In 2007, France celebrates 330 years since the death of the most famous Frenchman - captain of the Royal Musketeers Charles D'Artagnan. Today his name, like the name of a real hero, has become a legend. How much truth is there in it?
In fact, the musketeer's name was Charles de Batz de Castelmore. According to historians, he was born in Gascony, between the towns of Tarbes and Auch in the castle of Castelmore. The exact date of his birth is unknown, since the lists of those baptized before 1662 have disappeared. Charles D'Artagnan was the youngest of 7 or 8 children in the family of Bertrand de Batz de Castelmore and Francoise Montesquiou. There is no information about his childhood and youth, but it is known that in 1640, as befitted young Gascon nobles, he joined the ranks of the French Guard. Guards cadets did not receive a penny at that time, but military training was free and allowed them to apply for higher army ranks in the future. Further events developed in such a way that, it seems, from the historical D'Artagnan Alexandre Dumas was able to create two characters at once - the cunning Gascon and his antagonist Count Rochefort, a close associate of Cardinal Richelieu. So, Charles takes his mother’s name, known at court, D’Artagnan (the younger branch of the Montesquiou family) and receives a baptism of fire in campaigns against the Huguenots in the Wars of Faith.
After which he comes under direct subordination to Cardinal Richelieu’s successor, the Italian Mazarin, and a little later gains fame and awards for “courage, loyalty and bravery.” From the moment of his appointment as the cardinal's personal courier, detailed documents appear mentioning the name of Charles D'Artagnan. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs still keeps the original instructions to D'Artagnan on negotiating with the governors of the fortresses on the terms of surrender. During this period, contemporaries called him “the protégé of Cardinal Mazarin,” who, as a courier on special diplomatic missions, carried out secret and especially risky missions. D'Artagnan himself succeeds everywhere: for example, during the siege of Dunkirk, he replaces one of the wounded commanders of the elite military unit of the Company of Musketeers.
In 1646, as a result of court intrigue, the nephew of Cardinal Mazarin, who was not too inclined to burden himself with official duties, turned out to be at the head of the “Company”. Due to this, the cardinal’s close associate, D’Artagnan, becomes the de facto head of the most elite unit of the country, which, in fact, meant the possibility of his direct contact with the top officials of the kingdom.
The opportunity did not take long to arrive: the musketeer was given responsibility for the parade procession of the royal wedding procession, the path of which passed through Gascony, which could not but affect his popularity. D'Artagnan's compatriots stood along the roads for hours to see the son of poor Gascony flying on horseback in front of aristocrats from the most famous families of France.
Two other historical and at the same time adventurous moments in D'Artagnan's career are the arrest of the presumptuous temporary worker Fouquet, the custodian-plunderer of the state treasury, and the ultra-delicate mission to rid the king of his unwanted son-in-law. Regarding the first, the king personally gave orders to D'Artagnan in the strictest confidence.
Since 1670, D'Artagnan has clearly been the king's confidant, often following the personal oral instructions of the monarch. D'Artagnan's reputation is so impeccable that, when obeying, they take his word for it. Moreover, in documents of that era he is called by the title “Count”.
Regarding D'Artagnan's personal life, it is worth noting that his adventures in Dumas' novel do not have any documentary evidence. At the age of 45, he chooses not the beautiful haberdasher Madame Bonacieux, but the richest aristocratic widow, 35-year-old Charlotte de Chanlécy.
Despite the fame, reputation and irresistible charm of the captain of the musketeers, the widow, fearing for her fortune, agreed to marriage only if a marriage contract was concluded. The contract, dated March 5, 1659, bears the signatures of King Louis XIV, Cardinal Mazarin and Marshal de Gramont.
The favor of the king and queen, their presence at the christening of the eldest son of the D'Artagnan couple, as well as the acquired status and wealth - all this was not enough to save the marriage of Charles and Charlotte. There is no direct evidence of the reasons for the gap between the spouses, but there is plenty of indirect evidence, and they all point to the monstrous jealousy of the spouse. Sadly, the captain of the Royal Musketeers suffered from her scandals, like the last haberdasher in the kingdom...
According to some historians, the only love of the Gascon’s life was Queen Anne of Austria, whose portrait decorated the captain’s house. In the spring of 1672, the king, preparing for the war against Holland, appointed D'Artagnan governor of the city of Lille - an important strategic point for the upcoming campaign, the last in the hero's life - on June 24, 1673, he died during the storming of Maastricht. According to custom, he is buried along with the other fallen in the area of the battlefield.
