A Fourteenth-Century Order of Chivalry: The 'Tiercelet

A Fourteenth-Century Order of Chivalry: The 'Tiercelet'Author(s): M. G. A. ValeSource: The English Historical Review, Vol. 82, No. 323 (Apr., 1967), pp. 332-341Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/560388 .

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332 FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ORDER OF CHIVALRY: April

important polemical works originated not from his overt patron, Lewis the Bavarian, but from the Luxemburgers who were ulti- mately to prove Lewis's successful rivals. As a corollary we would have to suppose that the Octo Quaestiones had been completed before the rapid deterioration of Wittelsbach-Luxemburg relations in the autumn of I341.

University of Durham H. S. OFFLER

A fourteenth-century order of chivalry the 'Tiercelet'

THE proliferation of chivalrous alliances and orders of knighthood in France, during the period I35o0-450, has recently given rise to a number of detailed studies.' From these, conclusions as to the political, military and social significance and value of chivalrous ideas have been drawn. On the one side, it has been argued that this aspect of later medieval chivalry could form part of a 'bizarre social code', having little pragmatic value.2 The practice of adopting noble 'brothers-in-arms' might be dismissed as a mere chivalrous flourish, adding little to the alliances made, for instance, by the counts of Foix.3 On the other hand, the tangible political utility of certain orders, such as the Toison d'Or, the Porc-epic, and the Hermine, seems plausible.4 Yet discussion has centred mainly upon the attempts of the princes and greater magnates - Burgundy, the Orleans family, and Louis de Bourbon - to create an affinity which could support and implement their more grandiose projects. At a less exalted level, the lower nobility of France displayed a propensity to form alliances which reveal a less idealistic preoccupation with the niceties of chivalrous behaviour. Such were the order of the Pomme d'Or,

i. A. Bossuat, 'Un ordre de chevalerie auvergnat; l'ordre de la Pomme d'or', Bulletin historique et scientifique de l'Auvergne, lxiv (I944), 83-98; H. Morel, 'Une association de seigneurs gascons au quatorzieme siecle', Milanges ... a Louis Halphen (Paris, 195I), pp. 523-4; L. d'Alauzier, 'Une association de seigneurs du Quercy en 1380', Annales du Midi, Ixiv (1952), 149-50; P. S. Lewis, 'Une devise de chevalerie inconnue, creee par un comte de Foix? Le Dragon', ibid. lxxvi (I964), 77-84.

2. Lewis, ubi supra, p. 8 . Also J. Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (London, 95 5), P. I03, but for a qualification of this argument, ibid. pp. I04-7. Also M. H. Keen,

The Laws of War in the late Middle Ages (London, I965), pp. 239-47. 3. P. S. Lewis, 'Decayed and non-feudalism in later medieval France', Bull. Inst.

Hist. Research, xxxvii (1964), p. I76. For more 'businesslike' agreements, see K. B. McFarlane, 'A business-partnership in war and administration, I42I-1445', ante, Ixviii (1963), pp. 290 ff.; also M. H. Keen, 'Brotherhood in arms', History, xlvii (1962), 8-9; and Archives Departementales de la Gironde, H. xI85, fo. I9r (27 July I457).

4. See Huizinga, op. cit. pp. 85-87. Also Baron de Reiffenberg, Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or (Brussels, I830), passim; and Lewis, Annales du Midi, ubi supra, pp. 77-78.


important polemical works originated not from his overt patron, Lewis the Bavarian, but from the Luxemburgers who were ulti- mately to prove Lewis's successful rivals. As a corollary we would have to suppose that the Octo Quaestiones had been completed before the rapid deterioration of Wittelsbach-Luxemburg relations in the autumn of I341.

University of Durham H. S. OFFLER

A fourteenth-century order of chivalry the 'Tiercelet'

THE proliferation of chivalrous alliances and orders of knighthood in France, during the period I35o0-450, has recently given rise to a number of detailed studies.' From these, conclusions as to the political, military and social significance and value of chivalrous ideas have been drawn. On the one side, it has been argued that this aspect of later medieval chivalry could form part of a 'bizarre social code', having little pragmatic value.2 The practice of adopting noble 'brothers-in-arms' might be dismissed as a mere chivalrous flourish, adding little to the alliances made, for instance, by the counts of Foix.3 On the other hand, the tangible political utility of certain orders, such as the Toison d'Or, the Porc-epic, and the Hermine, seems plausible.4 Yet discussion has centred mainly upon the attempts of the princes and greater magnates - Burgundy, the Orleans family, and Louis de Bourbon - to create an affinity which could support and implement their more grandiose projects. At a less exalted level, the lower nobility of France displayed a propensity to form alliances which reveal a less idealistic preoccupation with the niceties of chivalrous behaviour. Such were the order of the Pomme d'Or,

i. A. Bossuat, 'Un ordre de chevalerie auvergnat; l'ordre de la Pomme d'or', Bulletin historique et scientifique de l'Auvergne, lxiv (I944), 83-98; H. Morel, 'Une association de seigneurs gascons au quatorzieme siecle', Milanges ... a Louis Halphen (Paris, 195I), pp. 523-4; L. d'Alauzier, 'Une association de seigneurs du Quercy en 1380', Annales du Midi, Ixiv (1952), 149-50; P. S. Lewis, 'Une devise de chevalerie inconnue, creee par un comte de Foix? Le Dragon', ibid. lxxvi (I964), 77-84.

2. Lewis, ubi supra, p. 8 . Also J. Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (London, 95 5), P. I03, but for a qualification of this argument, ibid. pp. I04-7. Also M. H. Keen,

The Laws of War in the late Middle Ages (London, I965), pp. 239-47. 3. P. S. Lewis, 'Decayed and non-feudalism in later medieval France', Bull. Inst.

Hist. Research, xxxvii (1964), p. I76. For more 'businesslike' agreements, see K. B. McFarlane, 'A business-partnership in war and administration, I42I-1445', ante, Ixviii (1963), pp. 290 ff.; also M. H. Keen, 'Brotherhood in arms', History, xlvii (1962), 8-9; and Archives Departementales de la Gironde, H. xI85, fo. I9r (27 July I457).

4. See Huizinga, op. cit. pp. 85-87. Also Baron de Reiffenberg, Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or (Brussels, I830), passim; and Lewis, Annales du Midi, ubi supra, pp. 77-78.



founded in Auvergne on i January 53951; the association of four Gascon lords created n 4 February i3 6o2; and the covenensas drawn up between a group of Quercy knights on i April i38o.3 Of these, only the first can bear comparison with the extravagant devises and emprises founded by the princes.

Yet the principles of mutual defence and assistance, expressed in the statutes of the Pomme d'Or, to which a group of equals could pledge themselves by oath, had a wider application in the political conditions of fourteenth-century France. Among the archives of the house of Albret, now in the Archives Departementales des Basses- Pyrenees at Pau, the statutes of a corps et ordre founded by eighteen Poitevin and Saintongeais knights and esquires have been found.4 The document is not dated, but if other sources of evidence are employed, might be assigned to a date within the period 1377-85. On 4 January 178I, however, a provincial newspaper, published at Poitiers - the Affches de Poitou- contained a notice of this document.6 The printed text which ensues was claimed to be an 'exact copy', and was described as 'Statuts d'un ordre de chevalerie sous le nom du Tiercelet (ou de l'Epervier), arretes entre plusieurs seigneurs d'Aquitaine'.6 Unfortunately, the text contains a large number of palaeographical errors, as well as one significant distortion of sense.7 The transcriber of 1781 attributed the document to the mid- fourteenth century, 'sous Charles V, a en juger par la fabrique du papier en grande feuille fort epaisse et avec de gros filets, signes certains auxquels un Feudiste ne se meprend pas sur l'epoque'.8 Yet a more precise date may be ascribed if the internal evidence provided by a list of the order's members is cautiously correlated with the external evidence of their biographies.

