An Introduction to Medieval French DBA Campaign

 by Steve C.

In 1407 France was in a pretty desperate state of affairs and the once proud King Charles VI was no more than a figurehead.  Suffering from psychosis, and for the most part being in delusional state having had metal rods sewn into his clothing so that he wouldn’t shatter because amongst other things he believed that he is made of glass, France was for the most part run by a regency council.

The Queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, presided over the counsel on which sat the Kings Uncles and his Brother and cousin.  His uncle, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who had acted as regent during the King's minority was a great influence on the Queen.  However, this influence progressively shifted to Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the King's brother, and it was suspected that he was the Queen's lover.  On the death of Philip the Bold his son John the Fearless took over but he lost even more influence at court due to his unpopularity which then lead to a massive fallout between the Duke and Louis.  The Kings other Uncle John, Duke of Berry, served as a mediator between Louis, who now lead the Orléanist party, and John, who lead the Burgundian party, but to little avail.

John had an expansionist policy and had brought up large tracts of land that Louis countered by acquiring Luxembourg in 1402 and lands in the eastern marches of the kingdom that the Burgundians considered their private hunting ground.  Louis, having control of the purse strings, got 90% of his income from the royal treasury whilst John saw his revenue drop from 200,000 écus a year to 37,000.

Eventually John was ousted from the council altogether and his revenue cut off.  This was too much for him and he took advantage of the anger amongst taxpayers in Paris and won them over but even this and a demonstration against Paris with his army wasn’t enough to restore his influence at court so in 1407 he had Louis assassinated on the rue Vieille du Temple in Paris and took control of the council.  Louis’ son Charles vowed to avenge his father’s death and by marrying the Count of Armagnac’s daughter Bonnie d’Armagnac he then had a power base from which he formed the League of Gien which became known as the Armagnac party.

Whilst France was having its fair share of problems England, under the rule of King Henry IV, was having some of its own.  Since usurping the throne in 1399 Henry had been ruling a very troubled Kingdom.  A Scottish army of 10,000 men had laid waste to Northumberland and after a short campaign it was eventually defeated at Homildon Hill in 1402.

Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and his son Harry "Hotspur", the very same men who had led the English army at Homildon Hill, rebelled against Henry whilst supporting the 5th Earl of Marche, Edmund Mortimer, who also claimed the English throne because he was a great-great-grandson of King Edward III.  The rebellion was eventually put down at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.

Owain Glyndŵr had also raised the flag of rebellion in 1400 and since then had been taking back tracts of Wales from the English.  Rumours abounded that Richard II was still alive, even though his body had been put on display in Westminster Abby after he died, and it was said that he was “awaiting only a signal from his friends to repair to London and recover his throne”.

Ireland was also causing the crown problems with most of it being taken back by the Celts with only the Pale and major towns still in the hands of the Anglo Irish lords.

Because of all of this internal strife Henry had very little time in which to concentrate his efforts in France, the last army being sent there in 1380 under the command of the Earl of Buckingham during the reign of Richard II.  Because of the high taxes that were imposed during the campaign, overseas war was very unpopular with the English public and is thought to have contributed to the peasants’ revolt of 1381.  So Henry’s tendency was to stay at home and watch with interest as events unfolded in France.

So this is where our campaign kicks off in July 1410 with both French factions building up their armies for the second time in 6 months.  Now, I’m not sure if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here because there’s a lot to do and the rules may not allow for such a complex campaign in just two weeks but we’ll see how it goes and go as far as we can.

There are four historical chunks that I’ll try to tackle, and to begin with I’ll be concentrating on the period between 1410 and 1415, the rest, if you’re interested, can be played at a later time.

Unlike usual DBA campaigns where it’s very much a free for all, in this campaign there will be three teams, English, Burgundian and Armagnac each of which will have a set of historical objectives to achieve.