The outposts of lancastrian France in Eastern Champagne

Can it be suggested who this English knight may have been? Sir John Dedham as the captain of MontignyIbid. P 459. may formally have been the commander of the English contingent at BulgnйvilleAs suggested in a later addition to the list of the French who had served to the duke of Bedford (the article referring to Renй of Anjou): Letters and Papers... Vol. II. P [530]., but there is not much evidence of his military expertiseThe only evidence of his previous service in France currently known to me is that musters of the retinue of Richard Waller, bailli of Evreux, were taken by Sir John Dedham and Thomas Flemming on 25 December 1428, BL, Add. Ch. 11608; Jarry L. Le Compte de LArmйe Anglaise au siege d'Orlйans, 14281429 // Mйmoires de la sociйtй archйologique et historique de l'Orlйannais. 1892. T. 23. P 537.. If Fastolf was at Bulgnйville, with his remarkable military experience, his potential advice on battle tactics would have been appreciated by the Burgundians. In fact, however, the `happy few' English of Bulgnйville had among them a soldier with an impressive record of service.

This soldier was Sir Thomas Gargrave who apparently began his military career as a man-at-arms under the duke of Clarence on Henry V's French campaign of 1415 which culminated in the victory at AgincourtFor the references to his career, see: Appendix 2.. He is then found serving in France in the early1420s, therefore having by 1431 some ten years of continuous military service. He served as a lieutenant of Chвteau-Gaillard in April 1422. By October Gargrave became lieutenant to Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, captain of Rouen, an office he retained for about two years. In 1424 he fought at the siege of Compiиgne and in the battle of VerneuilHis spurs, however, were not won at Verneuil as he was still an esquire on 11 September 1424 when he took the musters of John Salvain, bailli of Rouen, BNF. MS. Fr. 4485. P 221.. By 1426 he came to serve under Thomas Montacute, earl of Salisbury, at the siege of La Fertй-Bernard in Maine and then at the second siege of Mont-Aimй in Champagne. He then commanded a company of soldiers sent by the earl to the siege of Montargis before coming to Bassigny as Salisbury's procureur in April 1427.

Gargrave joined the earl for the last time for the campaign against Orlйans where, according to the chronicle of Christopher Hanson and Peter Basset, he was mortally wounded by the same cannonball with Salisbury and died shortly afterwards`... de ung esclat de ladicte pierre fut Icellui conte [earl of Salisbury. -- A.L.] frappe par lateste [...], et pareillement ledit sire thomas gargrave fut pareillement acteynt dun autre esclat tellement que dedens deux jours apres II trespassa.', Basset. F. 63v.. This chronicle is known to have been one of the sources employed by Edward Hall who transferred this account into his narrativeHall. P. 145.. This eventually earned Sir Thomas Gargrave a small role in Shakespeare's Henry VI. Part I where he only appears to say a couple of lines and to fall stricken by the infamous cannonballHenry VI. Part 1. Act I. Scene 4. Lines 525, 531.. The documents, however, suggest that Sir Thomas Gargrave must have avoided death for in late December 1428-January 1429 he was still serving at the siegeJarry L. Le Compte de LArmйe Anglaise. P. 559-560..

Therefore by 2 July 1431 when Gargrave was present at the field of Bulgnйville his track of service included a series of the most significant sieges of the 1420s and possibly the two greatest pitched battles of his age -- Agincourt and Verneuil -- and was quite likely to be respected by his Burgundian companions. This was not the end of his remarkable military career, which was to last for yet another ten years. By October 1432 Gargrave became captain of Montigny and Nogent replacing Sir John DedhamDedham's replacement seems to coincide with the timing of his suit against the duke of Burgundy in the Parlement of Paris in January 1432. This process (where Dedham reciting his former services claimed to have brought 600 men to the battle of Bulgnйville) was caused by his having taken prisoner Louis Bournel, a Dauphinist travelling under the duke's safe-conduct: Keen M. H. The Laws of War. P 263-267.. Gargrave is still found in office in March 1433 but then disappears from the records for about five years. During the last period of his service Sir Thomas Gargrave participated in English attempts to maintain their positions in the pays du conquкte serving at Pontoise and Mantes after 1439. His last known commission was that of lieutenant of Mantes in September 1442.

A significant gap in Sir Thomas Gargrave's record of service may have resulted from yet another change of status of the garrisons of Montigny and Nogent triggered by the Treaty of Arras agreed between Charles VII and Duke Philip of Burgundy on 21 September 1435. Deeply concerned with the security of his territories and disenchanted with his hopes that the war could be won by the Lancastrian regime, Philip the Good chose to acknowledge Charles VII as the king of France thus defecting from the Lancastrian cause. The treaty of Arras did not imply that Philip the Good was to engage in the war against the English. It appears that the duke initially hoped to stay neutral in the Anglo-French conflict; it was not until mid-February 1436 that he decided to send his forces against the

English in the Ile-de-France and in the Calais march. But even before that, the garrisons in Bassigny were doomed: on the one hand, with Burgundian defection they were deprived of their only source of support and assistance, on the other, the Dauphinist forces in the region, could now concentrate their forces against the English -- the only legitimate target remaining for them.

In late December 1435 the Dauphinist governor of Langres and Йrard du Chвtelet, marshal of Lorraine, decided to coordinate their efforts against Montigny and NogentCalmet Dom [A.] Histoire gйnйalogique de la maison du Chatelet, branche puоne de la maison de Lorraine. Nancy, 1741. P. XLV-XLVI.. The Burgundians apparently took no part in the siege but on 20 January 1436 Guillaume de Saulx and Jean de Rochefort were sent from Dijon to Montigny, with a suggestion that the English may have preferred to surrender the place to the duke of Burgundy rather than to the DauphinistsADCO. B 1659. F. 132r -- 133v.. The offer apparently was not unconditionally rejected for the Burgundian envoys returned to Dijon by 24 January and travelled back to Nogent and Montigny on 1 February, but the outcome of negotiations is not clearBNF. MS. Bourgogne 29. F. 101r.. The siege of Montigny may have lasted into 1437, but the place was eventually brought into submissionAn inquisition made in November 1444 of the abuses made by the йcorcheurs in the lands of Luxeuil and Faucogney mentions several cases committed by the soldiers being at the siege of Montigny-le-Roi. One of these is reported to have taken place about `Saint Ylaire [...] en l'an inCXXXVH' (13 January 1438). Other testimonies refer to the events as having happened 8-9 years ago, that is between late 1435 and late 1436: Tuetey A. Les йcorcheurs sous Charles VII. Йpisodes de l'histoire militaire de la France au XV<sup>e</sup> siиcle. Vol. 2. Montbйliard, 1874. P 360, 364, 366. -- The archivist's summary of the journal of the receiver of the city of Langres mentions a dispatch of a bombard to the siege of Montigny by the city under the year 14371438: Boullaye J. de. (ed.) Inventaire-Sommaire. P. 102.. The surrender of Nogent was purchased by Jean de Vergy for 3000 йcus d'or, presumably on 2 May 143 6The rationale for this date is not clear though it is accepted in: Jolibois E. La Haute-Marne ancienne et moderne, dictionnaire gйographique, statistique, historique et biographique de ce dйpartement. Chaumont, 1858. P. 392; Piйpape L. de. Histoire militaire du pays de Langres. P. 91. -- When Jean de Vergy obtained compensation for his expenses from Charles VII in February 1441, the surrender of Nogent seemed to have had place `depuis six ans', a clear miscalculation, see: Chesne A. du. Histoire gйnйalogique de la maison de Vergy ivstifiee par chartes, tiltres, arrests & autres bonnes & certaines preuues, enrichie de plvsievrs figvres, & divisйe en dix Liures. Paris, 1625. P. 212, 214-216.. What is clear is that the continuation of an English presence in Bassigny was no longer of interest to any of the local powers after the Treaty of Arras.

Conclusions

The evidence assembled in this study is insufficient to reconsider completely the degree of English presence or power in Champagne. However, what the story of the garrisons of Montigny and Nogent may reveal is the degree to which historians can easily fall into the trap of over-simplification. A closer look at the events around the English presence in Bassigny leads to a significant revision of their decade-long story.

During its early years (c. 1423-1425) the garrison at Montigny (and subsequently that of Nogent) seems little more than a routier company composed of soldiers of both English and French origin. It appears that its captain acknowledged Henry VI as the king of England and France but it is open to much doubt whether the Lancastrian government in Paris actually controlled these soldiers. With still significant open opposition to the

Lancastrian rule in Champagne, the abuses of Digon Amore were hardly the most urgent and important regional problem for the Regent Bedford's government to deal with. There seems to be little evidence that their ravages were deliberately inspired either officially by the Lancastrian government or personally by the earl of Salisbury pursuing their goals in relations with Burgundy. It seems appropriate to conclude that Digon Amore was, like others, `en rйalitй qu'un bandit dont le prйtendu dйvouement au roi de France [Lancastrian in this case] servait le prйtexte pour commetre toute sorte de brigandages'A characteristic originally applied to Eustache de Warnйcourt, one of the Dauphinist captains in Champagne, `qui se disait comme La Hire un champion de la cause nationale', see: Luce S. Jeanne d'Arc а Domrйmy... P. LXXXIX..

