Medieval Archives

Welcome to the Medieval Archives

Podcast, the podcast for

medieval news, history, and

entertainment. I'm your host

Gary, aka The Archivist. Now

today we're heading to the heart

of late medieval France in a

time of utter chaos. The kingdom

was in turmoil, torn apart by an

insane king, a brutal civil war,

and a new, devastating phase of

the Hundred Years' War. At the

center of it all stood one man,

a prince of the blood with a

legitimate claim to the throne,

a crusader who battled the Turks

and the Balkans, and a powerful

duke who shaped the destiny of

an entire nation. His name was

John the Fearless, and his story

is a wild tale of ambition,

betrayal, and bloodshed. So get

ready to explore a pivotal

chapter in French history.

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Let's head to

France and learn about the life

of John the Fearless. John the

Fearless was born in Dijon on 28

May 1371 to Duke Philip the Bold

and Countess Margaret II of

Flanders. John was a Prince of

the Blood as the grandson of

King John the Good. John the

Good died when John the Fearless

was 13, and John the Fearless

inherited the County of Nevers,

becoming Count John of Nevers.

The next year, at age 14, John

and his 11-year-old sister

Margaret were part of a double

marriage with the family of

Count Albert of Holland. John

wed Albert's daughter, also

named Margaret, while his sister

Margaret married Albert's son,

William. These strategic

marriages, they were actually

alliances, weren't about love,

they were about power. The

marriages effectively solidified

John's control over the Low

Countries, what is essentially

the modern-day Netherlands. John

originally intended to marry

Princess Catherine, the daughter

of King Charles V of France,

Catherine was only a child, or I

guess a younger child, she was

seven, and the wedding was

called off after the death of

Charles V in favor of marrying

Count Albert's daughter.

Princess Catherine would go on

to marry at the age of eight,

and she died of an unknown

illness in 1388 at the age of

ten. Now, Catherine was King

Charles' ninth child.

Unfortunately for Charles, his

children died young. Only two of

the nine would ever live to

adulthood. His two oldest

daughters died weeks apart in

1360 at the age of two and three.

His other daughters died at the

age of five, seven, and

Catherine at ten. One son died

at six months old, and one died

around one or two years old. His

only children who survived to

adulthood, both were sons. One

named Charles, who had become

Charles VI, the Mad, and the

other was Louis, the Duke of

Orleans.

Both men played a crucial role

in the life of John the Fearless.

Before John became the Duke of

Burgundy, he led French forces

into Hungary to assist King

Sigismund in a war, a crusade

against the Ottoman Empire, led

by Sultan Bayezid I, called the

Thunderbolt. What a great name,

Bayezid the Thunderbolt. He was

called the Thunderbolt for the

speed at which he expanded his

territory and empire. Now, his

rapid expansion in the Balkans

was seen as a warning to Europe

to stop the threat or face a

greater threat at home. King

Sigismund became concerned when

the Ottoman forces started

raiding Hungary's southern

border. He wasn't the only one

concerned about the Ottomans

either. Venice feared Ottoman

control of the Balkans would

reduce Venetian influence in the

region. Genoa feared if the

Ottomans controlled the Danube,

they'd lose control of their

trade routes to the Black Sea.

In 1394, Pope Boniface IX called

for a new crusade against the

invading Ottomans. Boniface was

in the midst of his own

struggles with the Great Schism

of 1378. And the papacy and

Christianity were split between

two popes, so one of them

calling a crusade didn't hold a

lot of weight. Philip the Bold,

the Duke of Burgundy, John's

father, was eager to sponsor the

crusade and help Hungary and the

Balkans fight the Ottomans. It

wasn't only about helping

Hungary, though. It was also to

bolster his own prestige.

Barbara Tuchman, in her fabulous

book, A Distant Mirror, argued

Philip sent troops to bolster

his own standing in France and

Burgundy, and she wrote, Since

he, Philip the Bold, was the

prince of self-magnification,

the result was that opulent

display became the dominant

theme. Plans, logistics,

intelligence about the enemy

came second, if it came at all.

Sigismund sent a delegation to

Paris begging for more help, and

the French nobility answered.

The new king of France, Charles

VI, saw it as his duty to

protect Christianity and punish

the sultan. Others, including

Philip of Artois, who was the

count of, ooh, that's a great,

that's a great county, ooh, he

was also the constable of France,

the marshal of France, and

Philip the Bold, who Philip

actually sent his son, John, to

lead the force. The majority of

the crusaders were made up of

French forces, knights, archers,

foot soldiers. The other portion

of the force was provided by the

Knights Hospitaller. Now, the

goal of the crusade was simple.

Expel the Turks from the Balkans,

march to Constantinople, then on

through Turkey and Syria to

liberate Palestine and the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

then return to Europe as

triumphant victors. Seems pretty

easy. John set out from Dijon in

April of 1396. He arrived in

Budapest three months later in

July of 1396 and met with

Philibert, the Grand Master of

the Knights Hospitaller. From

the start, the crusaders' war

plans were plagued by infighting

and arrogance. French and

Hungarian leaders bickered over

who was in command, but they

ultimately agreed to march onto

the Ottoman strongholds. The

number of troops on each side is

highly debated. Contemporary

sources gave a number of over

100,000 troops, with some

accounts saying over 400,000 men.

In the 19th century, German

scholars estimated the number of

troops to be somewhere around

15,000 to 20,000 men on the

crusade side and on the Ottoman

side. When they began their

march to the Ottoman stronghold,

most of the crusaders marched

down the Danube, but a

contingent of the Hungarian army

marched north to gather more

troops from Alakia. Now, the

crusaders reached Osova and

crossed the Danube at the Iron

Gates, which is a narrow gorge

on the river, and narrow is kind

of relative to the actual size

of the Danube. It wasn't a small

crossing that they could walk

across. At the Iron Gates, the

Danube River is over 20 feet

deep and almost 500 feet wide,

compared to being 1,300 feet

wide in other areas. It took the

crusaders eight days to cross

the river. Once they were on the

other side, they captured the

city of Vyden with no resistance.

The leader, Ivan Stratismer of

Bulgaria, wanted to get the

Turks out of his city and

surrendered it to the crusaders.

The

crusaders continued their march

east and on 12 September reached

the fortress of Nicopolis. Now,

they lacked any siege weapons,

and the steep slopes going into

the fortress made it almost

impossible to mount an offensive.

So the crusaders settled in for

a long siege to starve out the

defenders. And after two weeks,

there was still no end in sight,

but rumors began to swirl that