The
100 Years War,
the Misery and Crisis of the XIV Century, the Century
of Darkness
In 1348 the black plague claimed the lives of one third of the population
and in 1350 the mere mention of the name of the Black Prince, which
now sounds like a make of chocolate, made knees shake. The elder
son of Edouard III, the prince of Walles was called the Black Prince
because of the colour of his armour.
He
then traversed the south west of France. During this miserable time,
due to the treaty of Bretigny in 1360, Rouergue became British.
For three years the King of France was an English prisoner and was
asked for an enormous ransom and ceded one quarter of his kingdom
of France.
“To God, to comrades-in-arms” was the cry of the mercenaries
who attacked the towns and villages. In the area of Espalion in
the north the soldiers of Arnaud Cervole (nicknamed Archipretre)
violently robbed, plundered and kidnapped children for their own
benefit to serve as pages.
The situation was the same in Larzac and around Camares with the
Aragonais mercenaries of Henri de Trastamare.These soldiers, who
received no pay, initially attacked remote farmers who lived away
from the security of cities. Meeting little or no resistance these
large companies of soldiers established themselves in the area for
half a century. The
castles and fortified churches which scatter Aveyron today were
constructed at a price with huge sacrifices in order to achieve
defence against these country hooligans (see above Belcastel). In the absence of any reaction
from the legitimate authorities the monks built towers for their
villagers to protect them, their families and their possessions.
It is only in 1391 that armies tempted by more pay under Jean d’Armagnac,
marched towards Lombardie.
