Du Guesclin, Bertrand

(ca. 1320-1380)

   military figure

   Known as the "Eagle of Brittany," Bertrand du Guesclin was born in La Motte-Broons, near Dinon. He joined the service of the king of France around 1350 and defeated King charles II the bad of Navarre at Cocherel (1364). Du Guesclin fought alongside charles of blois at the Battle of Auray (1364), where he was taken prisoner. King charles v of France payed his ransom and gave him a large company of mercenaries, the Grandes Compagnes (1366), which he led out of France to fight in Castile. There, they aided King Henry of Trastamara (the future Henry II of Castile and Léon) in his war against his half brother, Peter the Cruel. Du Guesclin was defeated there by Edward, prince of Wales, at Najera in 1367, but eventually recovered the throne of Castile for Henry. upon returning to France, he was made constable and fought a war of harassment against the English (the hundred years' war) and other enemies of France, chasing them out of Poitou, Normandy, Guyenne, and Saintonge. Du Guesclin would crystallize the French hatred for the English, signaling one of the first patriotic manifestations of the French kingdom.