Armagnacs

Armagnacs, French political and military faction that emerged in 1407 after the assassination of the Duke of Orléans by John the Fearless of Burgundy. The head of the Armagnac party was Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, whose daughter married the new duke, Charles of Orléans. The Burgundian forces were substantial, leading many great nobles of the south of France to join the Armagnac faction.

In August 1413, the Armagnacs gained control of the government, leading to great civil strife, and temporarily ruining any hope of governmental reform. Two years later King Henry V of England landed in Normandy (Normandie), and in October 1415 he defeated the French, led by the Armagnacs, at Agincourt (see Battle of Agincourt). Taking advantage of this setback to the Armagnacs’ cause, the Burgundians entered Paris in 1418 and murdered Bernard VII and many of the Armagnacs, thus returning to power. The following year the Duke of Burgundy was assassinated at the bridge of Montereau while negotiating with the Dauphin (later King Charles VII of France) and the Armagnacs for an alliance against the English. The Burgundians then allied themselves with the English, and the Armagnacs, with the Dauphin at their head, became the national party of France.

Conciliation between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians did not come until the Treaty of Arras in 1435. In 1444-1445 Charles VII lent a large army of Armagnac mercenaries to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III to use against the Swiss in what came to be called the Armagnac War. Frederick and the Armagnacs were completely defeated near Basel, Switzerland, in the battle of Saint Jakob on the Birs River.