The members of the order of the Tiercelet belonged to a social class which has been described as the 'middle' nobility. In 136o, each member of the Gascon association studied by M. Morel was styled nobilis et potens vir9 - just as Renaud de Vivonne, the head of the Poitevin order, is styled noble et puissent seignour. It is not an affinity created by a tres haut et souverain seigneur with which we are concerned, but an alliance of fraternity between equals, graced with the title of an 'order'. Of the eighteen members who formed the order, at least two appear as local lords of considerable authority in Poitou between I367 and I392. Renaud de Vivonne, lord of Thors, and

i. Bossuat, ubi supra, pp. 83-98; also A. Jacotin, Preuves de la Maison de Polignac (Paris, I899), ii. 172-3 for the statutes of the order.

2. Morel, ubi supra. 3. L. d'Alauzier, ubi supra. 4. Arch. Dep. Basses-Pyrenees, E. 873; titres de famille, Perigord et Limousin. 5. Annonces, afiches, avis et nouvelles ... de la province de Poitou (Poitiers, 1773-8i),

4 Jan. 178I, p. i, col. I. 6. Ibid. oc. cit. 7. 'Denis des Granges' for 'Louys de Granges'; 'Giras' for 'Girard'; 'frere' for 'sire',

etc.; and various omissions. 8. Ibid. p. 2, col. I. 9. Morel, ubi supra, p. 526.

1967 THE cTIERCELET2 333



334 FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ORDER OF CHIVALRY: April Renaud de Thouars, vicomte of Thouars and lord of Pouzauges, provide the most convincing evidence from which the document can be broadly dated. One aspect of the career of Renaud de Vivonne - his expedition to Prussia in 1362-3 - has already been discussed by M. Higounet, but it seems, from the available evidence, that the foundation of the order of the Tiercelet must be dated to a later period in his career.1 In the autumn of 1367, Renaud de Vivonne succeeded his grandfather, Savary III, as lord of Thors.2 His father, Savary IV, had married Marie Chasteigner, daughter of Thibaud, lord of Chasteigneraye, but had died by June 35 i.3 By o March 1363, Renaud had married Catherine, cadet daughter of Geoffroy II d'Ancenis, lord of Ancenis.4 During this period he served the English cause, and performed homage to the Black Prince on 13 September I 363.5 As our document punctiliously observes a prior obligation by all members of the order to the French Crown, and excepts the king and his kinsmen from the alliance, one can justly assume that it does not date from this decade.

It was not until i December 1372, after the capture of Fontenay- le-Comte (on 9 October) and Thouars, that both Renaud de Vivonne and Renaud de Thouars returned to French obedience.6 Hence the earliest date at which the order could have been established must fall soon after December 1372. Yet, on the dorse of our text, Renaud de Thouars is styled vicomte of Thouars, a lordship to which he succeeded only after the death of his father, Miles de Thouars, after 29 August 1377.7 By April I385 he had apparently died, after thirteen years in French allegiance.8 Both he and Renaud de Vivonne had been active in support of Charles V in I 379, and Vivonne served for him at the siege of Bouteville.9 Renaud de Vivonne became

I. C. Higounet, 'De La Rochelle a Torun: aventure de barons en Prusse et relations 6conomiques (I363-1364)', Le Moyen Age, Livre Jubilaire (I963), pp. 529 ff.

2. A[rchives] H[istoriques du] P[oitou], xxi. 269. Also Pere Anselme, Histoire gendalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, viii (Paris, I733), 762 ff. for a genealogy of the house of Vivonne.

3. A.H.P. xiii. 159-60 for Savary III; xxi. 269; also Froissart, Chroniques, ed. S. Luce, vii (Paris, 1869), 5I. 4. A.H.P. xi. 362; Froissart, op. cit., loc. cit.

5. A.H.P. xxi. 269-70; J. Delpit, Collection ginirale des documents franfais qui se trouvent en Angleterre, i (Paris, 1847), 109.

6. A.H.P. xix. I80 ff; Froissart, op. cit. viii, appendix, pp. clvi and 5 I. For the capture of Fontenay-le-Comte, see A.H.P. xix. 177 and 284. Also ibid. p. 377 for the oath taken by the inhabitants to Edward III on 2 Oct. 1361 in the church of Notre-Dame. The campaigns of Du Guesclin in Poitou during 1372 are fully described in R. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V (Paris, 1909-3 I), iv. 4 8-35.

