A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

by Barbara W. Tuchman

  9 LADIES HAD TO TURN SIDEWAYS TO PASS THROUGH DOORWAYS: described by Juvenal des Ursins, q. Collas, 75.

  10 COUCY IN SAVOY: Duchesne, 269–70.

  11 CUSTOMS AT SECOND MARRIAGES: M. Mollat, Vie, 57.

  12 ff. DANCE OF THE SAVAGES: Chron. C6, II, 65–71; KL, XV, 77, 85–87, 89–90, 92; Chron. Valois, 328; Barante, II, 95–99. Huguet de Guisay’s character is from Chron. C6.

  13 LOUIS’ CÉLESTIN CHAPEL: Chron. C6, II, 75; Jorga, 506.

  14 ff. Danse Macabre: Carco; Chaney; Huizinga, Waning, 139–41. On origin of the phrase, in addition to the above, OCFL. CHURCH OF THE INNOCENTS MURALS: Chaney, from verses and woodcuts in Guyot Marchant’s Danse Macabre, c. 1485. EFFIGY OF CARDINAL DE LA GRANGE: now in Musée Calvet, Avignon; illustrated in Joseph Girard, Avignon: ses monuments, Marseille, 1930. A thorough if pedestrian listing of such effigies with illustrations appears in Kathleen Cohen, Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: The Transi Tomb in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, Berkeley, 1974.

  15 CEMETERY OF THE INNOCENTS: Mâle, 360; Huizinga, Waning, 144; Carco, 29.

  16 SEVEN SORROWS OF THE VIRGIN: Mâle, 125. BEAUTIFUL MADONNAS: One of the most characteristic and charming is the statue of the Madonna of the Bird at the church of Notre Dame du Mathuret in Riom in Auvergne. POPULATION REDUCED BY 50 PERCENT: Russell, “Effects of Pestilence,” 470; Carpentier, AESC, 1082–83.

  17 ff. PESSIMISM: Gower, from Confessio Amantis. DATINI: q. Origo, 116. GERSON: q. Thorndike, History, IV, 115. MONK OF CLUNY: q. Coulton, Life, I, 2. MÉZIÈRES: q. Coopland ed., I, 255. ROGER BACON: q. Coulton, Life, II, 57. DESCHAMPS: q. KL, la. 440–41. CHRISTINE DE PISAN: q. ibid.; SAFE-CONDUCTS: from her Book of Fayttes, xix. UNIVERSITY SELLING DEGREES: Coville, 395.

  18 “VICES OF THE DIFFERENT ORDERS”: q. T. Wright, Political Songs, I, lxxxiv–vi.

  19 NOTARY OF CAHORS: Denifle, 827.

  20 GOWER ON WAR: q. Barnie, 123, 131. “NO PEACE TILL THEY GIVE BACK CALAIS”: q. Locke, 95.

  21 PARLEY AT LEULINGHEN: Chron. C6, II, 77–83; Froissart (who was present), Berners ed., VI, 110–21.

  22 THOMAS OF GLOUCESTER: ibid.

  23 CHARLES vi’s PERIODS OF MADNESS: Chron. C6, II, 87–91, 405, 455; Barante, II, 110–11, 223–24; Collas, 260; Thibault, 222–24.

  24 WILLIAM OF HAINAULT: Darimesteter, 38. ON MENTAL ILLNESS: E. Wright, 356.

  25 ISABEAU’S CONDUCT: Collas, 297; Thibault, 265, 281, 290, 316. “THIS RIDICULOUS TRIBUNAL”: Juvenal des Ursins, q. Mazas, IV, 181. Founded in 1400 with the intention of honoring women and cultivating poetry, the Cour Amoureuse included one member who was convicted of attempted rape in 1405, and another who kidnapped a dame d’honneur (whom he later married after repudiating his wife). Among other members of all classes were the vocal advocates of the Roman de la Rose, Jean de Montreuil, and Pierre and Gontier Col. (A. Piaget, “Cour Amoureuse,” Romania, XX, 447.)