As the Lancastrian positions to the north-east of the Seine were consolidated by the end of 1424, the situation started to change. Following the traditional French protocols of justice, local appeals to the bailli of Chaumont and to the royal council in Paris resulted by early 1426 in a formal process of investigation in which restitution of damages was promised and the replacement of the captain at least became a matter of consideration. It is not clear whether the Lancastrian government was able to impose its control over the garrisons of Montigny and Nogent before the death of Digon Amore in Autumn 1426, but it appears that some measures were undertaken in order to impose its power in Champagne in 1425-1428.

These achievements of the Lancastrian regime, however, collapsed in the aftermath of Charles VII's coronation campaign in 1429. After then, the English garrisons in Bas- signy had no choice but to seek Burgundian patronage and engage in the operations of the Burgundians, maintaining little or no contact with Paris and Rouen. Eventually, after 1435 they became of no more use even to the Burgundians and were quickly wiped out.

The story of English garrisons in Bassigny therefore does not show a straightforward or permanent state but a sequence of periods where different strategies of interaction with the surrounding French population were employed, their choice defined by the general political and military situation in the region and within the kingdom as a whole. Very much the same can be said of the Anglo-Burgundian relations in general.

References

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Captains of Montigny-le-Roy and Nogent-le-Roy in the 1420s -- early 1430s

Sources: [Musйe des Archives Dйpartementales... P. 301-302 (evidence for 7 June 1424)Digon Amore is also named captain of Montigny in the letters dated 10 April 1422: Luce S. Jeanne d'Arc а Domrйmy. P. 317-318, -- which, however, definitely belong to the reign of Henry VI, hence year 1423 the earliest.; Report on the ravages. // ADCO. B11880. F. 2r (June 1424), 6v (Sep 1424); BNF. Fr. MS. Fr. 4484. F. 147r (7 Oct 1426), 149r -- 150r (Apr -- July 1427), 150v -- 152v (Oct -- Dec 1427), 153r -- 154r (Jan -- Sep 1428); Monstrelet. P. 459-460 (2 July 1431); Berry. P. 433 (2 July 1431); Keen M. H. The Laws of War. P. 263-267 (Jan 1432); ADCO. B1649. F. 122v (Oct 1432); BNF. Bourgogne 29. F. 154r (6 March 1433)]

Appendix 2

The military career of Sir Thomas Gargrave (1415-1442)

Sources: [SLME (evidence for year 1415, 1421, 23 April and 15 October 1422, 28 August 1423, 4 March 1426, years 1439, 1441); BNF. MS. Fr. 4484. F 43r, 55r -- 56v, 109v -- 110r, 149r -- 149v (April 1427 -- September 1428); BNF MS. Fr. 4485. P. 221 (11 September 1424); BNF. MS. Fr. 4488. P. 388400 (December 1428 -- January 1429); BNF MS. Fr. 26046. No. 5 (3 December 1422); BNF MS. Fr. 26047. No. 147 (27 October 1423); BNF MS. Fr. 32510. F 369v (October 1426 -- March 1427); BNF. NAF 8637. No. 51 (9 September 1442); BNF. P O. 1263. Doss. 28361 (Gaigrave). No. 2 (December 1428 -- January 1429); BNF. P O. 1281. Doss. 28838 (Gargane). No. 2 (15 April 1423); BNF. MS. Bourgogne 29. F. 85r (29 October 1432), 154 (6 March 1433); ADCO. B 1649. F. 132v (29 October 1432); Basset. F. 51r (March 1424), 53v (17 August 1424), 63v (October 1428); Monstrelet. P 459 (2 July 1431); St. Remy. P 259 (same date); Berry. P 150, 433 (same date); Cooper, Ch. P This volume contains a portion of the Appendices to a Report on Rymer's Foedera intended to have been made, to the late Commissioners on Public Records. Vol. 3. [London], Public Record Office, 1869. P 449-450 (25 May 1440).]

Appendix 3

The military service of Nicholas / Colin Husson in the 1430s-1440s

Sources: [SLME (evidence for all dates)]

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