Mad War: Difference between revisions

| conflict = Mad War

| image = Castle of Vitre.jpg

| image_size = 300px

| caption = The [[Château de Vitré]], one of the main fortifications on the Franco-bretonBreton border.

| place = France

| result = Royal victory

| territory =

|combatant1 =[[File:Blason France moderne.svg|15px]] '''[[Kingdom of France|France]]'''

| combatant2 = '''Rebellious Noblesnobles'''

* [[ImageFile:ArmoiriesBlason Bretagne - Arms of BrittanyLorraine.svg|15px]] [[Duchy of BrittanyLorraine|Lorraine]]

* [[Image:ArmoiriesArms Albretof Jean III de moderneBretagne.svg|15px]] [[Albret|LordshipDuchy of AlbretBrittany|Brittany]]

* [[Image:BlasonArmoiries villeAlbret fr Orange (Vaucluse)moderne.svg|15px]] [[Principality of OrangeAlbret]]

* [[FileImage:Blason Charlesville Ierfr d’AngoulêmeOrange (1459-1496Vaucluse).svg|15px]] [[CountyPrincipality of AngoulêmeOrange|Orange]]

*[[File:Royal Arms of England (1399-1603).svg|15px]] [[Kingdom of England|England]]

*[[File:Blason Castille Léon.svg|15px]] [[Crown of Castile|Kingdom of Castile-Leon]]

|commander2=[[File:Blason Lorraine.svg|15px]] [[René II, Duke of Lorraine]]<br />[[Image:ArmoiriesArms Bretagneof -Jean ArmsIII ofde BrittanyBretagne.svg|15px]] [[Francis II, Duke of Brittany]]<br />[[Image:ArmoiriesArms Bretagneof -Jean ArmsIII ofde BrittanyBretagne.svg|15px]] [[Jean IV de Rieux]]<br />[[Image:Blason duche fr Orleans (moderne).svg|15px]] [[Louis XII of France|Louis II, Duke of Orléans]]<br />[[File:BlasonArms of Charles Ierd'Orleans, d’Angoulêmecomte (1459-1496)d'Angoulême.svg|15px]] [[Charles, Count of Angoulême]]<br />[[File:Blason Jean de Lescun Bâtard d'Armagnac.svg|15px]] [[Odet d'Aydie]]<br />[[Image:Blason ville fr Orange (Vaucluse).svg|15px]] [[John IV of Chalon-Arlay|John IV of Orange]]<br />[[Image:Armoiries Albret moderne.svg|15px]] [[Alain d'Albret]]

| strength1 =

| strength2 =

| casualties1 =

| casualties2 =

| notes =

The '''Mad War''' ({{lang-langx|fr|la Guerre folle}}), also known as the '''War of the Public Weal''', was a late Medievalmedieval conflict between a coalition of feudal lords and the French monarchy. It occurred during the regency of [[Anne of Beaujeu]] in the period after the death of [[Louis XI]] and before the majority of [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]]. The war began in 1485 and ended in 1488.

The principal lords involved were [[Louis XII of France|Louis II of Orléans]], the cousin of the kingKing (and future Louis XII of France); [[Francis II of Brittany]]; [[René II, Duke of Lorraine]]; [[Alain d'Albret]]; [[John IV of Chalon-Arlay|Jean de Châlon, Prince of Orange]]; and [[Charles, Count of Angoulême]]. Other leading lords supported the revolt, including [[Philippe de Commines]] and Odet d’Aydied'Aydie, countCount of Commines and governorGovernor of Guyenne.

As a revolt against French royal authority, it was supported by the foreign enemies of the King of France: England, Spain, and Austria. Its principal outcome was the absorption of Brittany into the French kingdom.