  26 MARQUIS DE SADE: see Bibliography. Written in 1813, this was his last book, not published until 1953. Sade claimed to have found at Dijon the transcript of the trial of Louis de Bourdon, the Queen’s lover, who revealed under torture her part in the crimes of the reign. Unhampered by the disappearance of the transcript in the destruction of the library by the “Huns of the French Revolution,” the Marquis was able, 40 years after reading it, to write the biography ascribing to Isabeau responsibility for every “drop of blood spilled in this terrible reign.” In his version, she prostituted herself to Craon to contrive the attack on Clisson, gave Charles the poisons that caused his madness, arranged for the appearance of the madman in the forest of Mans, planned the fatality of the Dance of the Savages, acted as accomplice in the murder of her former lover Louis d’Orléans, coupled in the slums with thieves and murderers, poisoned three of her own children, and delivered Joan of Arc to the Inquisition. Sade was a one-cause historian.

  27 DUG DE SULLY: q. François Guizot, Hist, of France, trans., New York, 1885, III, 9.

  Chapter 25—Lost Opportunity

  For the efforts to end the schism, the death of Clement, the election of Benedict, and his refusal to abdicate, the chief primary source is the Monk of St. Denis (Chron. C6, II, 131–317), who was obviously more interested in, and closer to the struggle than Froissart (KL, XIV–XV). Both are supplemented by Valois, II–III; Jarry, “Voie de Fait,” 523–41; Creighton. Where not otherwise stated, the above are the sources for the events in this chapter that relate to the schism.

  1 SPINELLI’S ARGUMENT: q. Chamberlin, 153.

  2 COUCY’S MISSION TO AVIGNON: KL, XIV, notes, 422–26; Durrieu, “Adria,” 13–64; Jarry, Orléans, 117; Mirot, “Politique,” 527; Lehoux, II, 296.

  3 NOBLES FEARED COMMONERS’ ARCHERY: Chron. C6, II, 131. Also Jean Juvenal des Ursins, q. Fowler, Plantagenet and Valois, 177.

  4 GERSON’S ORAL DEFENSE: Morrall, 34–36.

  5 COUCY AGAIN IN AVIGNON: same sources as above: KL, ibid.; Durrieu, 72–75; Jarry, Orléans, 121; Jarry, “Voie de Fait,” 517; Mirot, “Politique,” 530–31.

  6 NICOLAS DE CLAMANGES: Ornato, 16; DBF and Michaud, Biographie universelle. Text of his address in Chron. C6, II, 135 ff.

  7 TRANSLATED FOR THE COUNCIL: Jarry, “Voie de Fait,” 523.

  8 “AS THOUGH THE HOLY GHOST”: q. Creighton, 129. 400 MILES IN FOUR DAYS: Hay, 363.

  9 ff. COUCY’S CAMPAIGN FOR GENOA: The major sources are Jarry’s Orléans, 134–56, and Delisle’s summaries of the documents in the Coll. Bastard d’Estang at the BN, Fonds fr., nouv. acq. 3638–9 and 3653–4–5. These contain some three dozen documents covering transactions by Coucy. Payments to him from the crown are in BN, Pièces originales, 875, dossier Coucy. Lacaille, thèse, 156–94, adds references from Italian sources. Froissart is the source for Coucy holding conferences with the Genoese outdoors (KL, XV, 221–22). Modern authorities: Jarry, “Voie de Fait,” 532–37; Mesquita, 157–58; Mirot, “Politique,” 533–35.

  10 VISIT TO PAVÍA: BN, Coll. Bastard d’Estang, 231, 234.

  11 GIOVANNI DEI GRASSI: Meiss & Kirsch.

  12 BUILDING OF THE CATHEDRAL: Chamberlin, 122–26, 173–75.

  13 COUCY’S “WOUNDED LEG”; Jarry, Orléans, 161.

  14 CLAMANGES GOES OVER TO BENEDICT: Valois, III, 270, n. 4; Creighton, 433–34. Further on this episode: Ornato, 27, 33–41.

