Three
Portuguese vs. Three French at Paris (1415)
It happened that many knights and
squires of the realm of France gathered together, and they saw that there were
many Portuguese come from the realm of Portugal with the intention of doing
arms. And they concluded together that they would find three noble men which
they would send to the Portuguese
to say and indicate to them that they knew well that they had come from the
realm of Portugal with the intention
to have the acquaintance by arms of certain noble men of the realm of
France. Because of this they had found among them three noble men which, they
made known to them, were ready to accomplish their desire and will. That is to
say to do arms against three noble men of their company, which would be to fight
with axe, sword and dagger until each one or the other of them were surrendered
to their companions or was carried to the ground .
When this thing was declared to the Portuguese they took joy in answering
that day would be quickly accomplished. And they agreed to the arms aforesaid,
of which the Duke of Guienne would be judge, and they would do them outside
Paris at one of the lodgings of the king between St. Denise and Montmartre
called Santthouin.
When the day came to do these arms, with
the Duke of Guienne on his scaffold, accompanied by his uncle the Duke of Berry,
the three Frenchmen, that is to say Sir Francois de Grignaulx, Marignon de
Songnacq and la Rocque, entered
into the lists which had three pavilions erected for the three. but before they
entered within their pavilions they went to do reverence to the Duke of Guienne
their judge. Afterwards, there came the three Portuguese, that is to say Alavaro
Continge, Pierre Gondsalve de Mallefaye and Rumaindres, who also did reverence
to the judge and entered their three pavilions. Afterwards as is customary they
made the cries, warnings and other ceremonies. These done and accomplished the
six noble men issued out of their pavilions dressed in coats of arms and the
Portuguese bearing the red cross on their coats of arms, holding their axes in
their hands and each furnished with their other weapons.
They came together to fight; that is to say Sir Francois de Grignaulx
against Sir Alvaro Continge, Marignon de Songnacq against Pierre Gonsalve and la
Rocque against Rumaindres. And it
was good to see them. In truth they carried themselves as good men at arms.
It happened by fortune that Rumaindres
who was held to be the most powerful of the six was fighting with his axe and
pushing with the spike with all his force against la Rocq to make him retreat.
When la Rocq felt that Rumaindres was putting forth all of his strength
to make him recoil, he stepped back a pace and with this move Rumaindres fell on
one knee. Then la Rocq struck him and stretched him out on the ground.
I do not know if the Portuguese surrendered or not, or if their was any
speech between them; but it is true that la Rocq left him and went to aid his
companion Marignon, and they both found themselves against Pierre Gonsalve who
quickly surrendered. And then Maringnon and la Rocq went to aid sir Francois de
Grignaulx who fought the Portuguese knight.
And then the three Frenchmen found themselves against the Portuguese
knight who fought against the three. And
in fighting Marignon gave him a great swinging blow which made him fall to
earth, and so the arms were accomplished of which I have told you.. Afterwards,
they asked the Portuguese to which of the Frenchmen he surrendered and he
responded that he had surrendered to all three. And truly he acquired, in spite
of his misfortune, great honor that day and many held him to be the bravest of
the six.
And around the time of the battle of the
six in the year 1414* in the same place of Santhouin in the month of February
the Portuguese named Diego D’Ollumen, did arms against a Breton named
Guillaume de la Haye which Portuguese and Breton did combat without either the
one or the other being defeated.
* Old style. Prior to the 16th c, the year was generally
considered to start at Easter. By modern reckoning this would be 1415.
Jean Le Fevre, Seigneur de Saint-Remy Chronique Paris 1876 I. 208-211
Translation copyright 2003 Will McLean
But at this time there were also knights of Spain and
Portugal. Of these three from
Portugal well renowned for chivalry took, through I know not what mad
enterprise, the field of battle to meet with three knights of France; that is to
say, Francois de Grinquos ... La Roque... Morigon; and it was ordained to the
outrance for the 23rd day of February, the vigil of St Peter and St. Ouin, and
it was before sunrise ... that they entered the field; but in God's good
truth, it didn’t take longer than it takes to go from the gate of St. Martin
to that of St. Antoine by horseback, before the Portuguese were discomfited by
the three French of which La Roque was the best.
Anon. Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris in Nouvelle Collection des Memoires pour Servir a l'Histoire de France Paris 1836 Vol. 2. p.644
http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout.exe?E=0&O=N030877
Translation
copyright Will McLean, 2003
There were three other Portuguese, who
required to do arms against three French, who were a knight and two squires.
And the knight was named Sir Francois de Grignaud, one of the squires,
Archambaud de la Roque, and the other, Maurignot, and all three were Gascons.
And they made known to the Portuguese, who were nearby, that if they
wanted to demand or require anything of them, that they would defend themselves.
Then the Portuguese thanked them and chose an hour and day and place when
and where the work would be done. And
so each one made his provisions as well as he could.
When the day had arrived, the lords who were to be in charge went to
their scaffolds where there were men placed to guard the field.
The English were to advise and accompany the Portuguese.
There was one difficulty, who was to
enter the field first. But it was
said that the Portuguese should enter first, and that was reasonable, because in
effect they were plaintiffs. And so
they went with great pomp, accompanied by lords of England and of their own
country. Then, almost at the
same time the French entered equally well and honorably accompanied. On one side and the other the trumpets sounded loudly:
all showing their eagerness to do their duty.
After the cries that were customary in such matters were done, the
parties arose equipped with their armor and weapons appropriate to such
occasions.
It seems that
each of the Portuguese chose a Frenchman. The knight, who was a valiant
man ,went and advanced and presented himself to Sir Francois. According to what
they say, the most valiant of them all, and most renowned in war, addressed
himself against la Roque, and the other to Maurignon. And when they came to
their axes the one who fought la Roque pierced him beneath the top of his piece,
and when he felt that the iron of his axe was taken within the harness, he began
to push strongly, seeking to open up the harness.
And when la Roque perceived this, he held himself firm, with the
intention of doing what he would do next: when he perceived that the Portuguese
leaned forward to push more strongly, all of a sudden with the swiftness of his
body with which he was most skillful, he stepped back so that the Portuguese
fell, carried away headlong. La
Roque gave him two strokes with the axe on the head, so that he was thoroughly
stunned, and drew his sword to thrust him in the behind:
others said that he lifted his visor and that he wanted to strike him in
the face. Anyway, whatever he did,
the Portuguese surrendered, and was discomfited, and taken by the guards.
After this la Roque looked to his
companions to see who had the most to do, and he went with the full force of his
axe, and gave such a blow to the one who was having to do with Maurignon that he
staggered him, and Maurignon with another stroke made him fall to earth and
surrender. And then the two, that
is to say la Roque and Maurignon, went to help Grignaux who was badly worked
over and wounded, particularly in the left hand, which was pierced through so
that he was unable to use it. But
when the knight saw the two others come against him he saw that he could no
longer resist and said in a loud voice “I surrender to you three”. And it
was said that all had done very valiantly: The French went through Paris,
trumpets sounding and the people were joyful that they had the honor.
Jean Juvenal des Ursins Histoire de Charles VI, Roy de France in Nouvelle Collection des Memoires pour Servir a l'Histoire de France Paris 1836 Vol. 2 p.503-504
http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout.exe?E=0&O=N030877
Translation copyright Will McLean, 2003Go back to Saint Michael's home page