Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки (Oct 2024)
Byzantine Epic of the French Knight Chateaumorand
Abstract
This article discusses French-Byzantine relations in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries and France's participation in the struggle against Ottoman expansion. The author shows the role of the French knight Jean de Chateaumorand (1352–1429) in the defence of Constantinople. When the Ottomans besieged the Byzantine capital, Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos asked the French King Charles VI for military assistance. In 1399, the king sent a troop of knights to Constantinople under the command of Marshal Boucicaut. Among them was the king’s adviser Jean de Chateaumorand. The knights, in conjunction with the Byzantine warriors, successfully defended the city for a period of six months; however, their endeavours to lift the siege ultimately proved unsuccessful. Following the departure of Manuel II and Marshal Boucicaut for the West, a contingent of the French forces, under the command of Chateaumorand, remained in Constantinople and continued to defend the city for a period of two and a half years. It is evident that the substantial support provided by the French troops was not ultimately decisive. The Byzantine Emperor John VII Palaiologos, who ruled during Manuel II’s stay in Western Europe, provided Chateaumorand with relics and jewels from the imperial treasury as a form of remuneration for his military service. Despite the French sources designating Chateaumorand as the primary saviour of the Byzantine capital, the Byzantine writers do not even mention the involvement of the French knights in the defence, attributing the city’s salvation solely to the intercession of the Mother of God. The history of Chateaumorand’s participation in the struggle against the Ottomans and in the defence of Constantinople demonstrates the distinctive characteristics of French-Byzantine relations during this period and sheds light on crucial aspects of the organisation of the protection of the Byzantine capital, which was besieged by Sultan Bayezid I.
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