Antoine de Chabannes | |
|---|---|
| Count of Dammartin, Lord ofPuisaye, etc. | |
 Antoine de Chabannes depicted in theStatuts de l'ordre de Saint-Michel [fr], attributed toJean Fouquet, ca. 1470 | |
| Born | 1408 Charlus-le-Pailhoux |
| Died | (1488-12-25)December 25, 1488 Dammartin-en-Goële |
| Buried | Dammartin-en-Goële (body);Saint-Fargeau (heart) |
| Noble family | House of Chabannes |
| Wife | Marguerite de Nanteuil (ca. 1422-1475) |
| Issue | Jean de Chabannes (1462-1503); Gilbert, Jeanne, Jacqueline, Anne (dates unknown); Jacques, Hélène, Marie (illegitimate) |
| Father | Robert de Chabannes |
| Mother | Alix de Bort |
Antoine de Chabannes (1408–1488), from 1439Count of Dammartin (with a gap in 1463–1465), was a significant military and political figure of 15th-century France. An indefatigable fighter, during his long career he joined or led numerous military campaigns all over France and beyond. He served theValois kingsCharles VII,Louis XI andCharles VIII, but also participated in two aristocratic uprisings, thePraguerie against Charles VII in 1440 and theWar of the Public Weal in 1465 against Louis XI. Associated early in his life with theArmagnac faction, he fought in Charles VII's campaigns againstEngland, including those involvingJoan of Arc, and (except for a troubled period in the early 1460s) also remained generally opposed to theBurgundians and theirHabsburg successors. 18th-century scholarCharles Pinot Duclos described him as "one of the bravest men of his time, sincere, faithful, quick-tempered, a keen friend and implacable enemy" (un des plus braves hommes de son temps, sincère, fidèle, naturellement emporté, ami vif et implacable ennemi).[1]Claude Villaret [fr] called him "the most experienced general of his era" (le général le plus expérimenté de son siècle).[2]
His reputation has been tainted by his late-1430s freebootingécorcheur raids and by his avidity in appropriating properties of the disgracedJacques Coeur in the early 1450s, mainly the lordship ofPuisaye which Coeur's successors tried to reclaim in legal procedures that extended beyond Chabannes's lifetime. His rule in Puisaye, however, coincided with the revival of that region following the ravages of theHundred Years' War and the broaderCrisis of the Late Middle Ages.
The Chabannes were an aristocratic family established in theLimousin since the 13th century.[3] Antoine's father Robert de Chabannes, lord of Charlus-le-Pailhoux (now inSaint-Exupéry-les-Roches), died at theBattle of Agincourt in 1415, and his elder brother Etienne de Chabannes died at theBattle of Cravant in 1423, where 15-year-old Antoine fought as well.
Following this succession of events, the family estates went to his brotherJacques de Chabannes. Antoine was left to assemble properties and titles on his own, which he kept doing throughout his long life.
