The Ransom of Olivier du Guesclin

Olivier du Guesclin is probably best known for the fact that he was the younger brother of Charles V's constable, the legendary Bertrand du Guesclin. The du Guesclin brothers had an unfortunate knack of getting captured. Bertrand himself was captured four times by the English and their allies between 1359 and 1367, ¹ while another brother, Guillaume, the youngest, had to be ransomed for 2,000 francs from the king of Navarre and an English esquire called Henry Cormie in 1365. ² Olivier's turn came in the winter of 1378-9, during the siege of Cherbourg. Until Bertrand's death in 1380, Olivier spent much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother, ³ and the siege of Cherbourg was no exception: it was Bertrand who commanded the besieging French army, Olivier serving as one of his captains. Cherbourg was one of the fortresses in the Cotentin owned by the king of Navarre, Carlos II (the Bad). In July 1378, in return for a promise of English help against Castile, Carlos had agreed to lease Cherbourg to the English for three years, ⁴ and during the subsequent French siege in the autumn and winter of 1378-9 it was defended by a joint force of English and Navarrese. The siege was a failure. Although there had been some preliminary skirmishing in the autumn, it was not until early November that the main body of the French army with its heavy artillery arrived. In early December Sir John Arundel, marshal of England, crossed from Southampton to take charge of the defence. ⁵ Olivier's capture seems to have occurred within a few weeks, if not a few days, of Arundel's arrival, and soon after this the siege was abandoned, mainly because the weather had turned bitter. ⁶