7. A.H.P. xxi. 260, where P. Gu6rin has given a biographical sketch. 8. Ibid. p. 259, where he is described as 'le feu sire de Thouars' in a document of

April 385. Yet a 'viscontes de Thouars' is found in the list of Poitevin lords assembled at Niort on I June I385, with Renaud de Vivonne and other knights of the Tiercelet. See infra, p. 336, and Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove (Brussels, 1867-77), x. 329. This was probably Tristan de Thouars, who mustered for the Bourbon expedition on that day. See B[ibliotheque] N[ationale, Paris], MS. fr. 2I539, p. 287.

9. A.H.P. xxi. 269-70; xix. 203 n., where Renaud de Thouars and Renaud de Vivonne are also said to have been serving against the English at La Rochelle in 1379.



seneschal of Poitou by 23 March 1386, serving with a company against the English in Saintonge, Angoumois and Limousin, and died at the end of December I392 or the beginning of January I393.1 The material for even the sketchiest biographies of the remaining members of the order is not extensive. The third knight listed, Dreux Bonnet of La Chapelle-Bertrand, stood in a close relationship with Miles de Thouars and his son, Renaud. In 1351, 1357 and I374, his name is linked with those of the vicomtes of Thouars.2 On io June 1374, he was involved in a case before the Parlement of Paris, with Miles and Renaud, accused of violently dispossessing Jeanne d'Amboise of the castle of Tiffauges.3 He supported the Black Prince until 1369, when his lands and goods were confiscated by Charles V, and presumably returned to French obedience by December I 372.4

Pierre de Montfaucon, lord of St.-Mesmin, furnishes another instance of inter-relation, whether by blood or by homage, within the order. In I370, his daughter, Ide de Montfaucon, married Guillaume d'Appelvoisin, a future knight of the Tiercelet, thereby cementing the bond between them.5 In June 1377, Pierre de Mont- faucon is found engaged in litigation against the lord of Parthenay, concerning the lordship of St.-Mesmin.6 The litigious careers of members of the order can be traced in the Registers of the Parlement, and provide the sole evidence for their activities. In June I356, Pierre du Puy-du-Fou is found as defendant with his mother Catherine Fortin, accused by the abbey of St. Michel-en-l'Herm of abetting an armed assault on a monk of the abbey, carried out by Jean du Puy-du-Fou, esquire, with a company of men-at-arms.7 A verdict was given in the abbey's favour. In February I383, he acted as a witness in a transaction between the families of Laval and Surgeres.8 Of Louis de Granges, an act of i September 1378, drawn up before Hugues de Froideville, seneschal of Poitou, records a dispute between him and Jean de Granges, on the one side, with Jacques de Surgeres and the captain of La Flocelliere on the other, over the right to bear a certain coat of arms.9 Hugues de Beaumont, lord of Bois-Charruyau, appears later in the century, involved in disputes with Thibaud Baraton, lord of Tounelais in 1394, and with

I. Ibid. loc. cit.; also xiii. 380; xix. 362 n.; and xxiv. 122 for his last act as seneschal of Poitou, dated 21 Nov. I392. For quittances given by him for the wages of his company while serving in Guyenne under Louis de Sancerre, see B.N., MS. Clairambault cxiv, no. 735 (2 July 1387) and cv, no. I77 (9 Aug. I387).

2. H. Beauchet-Filleau, Dictionnaire historique et genealogique des families du Poitou (Poitiers, I891), i. 6I5. 3. A.H.P. xxi. 260.

4. Beauchet-Filleau, op. cit. p. 61 5; also, for Jean Bonnet (i8 June I 35 I), and Guillaume Bonnet as an esquire under Miles de Thouars (6 Aug. 1353).

5. A.H.P. xxi. II, 77 and 131. Beauchet-Filleau, op. cit. i. 83. 6. A.H.P. xxi. II.

7. Ibid. xix. 246; Archives Nationales X2 a 6, fo. 308v. 8. Ibid. xxi. I47. 9. Ibid. xxi. 161; for Jean de Granges see also ibid. p. 146.

