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1371-1380
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Timeline
for
Our Period of Interest


1371-1380






1371   Cardinal Pierre Roger de Beaufort is elected Pope, and crowned as Gregory IX.
[Froissart's Chronicle Image]
    Louis d'Anjou opens hearings on the miracles of Charles of Blois.
  January Prince Edward leaves Bordeaux for England, giving the rule of the Aquitaine over to John of Gaunt
  23 April Jean IV de Montfort orders his garrison at Champtoceaux to hold firm against French Pressure
    The house of Lords resolves that Clergy cannot hold the offices of Chancellor, Treasurer, Barons of the Exchequer or Clerks of the Privy Council.
  August Olivier III de Clisson is ordered by Charles V to relieve Moncontour, under siege by Henry Percy. It falls before he can arrive.
[Froissart's Chronicle Image]
1372 14 June Olivier de Clisson, Bertrand du Guesclin and the remainder of the French Command are at Loches.
  22-23 June The French galley fleet, under the command of Ranier Grimaldi, and a Castillian squadron sent by Enrique, defeat a large fleet under the Earl of Pembroke, off La Rochelle.
[Froissart's Chronicle Image]
The Earl is taken captive to Spain, and loss of this fleet allows the French to take most of Poitou, Saintogne and Angoumois unopposed in the next month.
  Early July Moncontour is retaken by the French.
  29 July Saint-Sevère falls to the French. De Clisson's friend, a Breton squire named Geoffroy Payen, is taken captive to Benon.
  August King Edward III and Prince Edward sail from Sandwich with 400 ships, carrying 4,000 men at arms and 10,000 archers for France, but after six weeks of bad weather and being blown off course they are driven back to England.
  7 August Bertrand du Guesclin enters Poitiers in Triumph
  28 August Philippe, Duc de Bourgogne, arrives at Poitiers, and begins negotiating with the locals.
  Second Week of September Olivier III de Clisson invests Benon for siege. The English commander, one David Hollengrave, executes some of his prisoners, Geoffroy Payen amongst them. De Clisson is so outraged at the killing of his friend that he is said to have executed 15 prisoners in revenge when Benon fell to him.
  Late September Treaty of Surgères: Bertrand du Guesclin, Olivier III de Clisson, and the Ducs of Berry and Bourbon conclude a peace with the prelates and nobles of Poitou and Saintonge, who promise full allegiance to Charles V if the English do not aid them by the end of November.
  October Prince Edward resigns his Principality of Aquitaine, retiring to his castle at Berkhampstead.
    Jean de Montfort, Duc de Bretagne, repudiates his fealty to King Charles and flees to England.
    The French recover La Rochelle and its surrounding countryside. The Captal de Buch is captured and, contrary to Chivalrous tradition, thrown into prison in the Temple, in Paris. He is given the choice to come over, at which he will be released, but refuses to do so.
    Engurrand de Coucy faces Sir John Hawkwood, who is laying siege to Asti, in Savoy. Hawkwood is faced with the inability to command due to the guardians of the nominal commander, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Galeazzo's son. Unable to make the assault he wishes he strikes camp and leaves. De Coucy relieves Asti.
  December Engurrand de Coucy is named Captain-General of the Papal troops in the Lombardy region.
1373 January Coucy and Hawkwood meet up east of Parma, marching on Milan and a meeting there with Amadeus of Savoy.
  February Amadeus of Savoy enters Milanese territory, having come to an agreement of neutrality with Galeazzo Visconti, who is his sisters husband.
  26 February Coucy and Hawkwood are called off, while the Pope negotiates with Bernabo Visconti. This is a ruse on Bernabo's part to gain time.
    Amadeus, having circled Milan to the north, is pinned down by the Duke of Bavaria, Bernabo Visconti's son in law.
  April Battle of Montichiari. Coucy and Hawkwood triumph over the forces of the Visconti. Coucy and Hawkwood withdraw to Bologna. Having fought his way out of Bavaria's clutches Savoy meets them there.
  July Coucy, Hawkwood and Savoy march westward.
    John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, lands in Calais with 3,000 men at arms and 8,000 archers. Though theoretically seeking a decisive battle Lancaster did not proceed directly to the Aquitaine, but instead pillaged his way around Paris, through Champagne, Burgundy and Auvergne.
  August Siege of Piacenza. The matter comes to no conclusion, and ends when Amadeus becomes ill. The papal offensive disintegrates.
  Christmas John of Gaunt arrives in Bordeaux with 6,000 of his original 11,000.
1374   Plague returns to Italy and southern France.
    Petrarch, Poet, scholar and curmudgeon extrordinaire, dies.
  January Attempting to bring the companies under control the French government issues an ordinance providing for a system of authorized companies, with fixed pay rates, and captains appointed by the crown, who would forbid pillage and be responsible for the action of their men. This did not achieve any notable sucess.
  January At Perigueux Bertrand du Guesclin and John of Gaunt negotiate a truce covering the Aquitaine.
  23 January Engurrand de Coucy is released from his service by the Pope, and returns to France.
  June Edward III decides he is ready to negotiate a truce. After some delay Charles V agrees to a truce of two years, and sends envoys to Bruges to discuss the matter.
