Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:17:15.291Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2021

Get access

Summary

The French knight Geoffroi de Charny features spasmodically in the chronicles of Jean le Bel, Geoffrey le Baker, Jean Froissart and others for his military and diplomatic exploits during the first two decades of the Hundred Years War. In the eyes of these contemporaries he was an admired paladin, resourceful, pious and of the highest integrity. Gilles le Muisit, abbot of the Abbey of Saint Martin at Tournai, who saw Charny's military talent at first hand when Tournai was under siege from Edward III, described him as

a vigorous soldier, expert in weaponry and much renowned both overseas and here. He has taken part in many wars, and in many mortal conflicts, in all of them conducting himself both with probity and with nobility.

The Englishman Geoffrey le Baker, for whom every Frenchman was a mortal enemy, considered him

more practised in military matters than any other French knight, and … besides his long experience in war … blessed with a quick and lively intelligence.

Froissart's account of Charny's dying moments at Poitiers in 1356, during which he doggedly defended the sacred Oriflamme, the French royal battlestandard, sets him in the mould of France's greatest national heroes:

There fought valiantly, close to the king, messire Geoffroi de Charny. And all the crush and the clamour were upon him on account of his bearing the sovereign banner of the king … There was such a pressure of English and Gascons from all sides that the king of France's battle formation was opened up and broken, and the French became so surrounded by their enemies that in places there were five men at arms to one noble. And messire Geoffroi de Charny was killed, the banner of France between his hands.

He was, said Froissart:

More prud’homme and more valiant than all the others.

Modern-day studies of Charny's career, principally those made by Arthur Piaget and Philippe Contamine in France, Antonio Lombatti in Italy, Michael Taylor and Richard Kaeuper in the USA, and Elspeth Kennedy and David Whetham in the UK, have been rather less generous towards his memory.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Book of Geoffroi de Charny
with the Livre Charny
, pp. 1 - 4
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×