The ambassadors of Philip VI of Valois

This refers to Pierre de Chappes, bishop of Chartres, Jean de Marigny, bishop of Beauvais, Louis I of Clermont, duke of Bourbon, Jean IV, count of Harcourt, and Jean I of Melun, lord of Tancarville.

England

Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.

King Edward III of England (d. 1377)

Edward III (1312 - 1377), king of England; son of king Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

Philippa of Hainault, queen of England (d. 1369)

She was born as the daughter of count William I (III) of Hainault and Holland and countess Jeanne, either in 1310 or in 1315. Froissart’ statement in the ‘Rome’ redaction of Book I (SHF § 39) that she was thirteen years old when she married on 25 January 1328 supports the later of these two dates. Jean le Bel and Froissart state that negotiations for her marriage to king Edward III of England started in 1327, after the Scottish campaign of that year. In reality, there had already been plans for a wedding between the young Edward and a daughter of count William, possibly Philippa, from as early as 1319, and there were negotiations for a marriage between Edward and Philippa’ eldest sister, Margaret in 1320 and 1321. Edward and Philippa first met in 1325 in Paris and were engaged in August 1326, while Queen Isabella and her son Edward were staying in Hainault. On 27 August 1326 Edward signed a promise that he would marry Philippa within two years; Queen Isabella and her supporters, Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer, stood sureties. Papal dispensation for the marriage was first refused but then granted on 30 August 1327. Philippa married Edward by procuration in Valenciennes, after which she travelled to England, where she married her husband on 24 January 1328 in York. She was crowned queen of England on 25 February 1330. She died shortly before 14 August 1369.

Philip VI of Valois, king of France (d. 1350)

Philip was born in 1293 as the eldest son of Charles I, count of Valois and Anjou, and Margaret of Anjou. He was engaged to Jeanne of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Robert II of Burgundy in 1303 and married her in July 1313. In that year he became count of Maine. After his father’s death in 1325, he also became count of Valois and Anjou. He married his second wife, Blanche of Évreux, princess of Navarre, in 1350.

King Edward III of England (d. 1377)

Edward III (1312 - 1377), king of England; son of king Edward II of England and Isabella of France.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

Robert III of Artois (d. 1342)

Son of Philip of Artois and Blanche of Brittany. He married Jeanne, daughter of Charles I of Valois, half-sister of the French king, Philip VI of Valois. He died on 20 November 1342 at the siege of Vannes. His body was brought to London for burial in the church of the Dominicans.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

Philip VI of Valois, king of France (d. 1350)

Philip was born in 1293 as the eldest son of Charles I, count of Valois and Anjou, and Margaret of Anjou. He was engaged to Jeanne of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Robert II of Burgundy in 1303 and married her in July 1313. In that year he became count of Maine. After his father’s death in 1325, he also became count of Valois and Anjou. He married his second wife, Blanche of Évreux, princess of Navarre, in 1350.

Jeanne of Valois (d. 1363)

Philip VI of Valois, king of France (d. 1350)

Philip was born in 1293 as the eldest son of Charles I, count of Valois and Anjou, and Margaret of Anjou. He was engaged to Jeanne of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Robert II of Burgundy in 1303 and married her in July 1313. In that year he became count of Maine. After his father’s death in 1325, he also became count of Valois and Anjou. He married his second wife, Blanche of Évreux, princess of Navarre, in 1350.

Manuscript reading: roiaume du roiaume

Emended reading: roiaume