April 03, 2022

The Prince of Orange and his uncle

Time for some character figures now, and a bit of background.

This is the Prince of Orange, Jean de Châlon-Arlay IV, who in 1477 led a rebellion in the Franche-Comté (the County of Burgundy) against the occupying French forces. The story is a bit more complex than that though, as at first he was a leader of the French invaders himself. The house of Châlon held territory in both the duchy and the county of Burgundy as well as France, but an inheritance dispute had led to a divide in the family. Jean's grandfather had split his inheritance between children from two separate marriages - the eldest son Guillaume succeeded him as Prince of Orange, but some of his estates went to his two younger sons Louis and Hugues. There was clearly a dispute between the half-brothers, and the Duke of Burgundy intervened in support of the younger line. Guillaume retreated to his French territories, and thus allied himself with Louis XI of France. He died in 1475 and was succeeded by his son Jean. Louis de Châlon died fighting at the Battle of Grandson the following year, so at the start of the War of the Burgundian Succession we have Jean, Prince of Orange in France and his remaining half-uncle Hugues, now Lord of Château-Guyon (or Châtel-Guyon), in Burgundy.

Louis XI had promised to restore the family's Burgundian territories to Jean, so the Prince of Orange found himself leading the French invasion of Burgundy alongside Georges de La Trémoille. Through his diplomatic efforts the duchy promptly swore allegiance to France, and the Franche-Comté was in the process of doing so when the cracks began to appear - La Trémoille refused to hand over the Châlon family estates, and clearly the two noblemen were not working well together. The Prince of Orange was then persuaded to switch sides by none other than his uncle Hugues, Lord of Château-Guyon. The recently occupied towns in the Franche-Comté promptly evicted their French garrisons, and the Comtois nobles united behind the Prince of Orange to fight against the French and drive them out of the county. For a detailed account of what happened, read my article on the war here.

The family tree I've put together below should make the familial relationships clear - the names in boxes are those who were alive in 1477. Note the two cousins Charles and Leonard de Châlon, whom I have also found among the listed Burgundian nobles who resisted the French. Charles de Châlon had his lordships confiscated by Louis XI in 1477, though they were restored after the Treaty of Arras (1482). He also fought at the battle of Guinegate (1479), where he was wounded.

When I first found out about these events, the dispute was described as being between the Prince of Orange and 'his uncles'. Looking at the dates of deaths, I wonder if perhaps the only troublesome uncle was Louis - after his death his younger brother Hugues clearly came to some agreement with the Prince, so perhaps he was the more pragmatic of the two?

The Prince of Orange was the main figurehead of the Comtois rebellion in 1477, and his betrayal was taken as a great insult by Louis XI, who ordered him to be captured and executed, and had an effigy of him publicly hanged. Interestingly though I haven't found any accounts of actual fighting he did, and in the following years he is noticeably absent from the sources whilst the war continued. Hugues de Châlon on the other hand led several thousand Swiss mercenaries against Georges de La Trémoille at the bridge of Émagny in 1477 - after a hard-fought battle he was captured and his army forced to retreat. He was at some point ransomed, but in 1479 was persuaded to serve Louis XI through the arrangement of a long-desired marriage to Louise of Savoy (who was the king's niece) - he subsequently played no further part in the wars, and died in 1490.

At some point following (or perhaps during) the failed war in the Franche-Comté, the Prince of Orange moved to the Low Countries, where he served Maximilian as both a military leader and diplomat, campaigning against rebels in Luxembourg and Liège, being made stadtholder and captain-general of Namur for a while, and going on a diplomatic trip to England. Following the Treaty of Arras (1482) he made peace with Louis XI and regained his Burgundian possessions (both the duchy and the county were by then held by the French), and after the latter's death the following year he appears to have maintained good relations with both sides. He settled in Brittany, where he exercised great influence (his mother being a sister of Duke Francis II). He sided with the Orleanist party during the so-called 'Mad War', and was captured at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier (1488). Following his release both Maximilian and the French regency government attempted to use his influence on the issue of Anne of Brittany's marriage - ultimately she was married to Charles VIII of France, who rewarded the Prince of Orange for his part in this. Following Maximilian's reconquest of the Franche-Comté in 1492 he was made stadtholder of the county, yet at the same time had a seat on the French royal council.



Both the Prince and his standard bearer are metal Perry riders on Steel Fist horses. The Perry riders fit on the horses very well, though I did have to sculpt the front parts of the saddles myself. Hugues de Châlon is entirely made from the Perry plastic kits, the one conversion being the horse which I managed to get into a walking pose by cutting and re-joining two different left sides. His standard bearer is a Perry metal.

The heraldry for the Prince of Orange was easy to find, but what to use for Hugues de Châlon was more of a problem. I haven't been able to find any source for his heraldry, though I have found that of his elder brother Louis, which is that of the main Châlon-Arlay line differenced by a crescent. As Louis died without a son and his lordship of Château-Guyon passed to his younger brother, I'm going with the idea that Hugues adopted his elder brother's arms as well as his lordship in 1476.

Louis de Châlon's heraldry is still a bit of a question though, as some sources have one crescent and some two, and some without (i.e. the un-differenced Châlon-Arlay arms). Armorials for the Order of the Golden Fleece (he was a member since 1468) show just one crescent. It's perhaps possible at the battle of Grandson (where he died) he was using the un-differenced Châlon arms, the same as his nephew at the time. His elder brother had died the previous year, and perhaps he took the opportunity to use the un-differenced family arms to try and make himself head of the family rather than his nephew? Who knows.... I'm going to go with two crescents for Hugues de Châlon as I think it looks best!

For images of Louis de Châlon's possible heraldry, check out the following links:

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