  15 BENEDICT DIED AT 94: CMH, 301.

  16 “TO AID AND SUSTAIN” RICHARD II: q. McKisack, 476, from Rymer, VII, 811. LOLLARD TWELVE “CONCLUSIONS”: Gairdner, I, 43–44.

  17 THREATENED TO KILL SIR RICHARD STURY: Hutchison, 155.

  18 COUCY REFUSED “BECAUSE HE WAS A FRENCHMAN”: Froissart, Berners ed., VI, 130.

  19 GLOUCESTER, ROBERT THE HERMIT, WALERAN DE ST. POL: ibid., VI, 161–68, 211–12.

  20 MARRIAGE OF ISABEL AND RICHARD: Froissart, Berners ed., 224–29. Froissart’s statement that the only French lady to accompany Isabel to England was the Dame de Courcy (KL, XV, 306) became Coucy in Lord Berners’ translation (VI, 229) and accounts for Mrs. Green’s error (228) in identifying this lady, who was later to bring back the news of Richard’s deposition, as Coucy’s second wife.

  Chapter 26—Nicopolis

  Apart from Schiltberger’s sparse account told 30 years after the event (see p. 554), the primary Western sources for the crusade to Nicopolis are the Livre des faits du bon messire Jean le Maingre, dit Bouciquaut (Godefroy ed., pp. 78–104), written at about the time of the subject’s death in 1421 (by an “anonymous cleric” according to OCFL, although Kervyn Lettenhove—XX, 372—believed the author was Christine de Pisan); the Monk of St. Denis (Chron. C6, II, 485–519); and Froissart, KL, XV, 218–328, passim. These are the bases for the spirited accounts by Abbé Vertot in the 18th century and Barante in the early 19th. KL’s notes add material from Dom Plancher’s Histoire Générale de Bourgogne, Dijon, 1739–81. The most thorough modern account and a classic work is Delaville le Roux, La France en Orient, Book III, chaps. 1–5, whose wealth of notes fills in a mass of information. Where not otherwise cited, the events in this ch
apter are drawn from the above sources.

  Atiya’s Nicopolis, usually cited (by English-speaking historians) as the standard work, supposedly draws on an impressive bibliography of Turkish sources, but little evidence of this appears in the text. With minor exceptions, not all of them accurate, this book is not much more than a reworking of Delaville. Rosetti supplies a useful survey from all sources of estimated numbers engaged in the crusade. Savage points up the importance of Coucy’s offensive. Tipton contributes an original and valuable investigation of the supposed English role.

  1 HALF THE TURKISH ARMY HELD LAND IN EUROPE: Oman, 344.

  2 A ghazi, “THE SWORD OF GOD”: q. Anthony Luttrell, “The Crusade in the 14th century” in Hale, Highfield & Smalley, 139.

  3 A FORD OF THE DANUBE AT NICOPOLIS: Kousev, 70. This does not seem to jibe with accounts of fugitives of the battle drowning in attempts to swim across.

  4 BAJAZET ANSWERED WITHOUT WORDS: Hammer, 323.

  5 SIGISMUND, “YOU BOHEMIAN PIG!”: Otto Zarek, The History of Hungary, trans., London, 1939, 182.

  6 BONE OF ST. ELIZABETH: q. Wylie, II, 432, n. 4.

  7 AT PARLEMENT OF PARIS: Douet-d’Arcq, I, 382. 544 MÉZIÈRES’ ORDER OF THE PASSION: Kilgour, 148–62. 546 JEAN DE NEVERS, APPEARANCE: Michelet, IV, 45; Calmette, 57–58.

  8 EQURPMENT: David, 37, from Plancher, Bourgogne, III, 149.

  9 SUPPOSED ENGLISH PARTICIPATION: The evidence refuting it has been effectively presented by Tipton, leading to his conclusion, “No Englishman whatsoever can be identified as positively among the crusading army,” 533. p. 550 “THEY GO LIKE KINGS”: q. Jorga, 489.

