(1402-1468). The bastard of Louis, duke of Orleans, Jean was raised in his father’s home and became the effective head of the house of Orleans after the capture of his legitimate half-brothers at Agincourt in 1415. Naturally a member of the Armagnac faction, he joined the dauphin Charles’s service. His victory at Montargis in 1427 inaugurated a distinguished military career, and his successful defense of Orleans until relieved by Jeanne d’Arc in 1429 ensured his fame. Though he was to play an intermediary role in both the Praguerie (1439) and the Guerre du Bien Publique (1465), he was undoubtedly the most loyal and effective Valois commander of the era. His campaigns in the Seine basin culminated in the triumphal royal entry into Paris in 1436. Jean played a major role in the military reforms of the early 1440s, and between 1449 and 1451 he commanded major elements of the armies that reconquered Normandy and Guyenne. Made count of Dunois in 1439 and count of Longueville in 1444, he held important positions in the government of reunited France, serving both abroad as an ambassador and at home as royal commissioner in the arrest of the duke of Alengon and the rehabilitation of Jeanne d’Arc. After a reconciliation in 1465, he served as a key adviser of Louis XI until his death in 1468.
Paul D. Solon
[See also: ARISTOCRATIC REVOLT; JEANNE D’ARC: ORLEANS CAMPAIGN; RECONQUEST OF FRANCE]
Leon-Martin, Louis. Dunois, le batardd’Orleans. Paris: Colbert, 1943.
Merouville, M. Caffin de. Le beau Dunois et son temps. Paris: Les Sept Couleurs, 1961.
World History
