Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets
John II, known by the nickname of The Good, he came to the French throne in 1350. It was not a good time to assume the responsibilities of office in his country. The Black Death was in full swing after starting to rage just a few years earlier. France was in an unstable internal situation as a result of the dynastic vacuum that caused the death in a few years of King Felipe IV El Hermoso and of his three sons and successive kings Louis X The Obstinate , Felipe V The Long One and Charles IV The Handsome. In some blog posts we have talked about the problems in the succession to the French throne caused by the so-called Scandal of the Tower of Nesle and the pregnancy of the wife of Louis IX, Clemence of Hungary.
After the death without issue of Carlos IV, his cousin Felipe VI, father of our protagonist, succeeded him on the throne. However, the three kings who died without issue had a sister, Isabel, and her son claimed the crown for himself, understanding that he had a better right to it than Felipe VI. This claim might not have mattered much were it not for the fact that Elizabeth's son was none other than King Edward III of England. This was the cause that gave rise to the conflict between England and France known as the Hundred Years' War.
It was precisely this war that was destined to play a decisive role in the life of John II and his kingdom. In 1356, at the Battle of Poitiers, the French army was defeated by the English troops and their fearsome archers led by the Prince of Wales Edward The Black Prince . King John II was taken prisoner and transferred to London. The power vacuum caused in France, which remained under the regency of the king's son (the future Charles V) caused various revolts both in Paris (the Paris Commune, 1357) and in the countryside (La Jacquerie, 1358).
John II signed a treaty in London with Edward III in 1358 by which he ceded large tracts of French territory to the English and agreed to pay a ransom of four million scudi to exchange for your freedom. Faced with the refusal of the regent and the French Estates General to ratify the treaty, Edward III invaded France in 1360 and ended up forcing the weakened regent Charles to sign the Treaty of Bretigny ratifying the territorial cessions agreed upon by his father in London and the king's ransom was set at three million scudi. Against an initial payment of 400,000 scudi John II was released and returned to France. As a guarantee of payment of the rest of the ransom, various hostages were sent to England, including the king's second son, Louis, Duke of Anjou.
In 1363, unable to collect the rest of the ransom for his impoverished country and after unsuccessfully trying to negotiate his release with the English king, the young Duke of Anjou decided cut to the chase and flee England back to France.
In the fourteenth century, the stories of King Arthur and his noble knighthood were on everyone's lips and in full swing, in which honor and chivalry played an essential role; Edward III himself had founded after the battle of Crècy the Order of the Garter, which emulated the famous Knights of the Round Table. It was understood that the hostages who were transferred to England as security for the payment of the king's ransom would remain in London until the king's ransom had been fully satisfied. The flight of the Duke of Anjou constituted a serious breach of his word and his father was considered responsible for this affront.
For this reason, King John II of France made the surprising decision to fulfill the word that his son had not kept and voluntarily returned to London, where he was installed in a property belonging to the second son of the English king, John of Ghent. This building was known as the Savoy Palace, and the first London hotel of the famous hotel chain took its name from it. The palace where John II of France settled would be destroyed by a fire a few years later during the so-called "Peasants' Revolt" of 1371... but that's another story.
There are those who say that John II's decision was not motivated so much by his chivalrous spirit and in defense of the honor of the word betrayed by his son, but by his desire to change the extremely complicated task of governing France in the chaotic situation in which it found itself for a pleasant existence in London. Be that as it may, John II never saw the rest of the ransom paid for his freedom and died in captivity at the Savoy Palace in 1364. He received a funeral with the solemnity of his royal status in London and his remains were transferred to Paris where they rest today. .
On other occasions I have recommended the series of books The Cursed Kings by Maurice Druon for those who want to learn more about the fascinating history of the French monarchy of the fourteenth century. Precisely the seventh and last book in the series, How a King Lost France, narrates the reign of John II.