  10 SLANDER OF VALENTINA: chronicles, and Mesquita, 203; Chamberlin, 176.

  11 GIAN GALEAZZO SUPPOSEDLY INFORMED BAJAZET: KL, XV, 253, 262, 329, 338.

  12 ESTIMATE OF NUMBERS: Lot, 456; Rosetti, 633–35.

  13 “HOW SEDUCTIVE is WAR!”: Jean de Beuil, Le Jouvencel, 2 vols. SHF, Paris, 1887, II, 20–21.

  14 COUCY’S ATTACK: Wavrin, 149; KL, XV, 314; Savage, 437–40.

  15 COUCY SEEN “UNSHAKEN”: Livre des faits, Godefroy ed., 97. SIGISMUND, “WE LOST THE DAY”: Schiltberger, ed. notes, 109.

  16 BAJAZET SWEARS REVENGE: Schiltberger, 4.

  Chapter 27—Hung Be the Heavens with Black

  Livre des faits … de Boucicaut (Godefroy ed., 104–14), Froissart, and Chron. C6, II, continue to be the main primary sources. It may be assumed that these and Delaville le Roux, chaps. 6–9, are the sources for material not otherwise cited.

  1 MARCH OF THE PRISONERS: from the account of Geoffrey Maupoivre in Delaville, “Le Legs d’Enguerrand VII” (Bibliog. I, B).

  2 COUCY’S MIRACLE: ibid.

  3 “FORTUNATE TO BE IN A WORLD”: KL, XV, 334.

  4 DESCHAMPS ON FUNERALS: Queux ed., VIII, 85–86.

  5 DAME DE COUCY WRITES TO DOGE: XV, 426. ORLÉANS’ MESSENGERS:

  6 Mangin, 45–46, 52–54; BN, Fonds fr., nouv. acq. 3638–9, nos. 268–9, 308, 456.

  7 ManginGIFTS FOR BAJAZET: Barante, II, 201; Jarry, Orléans, 185–86.

  8 DESCHAMPS, “MONEY!”: q. Gustave Masson, Story of Medieval France, 1888.

  9 L’ALOUËTE: 182.

  10 ANONYMOUS POEM ON TWELVE AGES: q. Mâle, 303–4.

  11 NICHOLAS OF AENOS: Livre des faits, q. Atiya, Nicopolis, 105.

  12 COUCY’S WILL: published in Testaments enregistrés au parlement de Paris sous le règne de Charles VI, ed. A. Tuetey, in Documents inédits, Mélanges historiques, nouv. série, Paris, Imp. nat., 1858, III, 39–44.

  13 COUCY’S DEATH: The assumption made by some historians that he died alone, the Sultan having moved on, taking the prisoners with him and leaving Coucy behind because he was too ill to travel, cannot be reconciled with the eight signatures to his will. The Sultan and French prisoners did indeed move on to Mikalidsch, two days’ journey from Brusa, where Burgundy’s envoy Guillaume de l’Aigle met them, supposedly in January. Either that date is an error or the prisoners must have returned to Brusa—perhaps because of Coucy’s imminent death—in time to sign the will.

  14 “REFINED AND BARBARIC”: Lefranc, Intro., x.

  15 “SEIGNEUR OF MOST MERIT”: Livre des faits, Godefroy, 2nd ed., The Hague, 1711, 81.

  16 RETURN OF COUCY’S REMAINS: Duplessis, 103. DAME DE COUCY: Godefroy, 1620, 106. FUNERAL: KL, XV, 357, 437; XVI, 31. TOMB: destroyed (presumably) in the destruction of Nogent-sous-Coucy; the plaque from Ste. Trinité is now in the museum of Soissons. DESCHAMPS’ DIRGE: Queux ed., Ballad 1366.

  17 ff. RANSOM AND RETURN OF THE PRISONERS: In addition to the sources at the head of the chapter, Vaughan, 71–77. BURGUNDY’S GIFTS MISFIRED: Bavyn ms., Mémoires du voiage fait en Hongrie par Jean dit Sans-Peur, Comte de Nevers, q. Atiya, Nicopolis, 103. BURGUNDY’S BOOKS BOUGHT FROM DINO RAPONDI: Durrieu, Mss. de luxe, 163, and Putnam, 275.