Antoine de Chabannes was involved from a young age in the intrigues and fights of the embattled kingCharles VII, associating himself with commandersLa Hire andXaintrailles. He was captured at theBattle of Verneuil but, given his youth, was freed without ransom by theDuke of Bedford. He then servedDuke Charles I of theHouse of Bourbon as apage until 1426. The contemporarychronique martinienne observes of him at that time that "he was inclined towards fighting and keen to acquire honour and properties" (tant il avait le coeur aux armes et envie d'acquérir honneurs et biens).[4]
By 1428, 20-year-old Antoine de Chabannes fought alongsideJoan of Arc in battles includingJargeau,Patay (where he led the vanguard and was wounded), and theSiege of Compiègne where Joan was captured in May 1430.[5] In the meantime he had participated in theMarch to Reims and attended the epiccoronation (sacre) of Charles VII, on 17 July 1429.[6]
In the summer of 1429, Charles VII made himbailiff ofTroyes, and in 1432, Captain ofCreil, a stronghold loyal to Charles surrounded by hostile territory. In 1434, he was wounded in a bold attack onOld Talbot nearBeaumont-sur-Oise.[4] On 12 November 1437, he was with Charles VII at the latter's ceremonial entry into Paris, a major symbolic moment following the 1435Treaty of Arras that put an end to the most chaotic period of theHundred Years' War.[7]
He spent most of the late 1430s leading his own band of soldiers, as one of the most prominentécorcheurs as they were labeled in contemporary chronicles, especially Burgundian ones: literally "flayers", referring to their practices of robbing and ransoming. Many of his freebooting raids were directed at lands of theDuke of Burgundy such asHainaut,Cambrésis andCharolais, typically condoned by the king despite the stipulations of the Peace of Arras. Antoine de Chabannes also fought for theDuke of Bourbon, who made him Captain ofChavroches in 1438, and as part of royal operations, such as the siege ofMeaux in 1439 led byConstable of FranceArthur de Richemont. He occasionally let himself and his troops be hired asmercenaries, most notably forAntoine de Vaudémont againstRené of Anjou in 1438-39. He also used castles of the Chabannes family as his bases, such as theChâteau de Montaigu-le-Blin [fr] where he kept the lord ofPesmes prisoner in 1439.[8] The grey area in which Antoine de Chabannes operated during those years, a hybrid of unsupervised banditry and royal service, is illustrated by a chronicler's story that Charles VII once saluted him ironically as"capitaine des écorcheurs", to which his reply was "Sire, I only flayed your enemies, and methinks their skins will bring you more profit than to me; I never flayed anybody else" (Sire, je n'ai écorché que vos ennemis, et il me semble que leurs peaux vous feront plus de profit qu'à moi; je n'en écorchai jamais d'autres).[4]
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On 20 September 1439 Antoine de Chabannes married Marguerite deNanteuil,Countess of Dammartin-en-Goële, to whom he had been recommended by the king.[9] The marriage brought him the County of Dammartin as herdowry, as well as the barony ofLe Thour inChampagne and the lordship ofMarcy inNivernais.[10]
In 1440, he was one of the leaders of thePraguerie againstCharles VII, and kept associating with theDauphin Louis's actions in the following years, such as theSiege of Dieppe in 1442-43 and an expedition to supportSigismund of Habsburg against the Swiss, including theBattle of St. Jakob an der Birs nearBasel where he fought furiously.[4] Charles VII made himconseiller du roi in 1444, thenGrand Panetier of France in 1445 (and again in 1447),[8] after he had forced him and other warlords of theHundred Years' War to dismiss their bands of soldiers as he strived toestablish a standing army. On that occasion, Antoine de Chabannes wore mourning clothes, telling the king that he was "taking life away from him by separating him from his soldiers" (Sire, vous m'ôtez la vie d'éloigner mes gens d'armes de moi, avec lesquels j'ai vécu vingt ans sans reproche et sans faire de faute).[4]
Antoine de Chabannes eventually broke with Louis in September 1446, by revealing to Charles VII the Dauphin's intrigues againstPierre de Brézé, and beyond against the king himself.[7][11] This episode led to Louis's temporary banishment to theDauphiné, upon which Louis swore that he would "take revenge against those who threw me out of my house", meaning Chabannes.[4]
In 1449, he was with the king in the reconquest of Normandy, and in 1451 fought inGuyenne where he reconquered from the English theChâteau de Blanquefort nearBordeaux, nominally part of Marguerite de Nanteuil's dowry but out of her family's hands for 160 years.[4] That castle was retaken by England later in 1451, and reconquered again by Chabannes in 1453. Charles VII confirmed his ownership of it in 1455 but Louis XI took it back in 1466.[6]
