeys to the provinces. La Cerda's rise at court excited the jealousy of the French barons, several of whom stabbed him to death in 1354. As such, La Cerda's fate paralleled that ofEdward II 'sPiers Gaveston in England, andJohn II of Castile 'sAlvaro de Luna in Spain; the position of a royal favourite was a dangerous one. John's grief on La Cerda's death was overt and public.Ancestry
Ancestors of King John II of FranceFamily and children
On 28 July 1332, at the age of 13, John was married to
Bonne of Bohemia (d. 1349), daughter of John I (the Blind) of Bohemia. Their children were:#Charles V (21 January 1338–16 September 1380)
#Louis I, Duke of Anjou (23 July 1339–20 September 1384)
#John, Duke of Berry (30 November 1340–15 June 1416)
#Philippe II, Duke of Burgundy (17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404)
#Jeanne (24 June 1343 – 3 November 1373), married Charles II (the Bad) of Navarre
#Marie (12 September 1344–October 1404), marriedRobert I, Duke of Bar
#Agnès (1345–1349)
#Marguerite (1347–1352)
#Isabelle (1 October 1348–11 September 1372), married Gian Galeazzo I, Duke of MilanOn 19 February 1349 (old style), atNanterre , he marriedJoanna I of Auvergne (d. 1361), Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne. She was widow of Philip of Burgundy, the deceased heir of that duchy, and mother of the youngPhilip I, Duke of Burgundy (1344-61) who became John's stepson and ward. John and Joanna had two daughters, both of whom died young:
# Blanche (b. 1350)
# Catherine (b. 1352)He was succeeded by his son, Charles V.
External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21082 John II on Find-A-Grave]
References
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