  18 TOURNAI EXPECTED A PARDON: Delaville, 320, n. 2.

  19 Epistre Lamentable: Jorga, 500–503; also reprinted as anonymous in KL, XVI, 444–523. BONET’S SATIRE: q. Kilgour, 158–60, 172–73.

  20Quatre Valois: Chron. 4 Valois, 187, 192.

  21 BAJAZET IN WAGON WITH BARS: On this famously disputed question, Gibbon (VI, 370–84) cites French, Italian, Turkish, and Greek sources to refute the claim of Persian historians that the story is a fable reflecting “vulgar credulity.” Gibbon’s editors (Milman, Guizot, Wenck, and Smith) accept the explanation of Von Hammer that the so-called iron cage was a mistranslation of the Turkish word hafe meaning a covered litter, in this case covered by a latticework made of iron. See also F. Schevill, History of the Balkan Peninsula, New York, 1922, 190. COUCY’S “MANY FINE PONDS”: as described in the suit brought by Robert de Bar, q. Lacaille, “Vente,” 594. FAMILY LITIGATION: ibid.

  22 PROPOSED MARRIAGE TO STEPHEN OF BAVARIA: originating in Chron. C6, II, 765, the erroneous statement that the marriage was concluded was repeated by Duchesne and Duplessis and others down the line until corrected by Thibault, 355. SALE OF THE PROPERTY TO ORLÉANS: Lacaille, “Vente,” 574–87; Jarry, Orléans, 239–42, 311.

  Epilogue

  1 ORLÉANIST MANIFESTO, SUNK IN CRIME AND SIN: q. Enid McLeod, Charles d’Orléans, New York, 1970, 63.

  2 AGINCOURT: Wylie, II, 108–230. An eyewitness account of the battle from the Chronicle of Jehan de Wavrin is quoted in Allmand, 107–11.

  3 HEAVY ARMOR AND HEART FAILURE: Oman, 377.

  4 “FORESTS CAME BACK WITH THE ENGLISH”: q. Evans, Life, 141. DESOLATION OF PICARDY AND STARVING WOMAN OF ABBEVILLE: Lestocquoy, 47–48. COUCY DELIVERED TO THE ENEMY: Antoine d’Asti, q. Dufour, 51. REALISTIC HORRORS ON STAGE: Cohen, 149, 267.

  5 CONGEALING OF CHARITY: Mâle, 440.

  6 HUSSITE “MOVING FORT”: Oman.

  7 POPULATION, ROUEN: Cheyney, 166. SCHLESWIG: Heers, 106.

  8 THOMAS BASIN: Histoire de Charles VII, ed. Charles Samaran, Paris, 1933, I, 87, q. Fowler, Plantagenet and Valois, 150–51.

  9 CASTILLON: ibid., q. Allmand, 11–13.

  10 TURKS’ SIEGE TRAIN: Oman, 357–58. VICTOR HUGO: q. Mâle, 295.

  11 COUCY LINEAGE: La Chesnaye-Desbois; Anselme, V, 243, VII, 566; L’Art de vérifier, 243; Melleville, 20. PERCEVAL HAD NO HEIRS: Duplessis, 107.

  12 FATE OF THE CASTLE AND MONASTERY: Duchesne, 672; L’Art de vérifier, 219; Dufour, 21, n. 1; Viollet-le-Duc, Coucy, 30–31; Roussel, 42.

  13 RUPPRECHT OF BAVARIA: His intervention was related by him to Friedrich P. Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, trans., New York, 1970, 196. LUDENDORFF’S 28 TONS OF DYNAMITE: Histoire de Coucy, pamphlet of Ass’n … Coucy-le-Château, by R. Leray, J. Vian, and H. Crepin.

  About the Author

  BARBARA W. TUCHMAN achieved prominence as a historian with The Zimmermann Telegram and international fame with The Guns of August, a huge best-seller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. There followed five more books: The Proud Tower, Stilwell and the American Experience in China (also awarded the Pulitzer Prize), A Distant Mirror, Practicing History, a collection of essays, and, mo
st recently, The March of Folly. The First Salute was Mrs. Tuchman’s last book before her death in February 1989.