LALAING, JACQUES DE
(ca. 1420–1453). Born to a noble family still known in Belgium, Lalaing was a model of
Burgundian knighthood, according to the Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing (1470–
72), variously attributed to Georges Chastellain, Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Remy, and
Antoine de La Sale. It can be compared with two other heroic biographies produced in
Burgundy at about the same time, the Livre des faits de Gilles de Chin and Gillion de
Trazenies. In all these works, fiction mixes freely with reality. At the tournament of the
Fontaine des Pleurs near Chalons-sur-Saône in 1450, Lalaing took on twenty-one
challengers. He was killed by a cannonball at a siege near Ghent in 1453.
Charity Cannon Willard
Le livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing. In Œuvres de Georges Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de
Lettenhove. Brussels: HeuserDevaux, 1866, Vol. 8.
Born, Robert. Les Lalaing, une grande “mesnie” hennuyère. Brussels: Éditeurs d’Art Associés,
1986.
Doutrepont, Georges. “Le Livre des faits du bon chevalier messire Jacques de Lalaing, une
biographie romancée du XVe siècle.” Journal des savants (1939): 221–32.
LANCASTER, DUKES OF
. The first two dukes of Lancaster played prominent roles in France during the Hundred
Years’ War. Edward III’s second cousin Henry of Grosmont (1310–1361) was created
duke in 1351, some years after leading a brilliant campaign against the French in
Aquitaine. Arriving at Bordeaux on August 9,1345, he took Bergerac two weeks later,
defeated a French army at Auberoche on October 21, and captured La Réole by
November 2. These victories reversed the tide of war in the southwest and stripped
Languedoc of its forward defensive positions. A decade later, Lancaster was back in
France, campaigning successfully in Normandy and Brittany in 1355–57.
In 1359, Henry’s daughter Blanche married John of Gaunt (1340–1399), Edward III’s
fourth (and second surviving) son. When her father and sister died of plague, Blanche
inherited vast possessions and Edward created John duke of Lancaster in 1362. John’s
first leading military role came in the summer of 1369, when he took several thousand
men to Calais and ravaged northern France and upper Normandy. Although he did not
bring the French to battle, his expedition did force them to give up hopes of attacking
England.
In the next five years, Lancaster was extremely active, retaining more soldiers in that
time than any other English commander in the 14th century. His principal French
expedition was in 1373, when he marched south from Calais in August with a large force,
ravaging Picardy and Vermandois. By the end of September, he had passed through
Champagne, but the French avoided battle. With colder weather approaching, the
alternative to retreat was to pass across the rugged hills and swollen rivers lying between
the Seine and English Aquitaine. When he reached Bordeaux near the end of the year, he
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 978