The derogatory expression "Mad War" to designate this struggle of major feudal lords against central royal power was coined by Paul Emile in his ''{{lang|frm|Histoire des faicts, gestes et conquestes des roys de France''}}, published in 1581.<ref>Didier Fur. ''Anne of Brittany''. Bookshop Guénégaud Edition: Paris, 2000.</ref>

There is some dispute about the extent to which the events can be defined as a single war. It followed a long succession of conflicts between royalty and the great lords of the kingdom in the second half of the 15th century, subsequent to the formation of the [[League of the Public Weal]]. As part of these power struggles, in 1484-14851484–1485, Louis II of Orléans, supported by Francis II of Brittany and a certain number of lords, attempted to depose the regent, Anne de Beaujeu. Mostly by a mixture of diplomacy and shows of force, Anne succeeded in breaking the revolt without a major battle. On 2 November 1485, the Peace of Bourges suspended the hostilities.

According to some historians, this ended the first phase of the "Mad War." The second phase of the conflict, from June 1486 to November 1488, is sometimes called the ''"War of Brittany''". Other commentators, mainly [[Breton nationalism|Breton nationalists]], distinguish this second phase from the first, making it into a Franco-Breton war, or even a Breton war of independence, sometimes by connecting it to the earlier [[Breton War of Succession]].

[[Image:Map France 1477-en.svg|thumb|left|200px|The pattern of royal lands, duchies, and lordly domains in 1477, shortly before the ''Guerre folle'']]

At the beginning of the reign of [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]], Louis II of Orléans tried to seize the regency, but was rejected by the States General of [[Tours]] (15 January to 11 March 1484). In April, Louis of Orléans left for Brittany to join Duke Francis II.; Hehe also sent a request to the pope to annul his marriage, so that he would be free to marry [[Anne of Brittany]], Francis's heir. On 23 November, he signed a treaty which envisaged his marriage with Anne. Returning to the royal court, Louis of Orléans tried to take the kingKing into his custody, but Anne de Beaujeu prevented him by force.: Sheshe stopped some lords of the royal guard, and placed the Duke of Orléans under house arrest at Gien.

Having escaped from Gien on 17 January 1485, Louis of Orléans tried to invest Paris, but failed. He managed to escape on 3 February to Alençon, and made {{lang|fr|[[amende honorable]]}} on 12 March. Royal troops placed around Évreux prevented him from joining Brittany, and he was locked up in Orléans. At the same time, the roused Breton nobility was brought back to order by the royal troops.

On 30 August, Louis of Orléans launchedissued a proclamation against the regency. The royal army wentmarched to Orléans, but Louis escaped to Beaugency, from wherewhence he was dislodged by the young [[Louis II de La Trémoille]] in September. On 9 August, Francis II of Brittany also agreed to a year-long truce. The truce was agreed for one year, and is knownKnown as the ''"Peace of Bourges''", the truce was signed on 2 November 1485.

[[File:Ludvig XII av Frankrike på målning från 1500-talet.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Louis II of Orléans]][[File:Francis II of Brittany tomb Nantes.jpg|thumb|left|Effigy of Francis II of Brittany at his tomb in [[Nantes Cathedral]]]]

With the end of the truce, the rebellion again erupted. Already in June 1486, [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I of Austria]] had invaded the north of France, but then retreated; in November, the rebel François de Dunois seized the castle of [[Parthenay]]. On 11 January 1487, Louis of Orléans escaped from the castle of Blois and, pursued by royal archers, took refuge again in Brittany. The royal army left from Tours at the beginning of February and began its offensive in the southwest. At Bordeaux on 7 March, Odet d’Aydied'Aydie, the pro-rebel governor of Guyenne, was deposed and replaced by Pierre de Beaujeu. As the royal army suppressed the rebels in Guyenne, Count Charles d'of Angoulême surrendered on 19 March 1487.<ref>{{cite web|last=Beck|first=Sanderson|title=France in the Renaissance 1453-1517|url=http://www.san.beck.org/8-7-France1453.html#a3}}</ref> The royal army set out from Bordeaux on the 15th, to take Parthenay on the 30th, Dunois managing to join Louis of Orléans in [[Nantes]]. The royal army then proceeded towards Brittany. With the Treaty of Chateaubriant, most of the Breton nobility came to an accommodation with the kingKing. Royal forces agreed that the Duke would not be threatened by the army, which would leave Brittany as soon as the two rebels (Orléans and Dunois) were captured.

