A friend of Queen MARGARET OF ANJOU, Pierre de
Brézé, seneschal of Normandy, fought for the Lancastrians in the
northern campaigns of the early 1460s.
A vassal of Margaret's father, de Brézé became
one of the chief ministers and military commanders of CHARLES VII,
and took part in the negotiations that led to Margaret's marriage
to HENRYVI in 1445. The queen's connections with de Brézé led to
rumors that Margaret had instigated the seneschal's raid on
Sandwich in August 1457 to help her win her power struggle with
Richard PLANTAGENET, duke of York. This charge has been dismissed
by modern historians, but Margaret did appeal to de Brézé for
French naval assistance in 1460 to prevent York's ally, Richard
NEVILLE, earl of Warwick, from returning to England from his base
at CALAIS. After the Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of TOWTON in
March 1461, Charles VII allowed de Brézé, who had been advocating
French support for the house of LANCASTER since 1459, to assemble a
fleet and attack the English Channel Islands.
De Brézé seized Jersey in May, but the death
of Charles VII in July ended the Seneschal's efforts on Margaret's
behalf, for LOUIS XI, the new French king, stripped de Brézé of his
offices and imprisoned him in Loches Castle. Never on good terms
with his father, Louis distrusted de Brézé for his past loyalty to
Charles. In April 1462, Margaret secured de Brézé's release as part
of the Franco-Lancastrian CHINON AGREEMENT, whereby Louis lent
money to the queen in return for her surrender of Calais. Although
Louis's enthusiasm for the alliance faded when the Burgundians
denied him access to Calais, he allowed de Brézé to accompany
Margaret and her son Prince EDWARD OF LANCASTER to SCOTLAND in
October. Commanding 800 French troops in his own pay, the seneschal
and the Lancastrian royal family landed near BAMBURGH CASTLE in
Northumberland on 25 October. Although Bamburgh and the neighboring
castles of ALNWICK and DUNSTANBURGH quickly submitted to Henry VI,
Margaret and de Brézé, believing themselves too weak to face the
army EDWARD IV was bringing against them, retreated to Scotland in
November. The royal family and de Brézé arrived safely in BERWICK
only after a local fisherman rescued them from their foundering
vessel. De Brézé's troops were less fortunate, being forced ashore
on Lindisfarne, where most were killed or captured by the local
inhabitants.
In January 1463, de Brézé and the Scottish
earl of Angus led a mainly Scots force that surprised Warwick as he
besieged the Lancastrian garrison in Alnwick Castle. Perhaps
unwilling to give battle because of the low morale of his troops,
Warwick allowed the garrison to withdraw into Scotland with de
Brézé's army. In June, de Brézé returned to England as part of a
Scottish invasion force that included not only Henry VI and Queen
Margaret, but also JAMES III of Scotland and his mother MARY OF
GUELDRES. The invaders besieged Norham Castle until surprised by a
Yorkist force under Warwick and his brother John NEVILLE, Lord
Montagu. The Scots army disintegrated in panic, and de Brézé,
Margaret, and Prince Edward escaped to Berwick, while Henry VI fled
into Scotland. In early August, de Brézé accompanied Margaret and
the prince to FRANCE. Restored to his offices in 1464, de Brézé was
killed while leading Louis XI's forces against the Burgundians at
the Battle of Montlhéry in July 1465.
Further Reading: Haigh,
Philip A., The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses (Stroud,
Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing, 1995); Kendall, Paul
Murray, Louis XI (New York:W.W. Norton, 1971);Vale,M.G.A., Charles
VII (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974).
No comments:
Post a Comment