July 29, 2020

MAP81: John II The Good: King of France 1350-1364

26 minutes

John II: King of France 1350-1364

King John II of France, called The Good. John ruled during a tumultuous time, the Plague was in full force killing large parts of France’s population, the Hundred Years’ War was raging and France was in financial trouble. With all that going on how did John get dubbed, The Good? We’ll take a look at his rise to the throne, his exploits in battle and on the home front to see if he was truly a good king.

John II: Prisoner of War

King John II and his son Philip The Bold were captured by the English during the Battle of Poitiers. King John spent the next four years in England trying to negotiate a release and raise the ransom money. His eldest son, Charles worked on the home front trying to raise money and support for his father’s return. In 1360 England and France signed the Treaty of Brétigny ensuring the release of King John

Further Reading

If you are interested in learning more about Medieval Mercenaries below is a list of books I used while researching this episode.

Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Ballantine, 1979.
Jones, Michael K. The Black Prince: England’s Greatest Medieval Warrior. Pegasus Books, 2019.
Jones, Michael, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 6: C.1300 – c.1415. Vol. 6. The New Cambridge Medieval History 6. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Sumption, Jonathan. Trial by Battle: The Hundred Years War. Vol. 1. 3 vols. The Hundred Years War 1. Faber & Faber, 1990.

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are used on this site. While they don’t cost you anything when you purchase through them they help support Medieval Archives.

Lesson Notes

In today's lesson we discuss: