I am delighted today to be joining the Coffee Pot Book Club blog tour to share news of the recent publication of The Agincourt King, the fifth book in MERCEDES ROCHELLE’s historical fiction series, The Plantagenet Legacy. The Agincourt King is set in the early 15th century and is centred around England’s King Henry V’s bid to win the throne of France.
Here you can read more about the book and read a fascinating article from Mercedes about one of Henry’s French opponents.
What is the book about?
From the day he was crowned, Henry V was determined to prove the legitimacy of his house. His father’s usurpation weighed heavily on his mind. Only a grand gesture would capture the respect of his own countrymen and the rest of Europe. He would follow in his great-grandfather Edward III’s footsteps, and recover lost territory in France.
Better yet, why not go for the crown? Poor, deranged Charles VI couldn’t manage his own barons. The civil war between the Burgundians and Armagnacs was more of a threat to his country than the English, even after Henry laid siege to Harfleur. But once Harfleur had fallen, the French came to their senses and determined to block his path to Calais and destroy him.
By the time the English reached Agincourt, they were starving, exhausted, and easy pickings. Or so the French thought. Little did they reckon on Henry’s leadership and the stout-hearted English archers who proved, once again, that numbers didn’t matter when God was on their side.
<<<>>>JOHN THE FEARLESS, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
by Mercedes Rochelle
Much of the distress surrounding the French court in the early 15th century can be laid directly at the door of John the Fearless. What a slippery character! He was uncle of the schizophrenic King Charles VI and sought to control the ailing king but was frustrated by Louis Duke of Orléans, the king’s brother. However, Louis was not popular among the Parisians because of the taxes he raised (and was accused of squandering). So John made it his business to woo the people with promises: he would reform the administration and lower taxes. It worked. On the night of 23 November, 1407, Louis was murdered in cold blood in the streets of Paris. In a rare moment of weakness, John admitted his guilt then fled the city. But not for long; he figured out a way to clear his name. Labelling the murder as tyrannicide, John staged an elaborate apologia that persuaded the befuddled king to absolve him—though he never entirely escaped condemnation from his peers.
Needless to say, Louis’ son, the fourteen-year-old Charles (and his mother) denounced the murderer, though ultimately they just didn’t have enough support for their cause and were forced to go home in humiliation. However, there were plenty of men who formed a faction around Charles—mostly southerners, like himself. They came to be known as the Armagnacs, named after Charles’s father in-law. The Count of Armagnac was a force of nature—brutal, efficient, and bull-headed. He was one of the few men who could stand up to Duke John.
The two factions clashed continually; both parties wanted possession of Paris and, of course, the king, who blithely went along with whoever got a hold of him. Paris was simmering with discontent, and in January of 1413 grievances broke into rioting, directed by agents of Burgundy.
The ringleader, Simon Caboche from the powerful butchers’ guild, gave the Cabochien insurrection its name. It only took a day or so before Burgundy lost control of the mob, and he watched helplessly while Caboche produced a list of victims to be hauled to prison. Personal vendettas were carried out, and a reign of terror gripped Paris while suspected Armagnacs were arrested, imprisoned, and murdered. This went on for four months.
But insurrections are bad for business, and eventually the Parisians had had enough. When the time was ripe, the Armagnacs gathered their forces and converged on the city, inspiring the anti-Cabochiens to rise up against their oppressors. It all happened very quickly. Caboche and hundreds of his followers slipped out of Paris, taking refuge with the Duke of Burgundy who was one of the first to leave. The Armagnacs moved in, arrested anyone suspected of misconduct, and launched their own reign of terror. They kept a strangle-hold on Paris for the next five years, though Burgundy periodically laid siege to neighboring towns and the city itself in an attempt to push them out.
