King of France since 1350, Jean le Bon, since its advent, was the heir of a difficult situation: on the one hand, the terrible epidemic of the Black Death had just simmer (it is true that touched all of the West, including y-England), on the other hand, the past ten years, despite a substantial tax effort, the armies of the King of France had been very seriously setback, on land and at sea, facing the armies of Edward III, King of England, which intended to assert and enforce the sovereignty of his duchy of Guyenne and especially claimed the crown of France as a grand-son by his mother, Isabelle, of Philip IV the Fair. Suddenly, Edward III had found allies in the kingdom, including the King of Navarre and count of Evreux Charles II (known in history as Charles the Bad), son of Jean le Bon, but unhappy with his stepfather father who had unfairly - and unwisely - refused a number of fiefdoms.
A dormant time, the Franco-British resumed in the fall of 1355, marked by the devastating ride that led almost unhindered through the country of langue d'oc, from Bordeaux to Narbonne, Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of 'Edward III.
Force was thus to Jean le Bon, faced with rising anger and anguish, to convene, if only to get the subsidies needed to maintain its army, the General, brought together representatives of clergy, the nobility and best cities in Toulouse for the langue d'oc (southern France) in Paris for the language of oil (the France of the north and center). There appeared in the cloth merchant Etienne Marcel, provost of the merchants of Paris. The idea of reform was in the minds: rightly or wrongly, many members felt that Jean le Bon and his team were not up to the problems, with too little consultation, that public money was misused and poorly managed war. It should control the royal government to give it its full effectiveness: changing men, methods and perspectives.
In April 1356, the breakdown was complete between Navarre and King John, even more serious than his eldest son, the dauphin Charles, then Duke of Normandy, the future Charles V, appeared to be the party of Charles of Navarre, which was then incarcerated. In June, a French expeditionary force landed in Normandy. In July, started from Bordeaux, under the command of the Prince of Wales, a great ride towards the north, bringing together British and Gascons. King John, having somehow against Navarro, took the decision to confront the Anglo-Gascons. The army of the Prince of Wales, having turned, was overtaken by the French army. The clash took place in Maupertuis. Although available sources do little for the historian to reconstruct the various stages of confrontation and to identify those responsible for the defeat, the result is there: the capture of King John who, in order to both impulsive and thought, would not flee when he had the physical ability, and the discrediting of the military class and nobility of France, accused of cowardice and incompetence, if not treason.
In the absence of the king of France, soon moved to England pending the payment of ransom, the power, very challenged, dolphin returned to Charles, then 18. New language states oïl were summoned to Paris, where s'affirmèrent Etienne Marcel but Robert Le Coq, bishop of Laon, spokesman for the King of Navarre. The first meeting, which took place on 17 October 1356 in the convent of the Cordeliers on the Left Bank, brings together 800 people, half of which members of Paris and good cities. A committee of eighty members was created, which intends to impose the removal of seven "great governors" deemed to be ill-advised royalty, dolphins flank and a council of twenty-eight members took in the three orders, having salvation for the public and the common good, "the power to do everything and order to the kingdom as a king." The issuance of the King of Navarre was also required.
In exchange, a subsidy could be lifted, which could, theoretically, maintain a formidable army of 30 000 soldiers for a year. The dolphin then tried bias, he left Paris. States met again on November 3, emphasizing their applications to identify initiatives from above. It is true that the states of langue d'oc, meeting in parallel, were much less aggressive and ambitious, especially asking - and getting - the money raised in langue d'oc is employed locally for the defense of the country.
The year 1356 ended with the release of the dolphin out of the kingdom, in Metz, imperial city, where he met his uncle in December 22 the Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg, in order, perhaps, to get support .
Everything was still pending. Such were the beginnings of a major crisis, military, political but also social, which would last at least until 1358 with the revolt of rural known as Jacquerie and the murder of Etienne Marcel.
Although the personality of the provost of merchants is always problem-it is allowed to see him as a man of good will, eager, with a number of against-parties to preserve the unity of the kingdom and to wage war resolved against the enemies. However, one may wonder if control of the kingdom by the states in the fall of 1356 was regarded by them as an exceptional measure, resulting from the captivity of the king and the continuation of hostilities, or the beginning of another policy which states, even outside of periods of crisis, had, as the Parliament in England, a role recognized, regular and organic.
Philippe Contamine
member of the Institute,
Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris IV