Also in 1451, Antoine de Chabannes was appointed to chair the committee that investigated and led to the downfall ofJacques Coeur. He promptly appropriated a number of Coeur's properties including his recently acquired lordship ofPuisaye.Charles VII's decision of 29 May 1453 specifically granted him:"(1) the lands, castles and lordships ofSaint-Fargeau, ofLavau, of La Couldre, ofPerreuse, ofChampignelles, ofMézilles, orVilleneuve-les-Genêts and their dependencies; (2) the lands ofSaint-Maurice-sur-Aveyron,Melleroy, La Frenaie,Fontenelles, and their dependencies; (3) the Barony ofToucy with its belongings and dependencies." Between 1453 and 1455 he further secured ownership of the Puisaye domains by purchasing them in auction.[4]
In October 1453, he received the command of soldiers of his brother Jacques, who had died from his wounds at theBattle of Castillon. He then led a campaign in 1454 againstJohn V, Count of Armagnac on the king's behalf, jointly withJean Bureau, for which he was awarded a number of lands inRouergue andLanguedoc including the lordship ofSévérac.[4] In 1455-56 he was sent toLyon,Savoy and theDauphiné to put an end to the Dauphin Louis's machinations, prompting the latter's flight to the court ofBurgundy.[11] In 1458, he andJean d'Aulon jointly led a successful embassy toLouis, Duke of Savoy andPhilip the Good, Duke of Burgundy to avert war between France and them both. in 1461, he stayed with Charles VII at theChâteau de Mehun-sur-Yèvre until the king's death on July 22.[4]
On succeeding Charles VII in 1461,Louis XI was initially hostile to Antoine de Chabannes, banished him from the kingdom, then upon his voluntary return from theHoly Roman Empire in August 1462 imprisoned him briefly in theConciergerie and then in theLouvre. Following a hearing on 20 August 1463, Chabannes received a death sentence from theParlement of Paris, which was commuted by the king into perpetual banishment toRhodes, then after a change of mind, imprisonment in theBastille. Meanwhile, Louis XI had thePuisaye domains returned toJacques Coeur's son Geoffroy, and Chabannes's other properties granted to his rivals Charles de Melun, Jean de Montespedon and Antoine de Chateauneuf.
The ever-resourceful Chabannes, however, managed to escape from the Bastille in early March 1465 and joined the so-calledLeague of the Public Weal against the king. That conflict was swiftly resolved following theTreaty of Conflans, of which he was one of the main negotiators. At the request of the League's princely members, the treaty included a specific clause by which Louis XI gave back to Antoine de Chabannes all his former domains.[7] In February 1467, the king further made him theGrand Master of France, in replacement of his former nemesis Charles de Melun (who ended up decapitated the next year), and in August 1468 finally annulled his 1463 conviction. However, the legal procedures with theCoeur family over the Puisaye domains lingered on until a final settlement in 1489, shortly after Antoine de Chabannes's death.[4]
In 1468, Chabannes decisively refused to demobilize the royal troops assembled inNoyon despite a written order Louis had signed underduress in Péronne, which fully regained him the King's confidence. He had the honor of being among theOrder of Saint Michael's first cohort of 15 knights in August 1469, confirming his return to the inner core of the French royal court. In late 1469 he was sent by Louis XI to pacify theGuyenne andArmagnac, leadingJohn V, Count of Armagnac to flee across the border toHondarribia, and gained additional lands inRouergue as reward from the king.[4]
In the early 1470s he led royal military campaigns together withLouis of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, always under tight instructions from Louis XI. In 1470 he tookAmiens fromBurgundy.[11] In 1472 he was madeMilitary governor of Paris, and participated in thedefense of Beauvais against Charles the Bold. In December 1474, he had the honor of hosting the king and the royal court in his castle of Dammartin; around that time Louis would address him familiarily as his "cousin".[12] On 29 August 1475, he attended themeeting of Picquigny between Louis XI andEdward IV of England, which undermined the Anglo-Burgundian alliance and marked the formal end of theHundred Years' War.[4] FollowingCharles the Bold'sdeath in January 1477, still fit to lead military operations despite his advanced age, he raided Flanders during theWar of the Burgundian Succession.[13] He then held the frontline stronghold ofLe Quesnoy for more than a year. Louis XI, heowever, replaced him there withJean Daillon [fr] in June 1478 as part of a truce in which the king relinquishedHainaut toMaximilian, and episode that crystallized a new deterioration of Chabannes's relationship with the king.
In the spring of 1479, Louis XI relieved him of his military command, even though he kept his pension and other titles, and was still occasionally called for advice. In 1483, some of his domains inRouergue were granted by Louis to theCanons Regular of the Lateran,[4] as part of the donation that eventually resulted in thePresident of France being anhonorary canon ofSaint John Lateran.[14] Chabannes was duly indemnified.
