Jean de Montagu orJean de Montaigu (c.1363, Paris – Paris, 17 October 1409), was a royal secretary toCharles V, and subsequently an administrator and advisor toCharles VI of France, who became a leading figure in France during the early 15th Century.
Jean was born in 1363[1][2] the son of Gerard de Montagu[3] andBiette de Cassinel,[4] calledla belle Italienne ("the beautiful Italian woman"). She was the daughter of François Cassinel (died 1360), asergeant in the Royal Army, and great-granddaughter of Bettino Cassinelli, who had immigrated from Italy to Paris. It was said that Jean was the illegitimate son ofCharles V of France. Jean de Montagu had two brothers: Gérard de Montagu the Younger (died 1420), who wasbishop of Poitiers andbishop of Paris; and Jean de Montagu (killed 25 October 1415 at theBattle of Agincourt), who wasbishop of Chartres, andarchbishop of Sens.[a][2]
Jean made a career at theroyal court ofCharles VI of France, rising to become Grand Treasurer andGrand Master of France. Through the income derived from his various offices granted to him through the favor of the king, he acquired an immense fortune, and in 1389, Jean bought the lands of Boissy-sous-Saint-Yon and Égly for twelve hundred pounds.,[5] and subsequently inherited and acquired several more estates, including the valuableChâteau de Montagu.
Being the leading figure of the royal government during the period following the assassination ofLouis, theDuke of Orléans, in the ongoingArmagnac-Burgundian Civil War, he developed a very bitter rivalry with theDuke of Burgundy,John the Fearless, who sought to hold the Regency (and the income of theRoyal Household) in place of the mentally incapable KingCharles, as hisfather had done.
In 1409, John the Fearless had him arrested with the help of theProvost of Paris during one of King Charles' mad spells. TheQueen and theDuke of Berry, among several others, pleaded for his release to no avail.[6] After an expeditedsummary trial where he unsuccessfully appealed to the then Burgundian-controlled Parliament a forced confession of treason and other charges upon being subjected to torture, Montagu wasbeheaded on 17 October 1409 in front of a large crowd in Paris, at theGibbet of Montfaucon.[7]
Jean's name was rehabilitated several years later, obtained by his son Charles, and his remains were interred in a lavishly built tomb at the Monastery of the Celestines ofMarcoussis, which Jean de Montagu had greatly expanded between 1402 and 1408.
Jean married Jacqueline de La Grange, c. 1380,[8] daughter of Étienne de La Grange, President of theParlement of Paris, and Marie Dubois. They had: