Bertrand du Guesclin - The Eagle of Brittany Quiz

Answer: Dinan

Bertrand du Guesclin, the eldest of ten children and one of only two to reach adulthood, was born in around 1320 at Motte-Broons, a small village commune near the town of Dinan in north-eastern Brittany. His father was Robert du Guesclin from a family of minor Breton nobility, the seigneurs of 'Motte-Broons'; his mother was Jeanne de Malesmains, a Lady of Sens, a city in central northern France.

The du Guesclin family were said to be one of the oldest families in Brittany, claiming their descent from the Saracen king Aiquin, a vanquished rival of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne.

However, in reality, records show that the family only arrived in Brittany around two generations before the birth of Bertrand du Guesclin.

Answer: False

With his 'crispy' hair, squat facial features and disproportionately long arms, du Guesclin was described as an unattractive child; in fact his mother, regarded as one of the most beautiful women in France, was so horrified and disgusted by her son's appearance that for many years she ensured that he was separated from the family and their guests, forced to live and take his meals with the family pets and their livestock! At the tender age of just six years old things changed for the better for young Bertrand.

After a fracas with his parents at a banquet, an astrologer from a nearby abbey, read his palm and declared that Bertrand would achieve greatness, that 'no one would be more esteemed within the realm of France', a revelation that changed his family's opinion of him - or at least that of his mother. Even by the standards of the fourteenth century, the education that du Guesclin received was scant; the young man preferring to spend his time organising the local children into groups and encouraging them to fight amongst each other, a portent of what was to come once Bertrand was to reach adulthood.

At the age of seventeen du Guesclin escaped from home and went to live with an uncle. This relative, recognising his young charge's talent in all things military, began to instil the values of chivalry within the young du Guesclin.

Answer: Joust

How much of the tale that follows is fact and how much is romantic fiction is not known but it is a boy's own tale in the best of traditions.

In 1337 a tournament was held at Rennes in honour of the marriage of Charles of Blois to Joanna, Duchess of Brittany. The tournament was attended by the cream of Brittany's nobility including the impoverished Bertrand and his father, who du Guesclin went to great lengths to avoid being seen by. After being lent a horse, armour and weapons by a relative who had been defeated earlier, Bertrand was entered into the tournament but without an armorial blazon. He was victorious in his first joust and when the request was made that he make himself known he was heard to reply 'To gain such knowledge you must win the right to raise my visor.' Bertrand du Guesclin won his next ten rounds and found himself facing his father for the eleventh. As a mark of respect, he lowered his lance and his father withdrew from the list believing that Bertrand's salute was a gesture to show that he was exhausted. However, a young German knight took his chance and charged the unsuspecting Bertrand, defeating him. After du Guesclin's defeat his visor was removed and Robert du Guesclin saw the face of his son. He forgave Bertrand, reconciled him within the house of Guesclin and presented him with arms befitting his rank and title.

Answer: Tiphaine de Raguenel

Tiphaine de Raguenel, the daughter of Robert III Raguenel and Jeanne de Dinan, was known as the 'Fair Maid of Dinan' and was said to be, perhaps surprisingly, happy to be married to Bertrand du Guesclin; as an adult du Guesclin's looks had hardly improved, a visit to his tomb and a look at the effigy upon it confirms this, but she did have great respect for the chivalrous qualities possessed by her husband which were concealed beneath his somewhat less than perfect outward appearance!

Answer: Mont Saint-Michel

Tiphaine du Guesclin had a reputation for possessing a special gift that could prove dangerous in the time during which she lived; fearing for her safety, du Guesclin made special arrangements in order that his wife could live in safety, ironically, within the most unexpected of havens. Tiphaine's talent was rumoured to be in the art of sorcery; a gift that could result in her being burned at the stake or hanged for witchcraft. Legend has it that one night, as she and her husband lay sleeping in bed, she woke suddenly with a terrible feeling that the abbey was about to come under attack.

She woke Bertrand who immediately armed himself and raised the alarm; Tiphaine was right, and English soldiers who were found to be scaling the seawalls were captured before they had the opportunity to create havoc within the abbey. During the early phases of the Hundred Years' War, England controlled both Brittany and Normandy but never achieved victory over the Abbey at Mont Saint-Michel despite placing it under siege; in fact in 1433 a comparatively tiny force garrisoned on the island defeated a full scale assault by the English armies and for this reason the abbey has always been considered a symbol of French resistance. Tiphaine and Bertrand du Guesclin's little house, which was built in 1365 near the centre of the mount on the Rue Principal still stands today where it serves as a museum to the couple.

The house which consists of three floors, the upper two of which lead out into small gardens, contains items of period furniture, armours which are believed to have been those worn by du Guesclin during his campaigns and Tiphaine's wooden chest containing her astrological paraphernalia.