Since the King of France was in Armagnac hands, John turned his attention to the King of England. Henry V was undoubtedly planning an invasion, and John hoped to benefit. He could help Henry attack any of the Armagnac’s territories, and offered troops to supplement the English army as long as Henry reciprocated. As long as he wasn’t obliged to attack his own king directly, he was ready and willing to partner with England. By the time Henry launched his first invasion, Burgundy may have signed something resembling a non-interference agreement, though no one knew for sure.
The Armagnacs maintained their uneasy grip on Paris, and Burgundy’s threat was immediate enough that they dared not spare troops to confront the English. Once Henry landed at Harfleur, the king and Dauphin sent out orders commanding his nobles to assemble at Rouen, which was about fifty miles up the Seine. It was already too late! The Duke of Burgundy was requested to send five hundred men but not to come himself; the same request was made to Orléans. Both dukes were insulted, but John took the matter to its extreme and ordered that his lords in Picardy do nothing without his direct orders. No one dared disobey, and they all stayed home. On the day Harfleur surrendered, Burgundy was hunting in the forests of the Côte d’Or and making plans to travel to Dijon, where he would attend the christening of his nephew.
As we know, a huge army gathered to crush the English, after Harfleur shamefully capitulated following a six-week siege. The bulk of the French combatants were Armagnacs, since John’s restrictions were honoured by most of his captains. Even John’s nineteen-year-old son Philip, Count of Charolais, was removed to the castle of Aire, where his guardians— under pain of death—locked him in his room. Two of John’s brothers ignored his wishes and both were killed at Agincourt. One of them was Count of Nevers; it was his son who was christened that very day.
At least the Duke of Burgundy could console himself that Agincourt was an Armagnac defeat, for almost all the leading nobles killed and imprisoned were his enemies.
Did the French come to their senses after Agincourt? The short answer is no. The civil war was too ingrained for either side to budge. So while Henry V reinvaded in 1417 and took town after town throughout Normandy, the Armagnacs and Burgundians continued to fight over Paris. In 1418, an even greater, more vicious insurrection took place, this time against the Armagnacs. The Count himself was one of the victims, and his government was totally wiped out, along with leading citizens, merchants, and anyone who was suspected to be an ally. John marched into Paris, triumphant. But his victory was soured when he learned that the Dauphin had been whisked away to safety. All the surviving Armagnacs gathered around the fifteen-year-old prince—the same faction, but they were now called Dauphinists.
While Paris was in the grip of its crisis, King Henry was busy laying siege to Rouen, the capital of Normandy. This put John the Fearless in a predicament. Up until this point, his non-interference conduct played to his advantage. But now, he was the champion of France, and the king. He could no longer ally with Henry; their “understanding” was over.
Ultimately, he and the Dauphin decided to join forces against the English, and after much negotiating they agreed to meet on a bridge at Montereau. A wooden enclosure was built around their meeting for security, but it didn’t help John! As soon as he knelt before the Dauphin, one of the participants stepped forward and drove an axe into his skull!
I can’t think of a worse idea. John’s son Philip (later Philip the Good) immediately went over to the English and swore to avenge his father’s death. He was almost single-handedly responsible for the English’s successful occupation of Normandy from then on. As a monk would later say when showing John’s skull to King Francis I: “Sire, this is the hole through which the English entered France.”
Book Details
The Agincourt King was published in April 2024 by Sergeant Press, and is available as an eBook (Kindle) and in paperback. It is also available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Buy Link
About the Author
Mercedes Rochelle
Mercedes Rochelle is an ardent lover of medieval history, and has channeled this interest into fiction writing. Her first four books cover eleventh-century Britain and events surrounding the Norman Conquest of England. Her second series is called “The Plantagenet Legacy” and begins with the reign of Richard II.
She also writes a blog www.HistoricalBritainBlog.com to explore the history behind the story. Born in St. Louis, MO, she received a BA in Literature at the Univ. of Missouri St. Louis in 1979, then moved to New York in 1982, while in her mid-20s she set off to “see the world”. The search hasn’t ended!
Today she lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.
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Thanks very much for hosting Mercedes Rochelle today, with such a fascinating guest post.
Take care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club