I967 THE cTIERCELET) 335




Jean de Vivonne in 399.1 A little more evidence is forthcoming for the career of Guillaume d'Appelvoisin, the ninth knight of the order. In July 3 5 5, he was involved in a property dispute with the family of Retail before the Parlement2; on 23 September 1361 he was appointed captain of Poitiers and mattre des eaux etfor6ts in Poitou by John Chandos3; and appears as lord of Nieul in the treaty of submission to the French of i December 3 72.4 His career seems to have followed those of Renaud de Vivonne and Renaud de Thouars, in the matter of allegiance, after that date.

The other principal member of the order, Guillaume de la Voirie, also had a career worthy of a routier captain. In 1378, he was cited in a criminal case, as captain of Mortagne-sur-Sevre, and in April 1385, was granted letters of remission for his part in the abduction of a girl under the protection of Renaud de Thouars, one of his fellow- knights of the Tiercelet.5 Lastly, the identity of two other members - Hugues Girard and Jean Bonnet - can be mentioned. Hugues Girard is found in August 1373 as an executor of the lord of St.- Michel-le-Clau, and in June 385, as a man-at-arms in the company of Guillaume l'Archeveque, lord of Parthenay.6 About thirty years previously, Jean Bonnet is also found, as an esquire, in Parthenay's company at Angouleme on 8 June 3 5 .7 When it is noticed that four other knights of the order - Guillaume d'Appelvoisin, Pierre de Montfaucon, Pierre du Puy-du-Fou, and Jean de Granges - were also members of Parthenay's company in 1385, it might be possible to relate the foundation of the order to the events of that year.8 On i June 1385 , a number of Poitevin lords assembled at Niort, in order to serve in the force of Louis, duke of Bourbon, which was to reduce English garrisons in Poitou, Saintonge, and Limousin.9 A petition to the duke of Berry from certain Poitevin lords, including Parthenay, had led to the appointment of Bourbon as lieutenant. According to Froissart, the lords who met Bourbon at Niort included 'li viscontes de Touwars, messires Ainmeris de Touwars, seneschal de Limousin, li sires de Pons, li sires de Partenay, li sires de Tors, li sires de Poissances, et pluseur autre baron et chevalier de Poito et de Sain- tonge.'l? The writer of the Chronique du bon due Loys de Bourbon stated that the expedition received such considerable local support as 'tout Poictou estoit destruit pour cinq ou six places qui la estoient Angloises'.1 It is surely no coincidence that Renaud de Vivonne, the

i. Beauchet-Filleau, op. cit. i. 376. 2. A.H.P. xxi. 57. 3. Ibid. xix. 5. 4. Ibid. xix. i80. 5. Ibid. xix. 273 (1378); xxi. 259 (1385). 6. Beauchet-Filleau, op. cit. iv. I52 (1373); and B.N., MS. fr. 21539, p. 30. 7. Beauchet-Filleau, op. cit. i. 6 5. 8. Ibid. p. 83; B.N., MS. fr. 21539, pp. 30-3I (29 June 1385). 9. Froissart, op. cit. ed. Kervyn, x. 328-33.

io. Ibid. x. 329. An account of the campaign is given on pp. 374-6. ii. La Chronique du bon due Loys de Bourbon, ed. A. M. Chazaud (Paris, 1876), p. I36.

A hearth-tax of 60,ooo francs had been granted in Poitou, according to Froissart, and 600 men-at-arms retained for Bourbon's army (ed. Kervyn, x. 3 6-I7).



son of Renaud de Thouars, who had recently died, Guillaume

d'Appelvoisin, Pierre de Montfaucon, Pierre du Puy-du-Fou, Jean de Granges, Guillaume de la Roche, Matelin Herbert, Hugues Girard, and Pons and Louis de Montendre, should be found in Bourbon's expeditionary force of 385.1 Perhaps the bonds between them created by the order, with its uncompromising clauses on service in the French cause, may be discerned in operation here.

