[MR] Wikipedia: Death of John, Duke de Berry

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1416, John, Duke of Berry, died of natural causes. John is
largely remembered as a great patron of the arts, and commissioned the
famous illuminated manuscripts *Les* *Tres Riches Heures . *John was much
more than an art collector. He was one of the major leaders in France
during the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

The Duke of Berry was a younger son of the unfortunate King John II of
France who was captured at the Battle of Poitiers and held for . . . well .
. . a king's ransom (and likely poisoned by "Charles the Bad", the King's
son-in-law). During the later minority of Charles V (aka "Charles the Mad")
and the that king's subsequent mental illnesses, the Duke of Berry shared
the regency with his brother Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and later
with Burgundy's son and successor John the Fearless. It was the over
power-plays during the regency that the Armagnac-Burgundy civil war
erupted. The civil war nearly delivered France to England in the Hundred
Years War.

Duke John was aligned with the Armagnac side (he was married to Joan of
Armagnac). More than just a side-show to the Hundred Years War, the
conflict kept the Royal/Armagnac allies off balance and allowed the English
(who were allied with the Burgundians) to dominate much of France. The Duke
of Berry did not take an active role in the conflict, but tried to act as a
peace-maker and voice of reason between his fratricidal relatives.

More about John, Duke of Burgundy can be found at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_Duke_of_Berry .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