The king and courtiers sincerely mourn him, and the poet writes an epitaph: “... D'Artagnan and Glory rest together.” To date, two authentic portraits of D’Artagnan are known. The first is an engraving decorating a book by Gatien Courtille de Sandras, and the second by the court artist van der Meulen. D'Artagnan was handsome and noble. He dressed strictly according to Spanish fashion, preferring black to all colors, but as a sign of nobility he wore red heels. When a notary came to take a post-mortem inventory of his property at his house on Rue de Bac in the fashionable Latin Quarter of Paris, he discovered a very extensive wardrobe. Some of his suits were decorated with diamonds...
And, according to contemporaries, D’Artagnan was the best horseman in the kingdom and his appearance “resembled the god of war Mars.”
He preferred beautiful Spanish stallions, which he bought for a lot of money.
In order to understand all the intricacies of the Hundred Years' War, you must first delve into the intricacies of the so-called Salic law relating to issues of succession to the throne. The fact is that the Plantagenets, who ruled England at that time, formally had the rights to the French throne after the death of Charles IV, who ruled in France. He was the last of the Capetian dynasty, and King Edward III, on his Capetian mother's side, laid claim to the throne of France.
English monarchs bore the title "King of France" until 1800, when, under the terms of a peace agreement with revolutionary France, the British government was forced to abandon this title.
In 1333, England began a war with Scotland, which was an ally of the French. A successful military operation led to the fact that King David of Scotland was forced to flee to France. And in 1337, the British attacked the French province of Picardy.
Stages of the Hundred Years' War
Starting from this time, both sides fought with varying success (mainly on French territory), but no one managed to achieve any significant result. The course of the war was greatly influenced by the plague, which killed many more people than died in the Hundred Years' War.
From 1360 to 1369, a truce was concluded between the warring countries, which was violated by King Charles V of France, who declared another war on England. The conflict continued until 1396, when both states simply did not have the resources to continue the confrontation.
As a result of the Hundred Years' War, England lost control of almost all of its lands in France with the exception of the port city of Calais.
In 1415, a new stage of the conflict began, ending with the occupation of France and the proclamation of the English king Henry V as king of France. During the same period, the legendary French leader Joan of Arc appeared on the political arena. Her participation led to the fact that French troops won a number of significant victories, which ultimately made it possible to completely oust the British from France.
The last English garrison in Bordeaux laid down their arms in 1453. This date is considered the official year of the end of the Hundred Years' War, which lasted a total of 116 years. However, a formal peace treaty between France and England was concluded only in 1475.
Between England and France - a series of successive military conflicts that lasted from 1337 to 1453.
It ended on October 19, 1453 with the surrender of the English garrison in Bordeaux and the abandonment of Calais, the last English possession in France.
The preconditions for conflicts throughout the period that lasted the Hundred Years' War were already in the distant past, back in the reign of William the Conqueror. When the Norman Duke William became the new English king in 1066 after his victory at the Battle of Hastings, he united England with the Duchy of Normandy, located in France.
Under Henry II Plantagenet, England's lands in France expanded, but the kings who succeeded him found them too large and difficult to manage.
By 1327, England controlled only two regions in France - Aquitaine and Ponthieu.
When the last of the French Capetian kings, Charles IV the Fair, died in 1328, his closest male relative was his nephew Edward III of England (his mother Isabella was the sister of Charles and the daughter of Philip IV the Fair).
The French nobility sought to ensure that Philip of the Valois family (as King Philip VI) took the throne, not only because Edward’s rights to the French crown were transmitted through the female line. First of all, he was an Englishman, which means he was an unsuitable candidate. Edward III, although he was fifteen years old at the time, was furious, but could not do anything.
In 1337, Philip, as punishment for the fact that Edward provided shelter to Philip's cousin and enemy Robert d'Artois, demanded the return of Aquitaine to France. Edward, in response, demanding the crown of France for himself by right of origin, declared war on Philip.
The Counts of Flanders supported the claims of the British during the period that lasted the Hundred Years' War, out of personal interest - there was a mutually beneficial trade in wool and fabrics between England and Flanders. The Dukes of Brittany and Normandy, allied with the English, feared the aspirations of those who wanted to create a strong, centralized French kingdom.
In 1340, Edward officially took the title "King of France and the French Royal Arms". Modern historians debate whether he truly believed that he could take the French throne. But whatever his pretensions or hopes, it gave him important leverage in his relationship with Philip. Thanks to the title, he could provoke more than one problem, encourage dissatisfied French to choose themselves as king instead of Philip, use it as a powerful weapon during negotiations, offering to give up large territorial concessions in France in exchange for the crown.
During the period that lasted the Hundred Years' War, the British won brilliant victories in 1346, at Poitiers in 1356, at Agincourt in 1415. The finest hour of the British came when Henry V took control of Paris, Normandy, and most of northern France. He married the Madman's daughter Catherine of Valois and forced the French king to recognize him as regent of France and successor to the French throne.
In 1422, Charles and Henry died. The eighth Dauphin of France was crowned in 1429 as inspired by the victories of Joan of Arc over the English.