Behind the chivalrous form, with its somewhat involved statutes on the wearing of insignia, may lie a more practical political objective. Unlike the three similar alliances between equals which are known, the fraternity is described as a corps et ordre, thereby setting it apart from the more ephemeral confrairies or devises. Ideas of brotherhood- in-arms, contained in certain clauses, are a little reminiscent of the

league of Aire, concluded between Jean I, count of Foix, Jean IV, count of Armagnac, Jean, count of Astarac, Charles II, lord of Albret, Mathieu de Foix, and Bernard d'Armagnac in November I4I8.2 Mutual assistance was then promised 'lun a lautre et a totz ensembs et los totz a cascun en totz caas et en totz necessitatz et

guerres, et tant abondosement cum nature, dret escruit, et gentilesse . . . obliguen lo pay al filh, et lo filh al pay, et un fray germaa a lautre et cascun asson pays ou es nascat et assa cause publique'.3 The

knights of the Tiercelet were to be 'feaux et leaux lun a lautre et seront lun a lautre contre toute personne qui mal leur vouldroit porter', with a number of exceptions. Similarly, the members of the Pomme d'Or were to be 'bons et leaux amis et vrais ensamble, et de servir lun lautre envers tous et contre tous', with similar exceptions.4 Unlike the Gascon alliance of I36o,5 specific clauses on military assistance; on the giving of aid and counsel, especially on marriage; on arbitration in disputes between members; and on intervention against enemies during the absence of a member from his lands, are not found in the statutes of the Tiercelet. It also differed from the Quercy alliance of 1380 in that judgment of disputes between members was not included, and that previous alliances, as long as they did not prejudice the Crown of France, did not mean obligatory renunciation of the agreement.6

It is only in the statutes of the Pomme d'Or that striking similarities may be observed. The object for which the order was founded; the religious element, prescribing an annual service and the singing

I. See B.N., MS. fr. 21539, pp. 30-31, 73-75, 287-8. For quittances given by Renaud de Vivonne for the wages of himself and his company from 29 June until 9 Aug. I385, see MS. Clairambault cxiv, nos. I3I, 132, 733 and 734.

2. Arch. Dep. Basses-Pyrenees, E. 428 (i6 Nov. 1418). 3. Ibid. E. 428. 4. Jacotin, op. cit. p. 172. 5. Morel, ubi supra, pp. 524-6. 6. L. d'Alauzier, ubi supra, pp. I49-50. The Quercy knights were to be 'bos e fizels

et lials amixs la hu a l'autre contra tot home, fora lo rey de Fransa e sos frayres e sos hers, nostres senhors'. Mutual assistance was to be given 'ayssi coma si eran frayres girmas.'

THE C'TIERCELET 3

I967 337

VOL. LXXXII- NO. CCCXXIII y




of masses for the souls of every deceased member; and the choice of a leader by the 'brothers', as well as the 'excepting' clause, reveal a parallel set of motives and assumptions.1 If a comparison with other forms of association be sought, it must be with the alliances for mutual defence, rather than with the devises and emprises founded

by the princes. Although the order of the Tiercelet imitates the outward forms of a grander type of alliance, it clearly belongs to another world. Despite the rather esoteric rulings on the subtle variations which were to be made in the anatomy of its emblem, similar in principle to the graded scale of the order of the Dragon,2 the circumstantial evidence provided by the careers of its members

suggests a more realistic objective. The precise exceptions which were made in the statutes, whereby the Crown, liege and simple lords, and kinsmen were put outside the terms of the agreement, presuppose that the alliance was, like those contracted by the counts of Foix, politically and militarily viable. One cannot altogether discount the strength of such obligations as the sworn membership of a chivalrous order in later medieval France. In June 45 I, for instance, after the taking of Bordeaux for the first time, Gaston de

Grailly, captal de Buch, and his son Jean de Foix refused to take the oath of allegiance to Charles VII. They stood under a prior obligation to Henry VI, as members of the order of the Garter, which, wrote the Herald of Berry, 'is the order of the king of