Answer: Dog

What remains today of the ancient forest of Paimpont, is located around twenty miles to the west of the city of Rennes and at around the same distance to the south of Dinan, du Guesclin's birthplace. With an area of around just forty square kilometres, it is all that remains of the vast forests that had blanketed Brittany since ancient times.

The region is steeped in legend; the forest of Paimpont is believed to have been the location of the mystical Arthurian forest of Brocéliande from where Bertrand gained the name after waging war in the region against the forces of John de Montfort.

The House of de Montfort was supported by the English under King Edward III during the War of Breton Succession, a secondary conflict to the Hundred Years War, which took place during the period between 1341 and 1364 against the rival Breton house of Blois.

The adoption of guerrilla tactics against de Montfort proved highly successful although, ultimately, de Montfort prevailed after the death of Charles of Blois in battle in 1364.

Answer: Battle of Auray

The Battle of Auray took place on the 29th of September 1364 near the town of Auray on the southern coast of Brittany and was the last pitched battle in the War of Breton Succession. Prior to the commencement of the battle an Anglo-Breton army led by Duke John de Montfort and Sir John Chandos had laid siege to the castle. Two days before the battle Charles of Blois had arrived to the east of the town whilst du Guesclin with the French vanguard was located to the north. Contrary to the best advice offered by du Guesclin, Charles of Blois occupied a position on marshland to the north of the town and, again, rejecting the advice of du Guesclin, the attack was ordered.

The Franco-Breton forces of Blois assaulted Montfort's army in a head-on attack but unlike the enemy, Blois was unable to call on sufficient reserves.

The Anglo-Breton forces of Montfort called on their reserves and counter-attacked, breaking the resolve of the troops of Charles of Blois who fled the field in disarray. Charles of Blois was cut down and killed and the Count of Auxerre who had been fighting on the right was captured. Greatly outnumbered and with his weapons broken, du Guesclin had no option but to surrender to the English second-in-command, Sir John Chandos.

It was a testimony to the esteem in which du Guesclin was held by the king, that his ransom of 100,000 Francs was paid. It is estimated that the equivalent of this sum today would be equal to around six million Euros.

Answer: Navarre

King Charles II of Navarre was a machiavellian character before the man who gave his name to the personality trait was even born. Also known as 'Charles the Bad', he would repeatedly transfer his allegiance to whoever was willing to help him further his own political aims.

In 1361 after the death of his cousin Philip I, Duke of Burgundy, Charles of Navarre made a failed attempt to claim the duchy which eventually passed to King John II of France who had promised the duchy to his son, Phillip the Bold, upon his death.

In 1363 Charles of Navarre enlisted the support of Edward, the Black Prince in a plan to encircle the French king and to take the Duchy of Burgundy for himself. His army, which numbered some six thousand troops, principally English and Gascon mercenaries was met in Normandy by the numerically inferior forces of King John II under the command of du Guesclin at the Battle of Cocherel, eighty kilometres to the north-west of Paris.

After an initial attack on the forces of Navarre, commanded that day by Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch, du Guesclin feigned a retreat and during the pursuit by the forces of Navarre, his reserve mounted a flanking attack resulting in the defeat and surrender of the forces under the command of Jean III de Grailly.

Answer: Knights Templar

It was a long held belief that du Guesclin had achieved the rank of Grand Master of the Knights Templar. However this could never be the case as that order, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon to give them their full title, had virtually ceased to exist as an order after the death of its final leader, Jacques de Molay, over a decade prior to the birth of du Guesclin. One of the most esteemed orders of chivalry of the medieval period, the Knights Templar were destroyed by the political machinations of the French King Philip IV in 1307 before being finally disbanded by Pope Clement V in 1312.

The king, being greatly indebted to the order and jealous of their wealth, accused them of witchcraft, something that their secretive and closed nature did nothing to allay during the ignorant and superstitious period at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries.

Answer: True

The formations known as the Free Companies, Bandes des Routiers or Écourcheurs were marauding bands of unemployed mercenary soldiers who travelled Europe looting and pillaging at will but they were most active in France, Spain and Italy. The term 'company' is something of a misnomer as these formations often numbered into many thousands of members; in fact a Free Company defeated the Army of France at the Battle of Brignais in 1362. Unusually for du Guesclin who was renowned for his occasional brutality, he persuaded them to join him in Spain by diplomatic means rather than compelling them militarily. Du Guesclin's foray into Spain fighting for Henry of Trastamara, a claimant to the crown of Castille, was to result in him being ransomed for a second time after the Battle of Nájera in 1366.

Despite his valiant efforts the folly of employing mercenary forces became apparent when during the early stages of the fighting this battle and a large number of the Castillian cavalry and infantry under the command of du Guesclin defected to the enemy in confusion.

