Arnaud de Cervole
Arnaud de Cervole, also de Cervolles, de Cervolle, Arnaut de Cervole or Arnold of Cervoles (c. 1300 - 25 May 1366), known as l'Archiprêtre (The Archpriest), was a French mercenary soldier during the Hundred Years' War.
Early career
He was born into the minor nobility at Lot-et-Garonne in the Périgord somehere around the year 1300. Even though a layman, he possessed the ecclesiastical fief of Velines in Dordogne; because of it he was called the Archpriest of Vélines (Archiprêtre de Velines).[1] He was deprived of his benefice by the archbishop of Bordeux because he was mixing "with brigands and men of base extraction".[2]
In the early 1350s, Arnaud commanded a band of 80 men in South-West France, and was known for his skill at taking walled cities and castles by escalade (ladders). He was equally known for repeatedly crossing line between military service and banditry. In 1356, he was wounded and captured after fighting in the forces of the Count of Alençon at the Battle of Poitiers.[3] After his release he married a rich widow.
In 1357 Anaud was elected commander of the "Great Company", a loose collection of companies of freebooters of various nationalities. While most ordinary companies numbered no more than a few hundred men, the shifting membership brought at its height made up an army of about 2700 men.[2]
In 1358, Arnaud and his troops travelled to Avignon where Pope Innocent VI gave him 20,000 gold florins to distribute among his companions in exchange for giving up all the castles his men had occupied in the papal territories.[2]
Battle of Brignais
In 1362, he was hired by the French king John II to deal with English brigands, dispatching him with a small royal army led by the Comte de Tancarville and the Comte de la Marche. [1] This army was defeated at the Battle of Brignais, where Arnaud was captured.[4]
A failed crusade
In 1365, he was approached by Pope Urban V to lead a new Crusade to the Holy Land. The purpose was to clear the Pope's domains of mercenary bands with the added benefit of striking a blow against the Turks. Although the Archpriest did set about collecting mercenaries together, the project progressed slowly and many had dispersed again by the end of the year. A fresh attempt was made in 1366 but supply problems caused discontent. On 25 May 1366, Arnaud de Cervole was murdered by his own men.[5]
In popular culture
Arnaud (as 'L'archprestre et ses Bretons') is mentioned repeatedly in Guillaume de Machaut's Le livre dou voir dit.
Arnaud (as Arnaut) appears as a character in Michael Crichton's novel Timeline and its film adaptation, where he is played by Lambert Wilson.
References
- ^ Sumption, Jonathon (1999). Trial by Fire. London: Faber and Faber. p. 359. ISBN 0-571-13896-9.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c "Fourteenth-Century Mercenaries", USNA
- ^ Sumption (1999), p.360
- ^ Fowler, Kenneth (2001). Medieval Mercenaries: Vol. I The Great Companies. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 61–4. ISBN 0-631-15886-3.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Sumption (1999), pp523-4,532-3