England'.3 The terms of the alliance suggest collective military action. With

the exception of fighting the heathen in Prussia, where individual initiative seems to be involved, the members are to fight as a body. If they find themselves serving 'en aucun lieu' without their chief, Renaud de Vivonne, they are to obey Renaud de Thouars, interest-

ingly described as 'frere et compeignon dudit sire de Thors'. When this facet of the order is related to external evidence, such as the musters under Bourbon in I385, in which at least ten members are found, one might conclude that the order of the Tiercelet cemented the bonds of blood, allegiance, and common chivalrous assumption which already existed between them after their submission to Charles V late in 1372. The date of foundation must remain con-

jectural, but the available evidence seems to point to a date between 1377 and I385. Perhaps we should picture it as a fighting company, activated by ideas borrowed from the romances and from the

I. Bossuat, ubi supra, pp. 84-87. 2. Lewis, Annales du Midi, lxxvi. 83-84, where a similar gradation in the wearing of

insignia according to acts of military prowess is found. 3. Jean Chartier, Histoire de Charles VII, ed. D. Godefroy (Paris, i66i), part vi,

p. 463. The two lords 'rendirent et mirent toutes leurs places en l'obeissance du Roy, mais ils ne voulurent faire le serement, pource qu'ils estoient de l'Ordre de la Jartiere, qui est l'Ordre du Roy d'Angleterre'.



princely orders, attempting to transpose those ideas into reality on a narrower, provincial stage.1

The Queen's College, Oxford M. G. A. VALE

Archives Departementales des Basses-Pyr6nees, E. 873, no. i8

Dorse: Lordonance de certaines aliances entre ledit viconte de Thouars, seigneur de Thors, et autres jadiz faictes.

Membrane I: Ce est le corps et ordre instruit, promis et jure entre noble et puissent seignour2 messire Regnaud de Vivone, sire de Thors,3 et noble home messire Regnaud de Thouars,4 messire Dreux Bonet, messire Perre de Monfaucon, messire Pont de Montendre,5 messire Perre du Puy dufoul, messire Louys de Granges, messire Hugues de Beamont, messire Guillaume Dappellevoizin, messire Hugues Girard, messire Jehan Bonet, Louys Foucher, Guillaume de la Veyrie, Louys de Montendre, Guillaume de la Roche, Matelin Herbert, Jehan de Granges, et Jehan Barotea, a honnour, reverance et obeissence de Dieu, de Nostre Dame, et de toute la compeignie celestiau. Et a lobeissence, proteccion, et garde du roy de France et de sa majeste et de son reame o protestacion quar si aucuns desdiz freres faisoit chouse qui fust contre Dieu et contre la ley divine ou contre le roy, sa majeste, son reame, ou autres des reaux, que il 6 nest lentende desdiz freres de avoer a frere ne soubstenir cell qui en ce pecheroit.

Et premer[ement] il est promis et jure que lesdiz freres et es despens de chascun feront dire et celebrer a honnour et reverance de Dieu et de Nostre Dame et de toute la compeignie celestiau un servige par chascun an le jour de la feste Nostre Dame daougst 7 et le landemain de ladicte feste en liglize des freres precheours de Fontenay le conte par la re- dempcion des ames des freres treppasses dudit ordre.8

(Struck out: Item, que lesdiz freres qui sont et seront obeiront come a leur chep, et leur chep ont ordrene ledit noble sire de Thors et si il avenoit que lesdiz freres fussent en aucun lieu ou ledit sire de Thors ne fust.)

I. I wish to thank Dr. P. Chaplais and Mr. P. S. Lewis for their help and criticism during the preparation of this paper. Mr. Michael Maclagan and Professor A. Ewert have helped to solve an heraldic and textual problem. For any errors which may remain, I am entirely responsible.

2. Followed by le, struck out. 3. Thors, dip. Charente-Maritime, cant. Matha. 4. Thouars, dip. Deux-Sevres, arr. Bressuire. 5. Montendre, dip. Charente-Maritime, arr. Jonzac. 6. Followed by est, struck out. 7. 5 Aug. This was the day prescribed for the annual meeting of the order of the

Star, which also had the Virgin as its patron saint. See Y. Renouard, 'L'ordre de la Jarretiere et l'ordre de l'Etoile', Le Moyen Age, Iv (I949), 294.