Henry VI was the only English king actually crowned King of France at the age of ten in Paris in 1431. But gradually the independent territories located on the other side of the English Channel left English control.
In 1436, the French overran Aquitaine and took Bordeaux, which had been in English hands for three hundred years and was the center of a thriving wine trade. A deputation of citizens arrived in England in 1452 to ask Henry VI for help.
All military conflicts, as long as the Hundred Years' War lasted, took place on French territory. The country's population is believed to have dropped by half during this period.
A force of approximately 3,000 men under the command of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, marched into France. Talbot was able to recapture most of western Aquitaine, but in July 1453 the French army defeated the English at Castillon and Talbot himself, an outstanding commander admired by both the French and English, was killed.
When it became clear that no more help would arrive from England, Bordeaux surrendered in October, marking the end of the war. How many years did the Hundred Years' War last in total? It covers a period of 116 years (from 1337 to 1453) with more or less long breaks. Although no major battle took place afterwards, the Hundred Years' War officially ended on August 29, 1475, with the signing of the Treaty of Piquigny between King Louis XI of France and King Edward IV of England.
To the question How many years did the Hundred Years' War last? given by the author Anton Grigoriev the best answer is the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) - a long military-political conflict between England and France, the cause of which was England's desire to return territories on the continent that previously belonged to the English kings. In addition, the English kings were related by ties of kinship to the French Capetian dynasty, as a result of which they laid claims to the French throne. In turn, France sought to oust the British from Guienne (which was assigned to them by the Treaty of Paris in 1259). Despite the initial successes, England was defeated in the war; as a result, it retained only one possession on the continent - the port of Calais, which it held until 1559. The war lasted 116 years (with interruptions). Strictly speaking, it was more of a series of conflicts: the first (the Edwardian War) lasted from 1337-1360, the second (the Caroline War) - from 1369-1389, the third - the Lancastrian War - from 1415-1429, the fourth - from 1429-1453. The term "Hundred Years' War" - a general name for these conflicts - appeared later.
Answer from Accomplice[guru]
one hundred
Answer from Eurovision[guru]
hmm... difficult answer... but I still think 100...
Answer from simplify[guru]
Well, why did they call her 100 years old, guess 3 times.
Answer from Max Ryabkov[guru]
100 years
Answer from Evgeniy Rezvanov[guru]
The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) is a long-term military-political conflict between England and France, the cause of which was England's desire to return territories on the continent that previously belonged to the English kings. In addition, the English kings were related by ties of kinship to the French Capetian dynasty, as a result of which they laid claims to the French throne. In turn, France sought to oust the British from Guienne (which was assigned to them by the Treaty of Paris in 1259). Despite the initial successes, England was defeated in the war; as a result, it retained only one possession on the continent - the port of Calais, which it held until 1559. The war lasted 116 years (with interruptions). Strictly speaking, it was more of a series of conflicts: the first (the Edwardian War) lasted from 1337-1360, the second (the Caroline War) - from 1369-1389, the third - the Lancastrian War - from 1415-1429, the fourth - from 1429-1453. The term “Hundred Years' War” - a general name for these conflicts - appeared later. The war was started by the English king Edward III, who was the maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Fair from the Capetian dynasty. After the death in 1328 of Charles IV, the last representative of the direct Capetian branch, and the coronation of Philip VI (Valois) under Salic law, Edward laid claim to the French throne. In the fall of 1337, the British launched an offensive in Picardy. They were supported by the Flanders cities and feudal lords and the cities of southwestern France. The turning point came in the 1420s, at the fourth stage of the war, after the French army was led by Joan of Arc. Under her leadership, the French liberated Orleans from the British (1429). the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 did not prevent the French from successfully completing military operations.In 1435, the Duke of Burgundy concluded an alliance with the King of France, Charles VII. In 1436, Paris came under French control. In 1450, the French army won a convincing victory in the Battle of Norman the city of Caen.In 1453, the surrender of the English garrison in Bordeaux put an end to the Hundred Years' War.
In the history of mankind there have been wars that lasted more than a century. Maps were redrawn, political interests were defended, people died. We remember the most protracted military conflicts.
Punic War (118 years)
By the middle of the 3rd century BC. The Romans almost completely subjugated Italy, set their sights on the entire Mediterranean and wanted Sicily first. But the mighty Carthage also laid claim to this rich island. Their claims unleashed 3 wars that lasted (with interruptions) from 264 to 146. BC. and received their name from the Latin name of the Phoenicians-Carthaginians (Punians).
The first (264-241) is 23 years old (it started because of Sicily). The second (218-201) - 17 years (after the capture of the Spanish city of Sagunta by Hannibal). The last one (149-146) – 3 years. It was then that the famous phrase “Carthage must be destroyed!” was born.
Pure military action took 43 years. The conflict totals 118 years.