After a flanking attack on du Guesclin's diminished force by Gascon mercenaries, his small vanguard force was crushed and compelled to surrender. Henry of Trastamara escaped across the Pyrenees and continued his struggle against his half-brother Peter (Pedro) for the crown of Castille. The French king, Charles V, held du Guesclin in such high esteem that he paid his ransom of one hundred thousand pieces of gold immediately on his release after a captivity of some eight months.

Answer: Fabian strategy

The Fabian Strategy was developed by and takes its name from the Roman dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucossus. It was used against the armies of Carthage under Hannibal during the Second Punic War, which took place between 218 and 202 BCE. The Roman commander understood that it would be impossible to defeat the Carthaginians in set battles owing to the Carthaginian superiority in cavalry forces.

However, he was well aware of the advantages that fighting on his own territory provided him with. Denying the armies of Carthage victory in set battle, the Fabian Strategy helped maintain morale amongst the native population whilst wearing away the resolve of the enemy by the use of harrying raids on their supply lines, a war of attrition which gives an opponent little respite from attack and which, over time, has an adverse effect on morale.

Answer: False

After proving himself in battle to be a loyal, adept and intelligent commander, Bertrand du Guesclin was appointed to the position of Constable of France, a position that proved, as it did for Charles d'Albret in later years, to be a double edged sword.

The French nobility had always been renowned for refusing to take orders on the field of battle from those that they considered to be their inferiors as they had done at Crecy and would do so in the future at the Battle of Agincourt. Of the six pitched battles in which he fought he emphatically won the four in which he held overall command a truly magnificent achievement against what can be considered, at that time, to be Europe's medieval super power.

It was a year later on an unknown date in 1371 whilst Bertrand du Guesclin was at the height of his success on the battlefield that his wife Tiphaine passed away and was buried within the grounds of the abbey at Mont St-Michel where the couple had made their home together.

Answer: He died after drinking excessive amounts of ice-cold water

It is said that du Guesclin died from excessive drinking of ice-cold water after fighting for many hours in exceptionally hot weather conditions. However, other confirmed reports state that he was taken ill with a mortal sickness. By the time of his death, Bertrand du Guesclin had restored to France virtually all of the territory held by the English at the commencement of the Hundred Years' War.

The date of Bertrand du Guesclin's death can be accurately determined; his last will and testament is dated the 9th of July 1380 and his death occurred on the 13th of July. Upon hearing of his death the defenders of the castle at Chateauneuf-de-Randon surrendered and, escorted to the tent in which du Guesclin's body lay, they laid the keys to the city on his coffin. Bertrand du Guesclin was sixty-one years of age at his passing and was survived by his second wife, Jeanne de Laval-Tinténiac whom he married in 1374 at Montmuran, Brittany and his brother Olivier. Bertrand du Guesclin had no children with either of his wives but surviving contemporary records from his period in Spain show that he had two sons with a servant-girl from the town of Soria in the region of Castille; the first, Bertrand de Toreuz, became a knight of the Order of Calatrava and the second whose name is not entirely known was, according to the 'Nobiliario de Espańa', an ancestor of the Marquis de Fuentes.

Answer: Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis

For such a heroic figure, Bertrand du Guesclin came to an ignominious end, or at least his mortal remains did. After passing away in the middle of the summer, it was important that his body should be embalmed for its journey back to his birthplace in Dinan as he had always expressed a desire to be laid to rest there. Unfortunately for du Guesclin, the embalmers had failed in their duty and by the time his remains had reached Puy-en-Velay it became necessary to remove his entrails and deposit them in the Church of Saint Laurent.

His funeral procession made its next stop at Montferrand where what remained of his skin and flesh was removed and buried. By the time that du Guesclin had travelled as far as Le Mans where his cortege was stopped by the king, very little was left.

His heart was removed and sent to Dinan to be interred there and his skeleton was entombed in the Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis where it lays to this day surrounded by the remains of French kings.

Answer: Her skull

In 2012, Dinan Library was presented with a most macabre, gift - the skull of Tiphaine du Guesclin. It had been discovered some one hundred and fifty years earlier housed inside a reliquary box that had been sealed inside a wall-vault in an old house in the historic centre of Dinan.

The family that had discovered the relic had reportedly had the skull examined by three Breton historians toward the end of the 19th century and these experts had confirmed that the skull was indeed that of Tiphaine de Raguenel-Guesclin.

There are no plans to have the skull re-examined using modern forensic techniques in order to confirm the earlier findings; it's a wonderful story and the custodians of the skull are obviously reluctant to spoil the romance of it...

Although the cynic in me believes that there must also be a financial reason for this decision!