8. Fontenay-le-Comte, dip. Deux-SRvres.

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Item, que lesdiz freres obeiront et serviront au roy de France et a sa majeste et es reaux de France et a iceulx seront feaux et leaux et lestat de la 1 coronne de France conserveront a leur povoir.

Item, que lesdiz freres et qui par le temps avenir seront obeyront soubz lobeissence surdicte audit noble sire de Thors come a leur chep le quel par leur chep il ont ordrene et promis tenir. Et se il avenoit que lesdiz freres fussont en aucun lieu ou ledit noble ne fust il 2 obeyroiet audit noble messire Regnaud de Thouars come frere et compeignon dudit sire de Thors.

Item, que lesdiz freres qui sont et seront dudit ordre seront feaux et leaux lun a lautre et seront lun 3 a lautre contre toute personne qui mal leur vouldroit porter, excepte le roy et les reaux de France. Et les seignours dont lesdiz freres seroiet homes de foy liges ou plains et leurs freres cousins germains et 4 nez de germains ainxi que celi desdiz freres qui haura a faire des autres le leur notiffiera et fera assavoir. Et il seront tenuz de le servir a sa necessite a leur despens. Item, lenseigne dudit ordre est et sera un tercellet 6 du quel les ortailx 6 et7 onglez 8 seront dazur. Et celi desdiz freres qui yra en 9 Pruce et fera la reize 10 sanz bataille il portera duve 11 ortail et ongle dor dudit tercelet. Item, celi qui fera ladicte reize et sera en bataille il portera ortail et duve dor dudit tercelet.

Membrane 2:

Item, pour chascune bataille que chascun desdiz freres fera en compeignie de roy ou lieutenn[ant] de roy ou siege de roy ou lieutenn[ant] de roy, il portera 12 un ortail et ongle dor dudit tercelet 13 si la ville ou chastea ou seroit ledit siege estoit pris par assaut. Et en cas 14 qil ne le seroit, len ne porteroit que duve ortail dor dudit tercelet.

Item, ceulx qui seront a trois rencontrez ilz porteront un ongle et ortail dor dudit tercelet.

Item, si aucuns des seignours du pais combatoiet a leur ennemis 15 ceulx desdiz freres qui seroiet a ladicte16 bataille porteront duve ortail dor dudit tercelet.

I. Followed by cour (a false start) struck out. 2. Followed by obeiroiet, struck out. 3. Followed by ?alar (a false start), struck out. 4. Followed by nes (a false start), struck out. 5. Tiercelet; the male of the falcon or sparrowhawk. Lat. tertiolus; see Frederick II,

The Art of Falconry, ed. and transl. C. A. Wood and F. M. Fyfe (Stamford, I943), book ii, chap. I9; also p. 627. 6. Orteil or arteil, toe.

7. Followed by u, struck out. 8. Ongle, claw. 9. Followed by Pru, and Prusse, struck out.

xo. Reise, military expedition, raid or chevauchbe; see H. Prutz, Rechnungen fiber Heinric von Derby's Preussenfahrten, ig9o-i und _g92 (Leipzig, I893), p. ix.

xI. Duve or duue orteil, dew-claw; a rudimentary toe found in certain birds. This reading has been suggested by Professor Ewert. The text is corrupt at this point, and an alternative reading dime or dismi orteil, meaning halved in the heraldic sense, might be plausible.

i2. Followed by ortail, struck out. x 3. Followed by sil, struck out. 14. en cas, interlined. I5. Followed by ?s, a false start. x6. Followed by an unfinished p, a false start.



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Item, si aucun desdiz freres combatoit en gage et il obtenist, il porteroit un ortail et ongle dor dudit tercelet.

Item, celi qui fera faute 1 en armes perdra le meilleur ortail dudit tercellet. Et lautre ortail empres par chascune faute que il fera.

I. Followed by pd, a false start of perdra.



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A Fourteenth-Century Order of Chivalry: The 'Tiercelet