Results: Besieged Carthage fell. Rome won.
Hundred Years' War (116 years)
It went in 4 stages. With pauses for truces (the longest - 10 years) and the fight against plague (1348) from 1337 to 1453.
Opponents: England and France.
Reasons: France wanted to oust England from the southwestern lands of Aquitaine and complete the unification of the country. England - to strengthen influence in the province of Guienne and regain those lost under John the Landless - Normandy, Maine, Anjou.
Complication: Flanders - formally was under the auspices of the French crown, in fact it was free, but depended on English wool for clothmaking.
Reason: the claims of the English king Edward III of the Plantagenet-Angevin dynasty (maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Fair of the Capetian family) to the Gallic throne.
Allies: England - German feudal lords and Flanders. France - Scotland and the Pope.
Army: English - mercenary. Under the command of the king. The basis is infantry (archers) and knightly units. French - knightly militia, under the leadership of royal vassals.
Turning point: after the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 and the Battle of Normandy, the national liberation war of the French people began with the tactics of guerrilla raids.
Results: On October 19, 1453, the English army capitulated in Bordeaux. Having lost everything on the continent except the port of Calais (remained English for another 100 years). France switched to a regular army, abandoned knightly cavalry, gave preference to infantry, and the first firearms appeared.
Greco-Persian War (50 years)
Collectively - wars. They dragged on with calm from 499 to 449. BC. They are divided into two (the first - 492-490, the second - 480-479) or three (the first - 492, the second - 490, the third - 480-479 (449). For the Greek city-states - battles for independence. For the Achaeminid Empire - aggressive.
Trigger: Ionian Revolt. The battle of the Spartans at Thermopylae has become legendary. The Battle of Salamis was a turning point. “Kalliev Mir” put an end to it.
Results: Persia lost the Aegean Sea, the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. Recognized the freedoms of the cities of Asia Minor. The civilization of the ancient Greeks entered a time of greatest prosperity, establishing a culture that, thousands of years later, the world looked up to.
War of the Roses (33 years)
Confrontation between the English nobility - supporters of two family branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Lasted from 1455 to 1485.
Prerequisites: “bastard feudalism” is the privilege of the English nobility to buy off military service from the lord, in whose hands large funds were concentrated, with which he paid for an army of mercenaries, which became more powerful than the royal one.
Reason: the defeat of England in the Hundred Years' War, the impoverishment of the feudal lords, their rejection of the political course of the wife of the feeble-minded King Henry IV, hatred of her favorites.
Opposition: Duke Richard of York - considered the Lancastrian right to rule illegitimate, became regent under an incompetent monarch, became king in 1483, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth.
Results: It upset the balance of political forces in Europe. Led to the collapse of the Plantagenets. She placed the Welsh Tudors on the throne, who ruled England for 117 years. Cost the lives of hundreds of English aristocrats.
Thirty Years' War (30 years)
The first military conflict on a pan-European scale. Lasted from 1618 to 1648.
Opponents: two coalitions. The first is the union of the Holy Roman Empire (in fact, the Austrian Empire) with Spain and the Catholic principalities of Germany. The second is the German states, where power was in the hands of Protestant princes. They were supported by the armies of reformist Sweden and Denmark and Catholic France.
Reason: The Catholic League was afraid of the spread of the ideas of the Reformation in Europe, the Protestant Evangelical Union strived for this.
Trigger: Czech Protestant uprising against Austrian rule.
Results: The population of Germany has decreased by a third. The French army lost 80 thousand. Austria and Spain - more than 120.
After the Peace Treaty of Munster in 1648, a new independent state - the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Holland) - was finally established on the map of Europe.
Peloponnesian War (27 years)
There are two of them. The first is the Lesser Peloponnesian (460-445 BC). The second (431-404 BC) is the largest in the history of Ancient Hellas after the first Persian invasion of the territory of Balkan Greece. (492-490 BC).
Opponents: Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and First Marine (Delian) under the auspices of Athens.
Reasons: The desire for hegemony in the Greek world of Athens and the rejection of their claims by Sparta and Corinthus.
Controversies: Athens was ruled by an oligarchy. Sparta is a military aristocracy. Ethnically, the Athenians were Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians.
In the second, 2 periods are distinguished. The first is "Archidam's War". The Spartans made land invasions of Attica. Athenians - sea raids on the Peloponnesian coast. Ended in 421 with the signing of the Treaty of Nikiaev. 6 years later it was violated by the Athenian side, which was defeated in the Battle of Syracuse. The final phase went down in history under the name Dekelei or Ionian. With the support of Persia, Sparta built a fleet and destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami.
Results: After imprisonment in April 404 BC. Feramenov's world Athens lost its fleet, tore down the Long Walls, lost all its colonies and joined the Spartan Union.
