John II of France

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John II the Good
King of France (more...)
Image:JeanIIdFrance.jpg
Portrait of John painted on wood panel around 1350, Louvre Museum
Reign	22 August 1350 – 8 April 1364
Coronation	26 September 1350, Reims
Titles	Count of Anjou and Maine, Duke of Normandy (1332 – 1350) Count of Poitiers (1344 – 1350) Duke of Guyenne (1345 – 1350) John I, Duke of Burgundy (1361-1363) Jure uxoris Count of Auvergne and Boulogne (1349–1360)
Born	16 April 1319
Died	8 April, 1364
	Savoy Palace, London, England
Buried	Saint Denis Basilica
Predecessor	Philip VI
Successor	Charles V
Consort	Bonne of Bohemia (1315-1349) Joanna I of Auvergne (1326-1360)
Issue	Charles V (1338-1380) Louis of Anjou (1339-1384) John, Duke of Berry (1340-1416) Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342-1404) Jeanne, Queen of Navarre (1343-1373)
Royal House	Valois Dynasty
Father	Philip VI (1293-1350)
Mother	Joan of Burgundy (1293-1348)

John II of France (French: Jean II de France; April 16, 1319–April 8, 1364), was Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, and Duke of Normandy from 1332, Count of Poitiers from 1344, and Duke of Guyenne from 1345, and King of France from 1350 until his death, as well as Duke of Burgundy from 1361 on. By his marriage to Joanna I, Countess of Auvergne, he became Count by marriage of Auvergne and Boulogne from 1349-1460. John was a member of the Valois Dynasty and was the son of Philippe VI and Jeanne of Burgundy. John was nicknamed John the Good (Jean le Bon).

John's coronation as king took place in 1350 in the Notre-Dame de Reims. As king, John surrounded himself with poor administrators, preferring to enjoy the good life his wealth as king brought. The men he relied on to administer his kingdom were brutal thieves but eventually King Jean changed.

In 1354, Charles II of Navarre was implicated in the assassination of John's constable, Charles de la Cerda. Nevertheless, in order to have a strategic ally against the English in Gascony, on 22 February 1354, John signed the Treaty of Mantes with Charles. The peace did not last between the two and Charles event struck up an alliance with Henry of Grosmont, the first Duke of Lancaster. The next year (1355), John signed the Treaty of Valognes with Charles, but this second peace hardly last longer than the first. In 1355, the Hundred Years' War flared up again.

In the 1356 Battle of Poitiers against Edward, the Black Prince (son of King Edward III of England), Jean suffered a humiliating defeat and was taken as captive back to England. While negotiating a peace accord, he was at first held in the Savoy Palace, then at a variety of locations, including Windsor, Hertford, Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, and Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire. A local tradition in St Albans is that he was held in a house in that town, at the site of the 15th-century Fleur de Lys inn, before he was moved to Hertford. There is a sign on the inn to that effect, but apparently no evidence to confirm the tradition [1]. Eventually, John was taken to the Tower of London.

As a prisoner of the English, John was granted royal privileges, permitted to travel about, and to enjoy a regal lifestyle. At a time when law and order was breaking down in France and the government was having a hard time raising money for the defense of the realm, his account books during his captivity show that he was purchasing horses, pets and clothes while maintaining an astrologer and a court band.^{[citation needed]}

The 1360 Treaty of Brétigny set his ransom at 3,000,000 crowns. In keeping with the honor between himself and King Edward III, and leaving his son Louis of Anjou in English-held Calais as a replacement hostage, John was allowed to return to France to raise his ransom funds.

While King John tried to raise the money, his son Louis, accorded the same royal dignity, easily escaped from the English. An angry King John surrendered himself again to the English, claiming an inability to pay the ransom as the reason. The true motive of John's decision remains murky today, with many pointing to the devastation in France caused by war with England and the Jacquerie peasant uprising as likely candidates. His councillors and nearly the whole nation was critical of the decision, since they had raised the ransom through painstaking sacrifice. However Jean arrived in England in early 1364, looked upon by ordinary citizens and English royalty alike with great admiration. Accordingly, he was held as an honored prisoner in the Savoy Palace but died in London a few months later.

His body was returned to France, where he was interred in the royal chambers at Saint Denis Basilica.

Family and children

On July 28, 1332, at the age of 13, he was married to Bonne of Bohemia (d. 1349), daughter of John I (the Blind) of Bohemia. Their children were:

1. Charles V (January 21, 1338–September 16, 1380)
2. Louis I of Anjou (July 23, 1339–September 20, 1384)
3. John of Valois (November 30, 1340–June 15, 1416)
4. Philippe, Duke of Burgundy (January 17, 1342 – April 27, 1404)
5. Jeanne (June 24, 1343 – November 3, 1373), married Charles II (the Bad) of Navarre
6. Marie (September 12, 1344–October 1404), married Robert I, Duke of Bar
7. Agnès (1345–1349)
8. Marguerite (1347–1352)
9. Isabelle (October 1, 1348–September 11, 1372), married Gian Galeazzo I, Duke of Milan

French Monarchy
Capetian Dynasty
(Valois branch)

Image:FrAnc.gif Philip VI Children    John II John II Children    Charles V    Louis I of Anjou    John, Duke of Berry    Philip II, Duke of Burgundy Charles V Children    Charles VI    Louis, Duke of Orléans Charles VI Children    Isabella of Valois    Catherine of Valois    Charles VII Charles VII Children    Louis XI Louis XI Children    Charles VIII Charles VIII

On February 19, 1349 (old style), at Nanterre, he married Joanna I of Auvergne (d. 1361), Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne. She was widow of Philip of Burgundy, the deceased heir of that duchy, and mother of the young Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (1344-61) who became John's stepson and ward. John and Joanna had two daughters, both of whom died young:

1. Blanche (b. 1350)
2. Catherine (b. 1352)

He was succeeded by his son, Charles V.

External link

• John II on Find-A-Grave

References