A Distant Mirror (35 page)

Though the Regent held Paris, he was ringed by enemies. From St. Denis, Charles of Navarre announced open defiance and renewed his alliance with King Edward. “Very grievous and cruel,” the undeclared warfare of Navarrese and English companies intensified, individual groups were fighting back, the land was prey to local battles and raids, the besieging of castles and burning of villages. Caught up in the havoc, “the young Sire de Coucy carefully guarded his castle and territory,” with the aid of two redoubtable warriors. One was his former guardian Matthieu de Roye, who on one occasion forced the surrender of and took prisoner an entire English company of 300. The other was the governor of Coucy’s domain, a “hard and valiant knight” called the Chanoine de Robersart, who “made himself more feared by the English and Navarrese than anyone else, for he chased them many times.”

Enguerrand’s own feat was to destroy the castle of Bishop Robert le Coq, who was attempting to carry Laon over to the camp of Charles of Navarre. The particulars are unrecorded except for the fact that the Sire de Coucy “
did not like the said Bishop.” Otherwise, by paying wages to his men-at-arms and allowing no one to remain outside the walls, he kept the brigands at bay, although they succeeded in capturing the neighboring castle of the Comte de Roussi, “causing great scarcity” in the district. Through untilled fields and charred villages, scarcity was stalking France.

1. Concy-le-Château as it would have appeared in the 14th century.
From a 16th century engraving
.(
illustration credit 7.1
)

2. The abandoned castle in later years
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From Du Sommerard’s
Les Arts au Moyen Age,
1838–46
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illustration credit 7.2
)

3. Fortune’s wheel
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From a mid-14th century manuscript of
Roman de la Rose.(
illustration credit 7.3
)

4.
COUCY’S SEALS
(
illustration credit 7.4
)

5. Chaucer’s squire
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From the Ellesmere manuscript, c. 1410
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illustration credit 7.5
)

6. A 14th century carriage (followed by three horsemen wearing Jews’ hats). From an illustrated Bible showing Jacob’s journey to Egypt. The three horsemen are Jacob’s sons
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illustration credit 7.6
)

7. View of Paris. From Froissart’s
Chronicles,
Louis de Bruges copy, c. 1460
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illustration credit 7.7
)

8. A country village among the trees. From Bartholomew of England’s
Book on the Nature of Things,
a manuscript of c. 1410
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illustration credit 7.8
)

9. Charles of Navarre. From a window in the Cathedral of Evreux
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illustration credit 7.9
)

10. Jean II. Portrait attributed to his court painter, Girard d’Orléans
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illustration credit 7.10
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11. The Black Prince. Effigy in Canterbury Cathedral
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illustration credit 7.11
)