    Pope Gregory announces the right of the Inquisition to intervene in sorcery trials. This had previously been considered a purely civil matter.
  November Charles V appoints de Coucy as a Marshal of France, but de Coucy declines the honor.
1375   A peace conference gathers at Bruges
1376   First appearance of "The Vision of Piers Plowman" and the rise of the Robin Hood legends in England
    Parliament petitions the King of England for a pardon for Sir John Hawkwood.
    Publication of John Wyclif's de Civili Dominio (On Civil Authority) which proposed disendowment of the property of the Church and the exclusion of the clergy from civil government.
  January - June Charles V attempts to parley with the English at meetings in Boulogne, Calais, and Montreuil. the French negotiators are Engurrand de Coucy, Bureau de la Riviere, the Bishops of Laon and Bayeaux. For the English, Sir Guichard d'Angle, Sir Richard Stury, Lord Thomas Percythe, Earl of Salisbury and Geoffrey Chaucer.
1377   Sir Hugh Calveley, Deputy of Calais, raids Boulougne, burning ships and plundering the town.
    The peace conference at Bruges closes, having come to a territorial compromise, but hung on the matter of sovereignty over the territories.
  28th April Beginning of the "Good Parliament". For the first time Commons elects a Speaker, in the person of Sir Peter de la Mare, a knight of Herefordshire. Parliament brings charges against the Chamberlain Lord Latimer, Sir Richard Lyons, a member of Edward III's Royal Council, and Alice Perrers, the King's mistress.
  29th April The Duke of Lancaster attends the Commons, and hears the charges. Sir Richard sends a bribe of 1000 pounds to Prince Edward, who returns it, and the same to King Edward, who keeps it, saying he was only taking back his own.
  May Commons finds the charges against Latimer, Lyons and Perrers proved, and Latimer and Lyons, along with four subordinates, are dismissed and sentenced to fines and imprisonment. Alice Perrers is banished from court, much to King Edwards dismay.
  June Prince Edward falls into the last stage of his disease, with complications from dysentery.
  June French Admiral Jean de Vienne takes 50 ships, with nearly 4,000 troops, cross the channel and sacks Rye, penetrating inland as far as Lewes, which is sacked and burned. Plymouth is also burned.
  8 June Death of Edward Plantaganet, the Black Prince, age 46
  21 June Edward III, King of England, dies. He is not widely mourned, but Charles V summons his court for a requiem for him at Sainte-Chapelle.
  July Richard, King of England, is presented to the Commons, and confirmed as Heir Apparent
  10 July The Good Parliament, having sat for a record 74 days, closes. Having made no provisions to reassemble, or for the upkeep of the ordinances and resolutions it has passed, John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, is able to remove all the reforms, reinstates the dismissed councillors, and brings Alice Perrers back to court.
  August French ships attack and burn Hastings. Attempts to do the same at Southhampton and Poole are thwarted by the English.
    The Duc d'Anjou and Constable Bertrand du Guesclin invade Guyenne, taking Bergerac. Sir Thomas Felton, Seneschal of Guyenne is taken prisoner.
  November Charter issued for St. Mary's College, Oxford
  December King Charles tries Jean de Montfort, Duc de Bretagne, for treason, in absentia. Montfort's title is declared null, and Charles announces the Duchy's union with the crown.
1378   Urban VI elected as Pope. He is a radical reformer, and the French clergy fear his election will mean a loss of power and influence. The most radical amongst them declare Urban's election invalid (it was forced upon them by the rioting mobs in Rome) and elect Clement VII as the Pope. Clement accepts Charles V's invitation to reestablish the Papacy at Avignon.
  Whitsun The Earl of Arundel, Marshal of the West, attacks Harfleur, but is met with strong resistance, and retreats back to his ships.
    The Earl of Arundel and John of Gaunt attack St. Malo, in Brittany, but fail to take the town and are forced to retreat.
  December King Charles tries Jean de Montfort, Duc de Bretagne, for treason, in absentia. Montfort's title is declared null, and Charles announces the Duchy's union with the crown.
1379    
1380   Parliament reluctantly agrees to a graded poll tax on every soul in the realm, starting at a groat (4 pence) a head, save for paupers 'As well as for the safety of the realm and for the keeping of the sea'
  July Sir John Arundel, brother of the Earl of Arundel and Marshal of England, raids through Brittany with great savagery, storming a convent and carrying off the women for their amusement. In what may be Divine justice, his ships sink on the way home, and all but eight are drowned.
    The Duke of Gloucester and Sir John Knollys march from Calais and make a raid towards Brittany, by way of the Beauce and Vendome, finally linking up with troops of Jean de Montfort, Duc de Bretagne. Other than the usual damage to the surrounding countryside nothing is achieved.
    Bertrand du Guesclin, Marshal of France, falls ill and dies while laying siege to a castle in the Auvergne.
  16 September Charles V dies of a heart attack at Vincennes. A Council of the Ducs of Anjou, Berry and Burgundy is given the rule of the realm.


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