The name Tard-Venus is the name given to bands of truckers which ravaged the Lyonnais in the last years of the reign of King John II the Good.
History
When the Treaty of Brétigny was signed on May 8, 1360, the peace that took hold did not suit the people who lived thanks to the war.
The King of England had the fortresses evacuated occupied in France by men-at-arms in his pay. Among the garrison captains, some English knights and squires obeyed the king's orders, but others resisted on the pretext of fighting for the King of Navarre. However, the German, Brabant, Gascon, Flemish, Hainuyer, Breton mercenaries... and French adventurers or ruined by wars did not disperse and continued their life of plunder. Dismissed, they form new bands taking as captain the worst of them.
They take the name of Tard-Venus because, it is thought, they came after the others to the quarry of France. In Champagne, they seized the castle of Joinville where they took considerable booty and agreed to return it for a ransom. They roam and plunder Champagne and devastate the bishoprics of Langres, Toul and Verdun then enter Burgundy supported by certain Burgundian knights and squires.
After settling around Besançon, Dijon and Beaune, they take and loot Vergy, Gevrey-en-Beaunois and ravage the region. They try to surprise Chalon at the end of 1361 and in January and February of 1362.
The reunion of all the bands amounts to 15,000 fighters around Lent of 1362. The most powerful of the captains, Seguin de Badefol, is at the head of 2,000 mercenaries. Among the other gang leaders, Froissart cites Talbart Talbardon, Guiot du Pin, Espiote, Petit Meschin, Bataillé, Frank Hennequin, Bour Camus, Bour de Lesparre, Bour de Breteuil, Naudon de Bageran, Lamit, Hagre de l 'Escot, Albrest, Ourri the German, Bourdeille, Bernard, de la Salle, Hortingo de la Salle, Robert Briquet, Creswey, Amanieu d'Ortigue, Garciot du Castel, Guyonnet de Pau. In mid-Lent, all of his Companies set off in the direction of the rich city of Avignon, passing through the county of Mâcon, Lyonnais and Forez and occupying the priory of Estivareilles.
King Jean le Bon asks his cousin Jacques de Bourbon, Count of La Marche, then in Languedoc, to march against the Companies in order to eliminate this threat. The Count of La Marche, going up towards the Forez via Montpellier and Avignon, calls under arms his vassals, the lords of Auvergne, Limousin, Provence, Savoy, Dauphiné, the duchy and the county of Burgundy which he concentrated between Lyon and Mâcon under the orders of Jean de Melun, Count of Tancarville.
Masters of Saint-Jean-de-Losne, where they destroyed the mills and looted the warehouses, and of Tournus and concentrated around Chalon, the leaders of the companies decided to invade Forez. They ravage Beaujolais, already plundered in June 1360 by the Anglo-Gascons, the Lyonnais, unsuccessfully besiege Charlieu, but take Marcigny, Saugues, devastate Montbrison then seize Rive-de-Gier and the castle of Brignais in mid -March 1362. Panic spreads to Lyon, all the elements of defense of which are not yet completely assured.
Jean de Grolée, knight and bailiff of Mâcon, takes the direction of the operations and makes reinforce the artillery, in particular in the district of Saint-Just. Meanwhile, the army of Jean de Melun, located in the North, was joined by the troops of Count Louis de Forez and his vassals, the lords of Beaujeu, Villars, Tournon, Chalençon, Jean de Chalon and the Burgundian and Comtois nobles and the Savoyard cavalry commanded by Galois de la Baume… To attack the 15,000 Tard-Venus entrenched in and around the Château de Brignais, Jean de Melun expected a lot from the arrival, from the South, of the seasoned forces of the Marshal Arnoul d'Audrehem and the Spaniards of Henri de Trastamare. The French scouts having only reported the presence of a part of the Ecorcheurs, he orders his vanguard commanded by the archpriest Arnaud de Cervole to launch an assault on Brignais.
On April 6, 1362 in Brignais, during the Battle of Brignais, they defeated the army of King John II, commanded by the Count of La Marche, Jacques de Bourbon, sent against them.
After their victory the companies plunder the county of Forez. Seguin de Badefol, with 3,000 fighters, seizes Anse from where he ransoms the county of Mâcon, the archdiocese of Lyon, the land of the lord of Beaujeu and all the surrounding country as far as Marcigny-les-Nonnains. br class='autobr' />Other gang leaders like Naudon de Bageran, Espiote, Creswey, Robert Briquet, Ortingho de la Salle, Bernardet de la Salle, Lamit, Bataillé, the bour Camus, the bour de Lesparre… march on Avignon to ransom the pope and the cardinals.
At the head of 1,200 men, the bour de Breteuil meanwhile ravaged Auvergne. On June 3, 1362, it was cut to pieces by 400 Spaniards and Castilians under the orders of Henri de Trastamare, in Montpensier.
Learning that a considerable sum had just been deposited in the fortress du Pont-Saint-Esprit, Bataillé, Guyot du Pin, Espiote, the bursaries of Camus and Lesparre, Lamit and Petit Meschin and their bands make a ride of fifteen leagues during the night and arrive in the early morning in front of the town which they take by climbing where they find immense wealth and occupying a strategic crossroads. At the news of the capture of Pont-Saint-Esprit, many companies, confined in Champagne, Brie, Orléanais, Chartrain, the county of Blois, Anjou, Maine and Touraine, took their turn. the road to the Rhone Valley.
Hungry in Avignon, Pope Innocent VI preached the crusade against the brigands, but as his crusaders were only given indulgences, they returned home, some even joining the ranks of bandits.
The end of the Latecomers
The complete failure of this crusade forced the Pope to give John II, Marquis of Montferrat, 60,000 gold florins so that he could take the brigands into his pay and take them to Italy. The main leaders allow themselves to be enrolled and go to war against Galéas II Visconti and Bernabo Visconti, lords of Milan.
Seguin de Badefol who holds Anse and who refused to go to Italy, s' seized Brioude on September 13, 1363, his troops raided Le Puy, La Chaise-Dieu, Clermont, Montferrand, Chilhac, Riom, Nonnette, Issoire, Vodables, Saint-Bonnet l'Arsis and ravaged Auvergne. After having occupied Brioude for more than a year, Seguin de Badefol evacuated it for a fee and retired with his treasures to Gascony, his native country before heading for Navarre where, on the orders of Charles II of Navarre, he dies poisoned with figs.