Arthur III, Duke of Brittany
Arthur III. (* August 24, 1393, † December 26, 1458 in Nantes ) was a Constable of France and Duke of Brittany. He was the second son of Duke John V of Brittany and Joan of Navarre.
From his father Arthur had been diagnosed as heir to the English county of Richmond, which was traditionally associated with the Breton ducal house. In fact, the English king had drawn this county after the death of Duke John V., and later awarded within the British royal family. Nevertheless, Arthur was best known as the Constable de Richemont.
As a self-owned, he received the counties of Montfort l'Amaury, Dreux and Ivry, and transferred the barony of Parthenay.
Biography
Arthur fought at a young age against the English, was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and captured, and therefore remained for the next five years in England. On October 10, 1423 he married Margaret of Burgundy in Dijon, daughter of Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy, and was appointed by King Charles VII for Constable on March 7, 1425. At the royal court in Bourges Arthur was sponsored by Yolande of Aragon and fell into rivalry with Georges de La Trémoille. After Arthur's brother, Duke John VI. of Brittany, in 1427 an alliance with England came in, Arthur fell briefly out of favor with the king.
With Joan of Arc and Dunois at his side, Arthur 1429 commanded the French army and defeated the English at Beaugency and Patay. After Trémoille 1433 was overthrown by intrigue, Arthur again took a leading position at the court. Through him came in 1435, the Treaty of Arras reached, in the King Charles VII reconciled with the Duke of Burgundy. On April 13, 1436 Arthur held solemn entry into liberated Paris and drove away in the following years the English out of Normandy and a part of Guyenne. The reconquest attempt of the English in Normandy, he fended off in the Battle of Formigny on April 15, 1450. For this, the duke of Touraine, he was awarded as a reward. Arthur had merit by the French army beings by there again introduced discipline and dance companies d' Ordonnance created, from which the present-day French gendarmes have developed.
Arthur had married on August 29, 1442 in Nerac second wife Jeanne, daughter of Charles II d' Albret, and on July 2, 1445 Catherine daughter of Count Peter I of Saint-Pol, . It was after the death of his nephew, Peter II, in September 1457 Duke of Brittany, but reigned for only about 14 months. Since Arthur died without issue, the duchy passed to his nephew Francis II, the son of his younger brother, Count d' Etampes Richard. Arthur is buried in the cathedral of Nantes.
His biography has become known by the report of Guillaume Gruels, one of his squires, under the title La Chronique d' Arthur III.