Following Louis XI's death, Antoine de Chabannes was back in favor under the youngCharles VIII, who on 23 October 1483 reappointed him captain and governor of Sévérac. At theEstates General inTours, in February 1484, he was sitting on the bench to the king's right, together withJean IV de Rieux andLouis II de la Trémoille.[4] In 1485, he further increased his domains by purchasing the barony ofCourtenay, just north of thePuisaye. In his last years, he lived mainly in his castles ofDammartin-en-Goële andSaint-Fargeau, with occasional Parisian stays in hishôtel de Beautreillis, part of the former royal palace ofHôtel Saint-Pol whose name survives in theRue Beautreillis. He was again madeMilitary governor of Paris by the regentAnne of France. He maintained an active written correspondence with the king, who appears to have valued his advice.[9]
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Antoine de Chabannes died on Christmas Day 1488. He was buried in the collegiate church of Our Lady (Collégiale Notre-Dame) inDammartin-en-Goële, which he had built from 1480, following a wish he had made in 1463 while imprisoned in theBastille, on the site of a chapel that had been destroyed during theWar of the Public Weal. The church had been consecrated by theBishop of Meaux on 18 February 1488, less than a year before Chabannes's death.[6]
The still-extant monumental tomb displays an idealized youth portrait of him as agisant with aphoenix bird at his feet, which may refer to eternal life but also to the ups and downs of his long career. The tomb was opened and restored in 1804, as related by a commemorative plaque which is now placed in front of it. The inscription on the rim of the lid reads:"Cy gist noble et puissant seigneur messire anthoine de chabannes, ch[eva]l[ie]r de l'ordre du Roy n[ot]r[e] s[ir]e, en son vivantcomte de dampmartin baron detoussy et dutour en Champaigne, et seignieur desaint fargeau desaint morise decourtenay et du pays depuisaye, etgrand maistre d'ostel de France; Et fut premier fond[at]eur duchapitre etcoliège de l'église de céans, le quel trépassa le jour de Noël de l'an de grace mil CCCC.IIIIxx et huit : Dieu lui face pardon à l'âme et à tous aultres trespassés. Amen : Pater noster."[4]
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Chabannes's heart and innards were buried separately in the church of Saint-Ferréol inSaint-Fargeau, at the core of his domains inPuisaye, where his wife had been buried in 1475. Until the 17th century, the corresponding location inside the church was adorned with a small monument and an epitaph that read"Antoine de Chabannes, / Mort suis sans trahison / Mais bien aimant raison / Conte et aussi grant mestre. / Dieu me mettre en bon estre ! / J'aimai loyauté / Qui m'a toujours porté, / Tant qu'au monde ait esté; / D'ennemi non vaincu / D'ans IIIIxx [80] j'ai vescu, / On le sait, de trois roys non reprint. / Sur ce point, Dieu m'a print." The metal chest that contained the heart was later relocated to a chapel within the same church, in which Antoine de Chabannes's son had also erected an equestrian statue of him, probably destroyed in 1793.[4][15]
He was succeeded as Count of Dammartin-en-Goële by his only surviving son John (Jean de Chabannes), born in 1462, who had already been calling himself Lord of Saint-Fargeau since 1470.[9] Antoine's direct male line became extinct at Jean's death in 1503. In 1554, the County of Dammartin was purchased byConstable Anne de Montmorency, and remained in theHouse of Montmorency, then (after the 1632 execution ofHenri II de Montmorency, which also led to the Dammartin castle's destruction) ofBourbon-Condé until theFrench Revolution. The domains inPuisaye were soon divided betweenSaint-Fargeau, which went to the Houses of Anjou-Mézières and then ofBourbon-Montpensier, andToucy, which remained in the local family of Prie. Other branches of the Chabannes family survive to this day.
Antoine de Chabannes features inLe Spectre de Châtillon, a 1855 novel byÉlie Berthet.[4]
He is portrayed as a devious military governor of Paris in the 1956 filmThe Vagabond King.
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