Meanwhile, in the north, the [[Marshal de Esquerdes]] successfully pushed back Maximilian I of Austria, who shortly willafterwards bewas elected King of the Romans prior to becoming [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. In the south, the Lord de Candale beat Alain d'Albret, a leading rebel, at the Battle of [[Nontron]]. dD'Albret had intended to join the rebels in the Northnorth, but was forced to give up hostages. In Brittany, the allies of the royal party directed by the Viscount de Rohan held the north of the duchy, and took [[Ploërmel]].

In April 1487, Duke Francis II's attempt to mobilize Breton military forces (nobility and urban militia) failed due to widespread resentment of the corruption of his government. At the same time, the royal army advanced into Brittany. It was accommodated favorably in Châteaubriant, Vitré, Ancenis, and Clisson. It besieged Nantes, but Cornish allies of Brittany, helped by foreign mercenaries, broke the siege. At the same time, Norman [[Privateer|corsairs]] blockaded the Breton coast to stop further pro-Breton forces arriving from Britain and elsewhere.

On 20 January 1488, the Dukes of Orléans and Brittany were both declared rebels at the [[Parlement of Paris]]. They and their associates were no longer regarded as vassals, but rather as subjects, and thus guilty of {{lang|fr|[[lèse-majesté]]}}. In the spring, the Duke of Orléans renewed the struggle for his ally, taking Vannes, Auray, and Ploërmel, and forcing the Viscount of Rohan to capitulate.

On 24 April 1488, a judgment of confiscation was declared against all the goods of Louis of Orléans. Meanwhile, Alain d'Albret had obtained a subsidy from the court of Spain, and thereupon joined the Duke of Brittany with 50005,000 men. Maximilian I of Austria sent 15001,500 men to him, and the English leader [[Lord Scales]] successfully landed with additional reinforcements. Despite this concentration of forces the Breton alliance was still outnumbered. It was further weakened because Maximilian I was diverted by a [[Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria#Second revolt|rebellion in Flanders]], which was being supported by the Marshal de Esquerdes. The various lords supporting the Duke of Brittany were also in dispute with each other for the hand of [[Anne of Brittany]]: Louis of Orléans, Alain d'Albret, and Maximilian I all being candidates.

On 20 August 1488, the [[Treaty of Sablé]], also known as the "Treaty of le Verger" or "Treaty of the Orchard", was signed between [[Francis II of Brittany]] and King [[Charles VIII of France]]. Francis acknowledged himself as a vassal of the king, promised to remove foreign troops from the duchy and to no longer summon such troops, and to pledge the territories conquered by France to remain under their control.<ref>[[H. A. L. Fisher|Fisher, H. A. L.]] ''The History of England, from the Accession of Henry VII, to the Death of Henry VIII, 1485-15471485–1547'' (Volume V). Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906, p. 29.</ref><ref>Craik, G. L. and MacFarlane, C. ''The Pictorial History of England: Being a History of the People, as Well as a History of the Kingdom''. Charles Knight and Company, 1841, p.295. (Original from the New York Public Library).)</ref> In turn, Charles removed his forces from Brittany except in the town garrisons of the territories pledged by Francis. The most interesting stipulation of the pact was that it required the agreement of the French king to any marriage of the daughters of Francis II. Amnesty was granted to d’Aydied'Aydie, Dunois, and the majority of the combatants. Louis of Orléans was imprisoned in a fortress, but when Charles VIII reached his majority three years later and assumed the regency, he pardoned Louis.