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Château Gaillard is a medieval castle
ruin overlooking the River Seine above the commune of Les Andelys, in
the French department of Eure, in Normandy.
Following the Scottish defeat at the
Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 during the Second War of Scottish
Independence, the child-king David II and certain of his court were
forced to flee to France for safety. At the time, southern Scotland was
occupied by the forces of King Edward III of England. David, then nine
years old, and his bride Joan of the Tower, the twelve-year-old daughter
of Edward II, were granted the use of Château Gaillard by Philip VI. It
remained their residence until David's return to Scotland in 1341. David
did not stay out of English hands for long after his return; he was
captured after the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346 and endured an
eleven-year captivity in the Tower of London.
John Douglas,
son of
Archibald Douglas (died 1333), died before 1342 in the
retinue of David II of Scotland in France, possibly at Château Gaillard.
Hugh the Dull had probably escaped to
France to the court of David II at Château Gaillard in 1337. Here it was
that his young nephews William Douglas, 1st
Earl of Douglas and Archibald Douglas,
3rd Earl of Douglas had sought refuge. Certainly by that date, Edward
III had appointed Andrew de Ormiston as prebend of Hugh's parish of
Roxburgh.
William Douglas of Liddesdale
visited the King, now 14 years old, at Chateau Gaillard following his
success in Fife when, in 1337, he captured St Andrews, then held by the English.
He was presumably seeking money. He recruited some crossbowmen and
on his way back to Scotland he hired some French privateers, led by Hugh Hautpool, who helped him blockade the Tay so that the Scots were able to
capture English-held Perth, where William was wounded in the thigh by a
crossbow, and Cupar.
During the Hundred
Years' War between the English and French crowns, possession of the
castle switched several times. Château Gaillard—along with Château de
Gisors, Ivry-la-Bataille, and Mont Saint-Michel—was one of four castles
in the Normandy which offered resistance to Henry V of England in 1419,
after the capitulation of Rouen and much of the rest of the Duchy.
Château Gaillard was besieged for a year before it was surrendered to
the English in December 1419; all the resisting castles except Mont
Saint-Michel eventually fell, and Normandy was temporarily returned to
English control. Étienne de Vignolles, a mercenary (routier) known
as La Hire, then re-captured Château Gaillard for the French in 1430.
However, the English were revived by the capture and execution of Joan
of Arc, and although by then the war was turning against them, a month
later they captured Château Gaillard again. When the French gained
ascendency again between 1449 and 1453 the English were forced out of
the region, and in 1449 the castle was taken by the French for the last
time.
Archibald Douglas, Earl of Douglas and Wigton, Lord of
Galloway, Douglas and Bothwell, called Archibald the Grim or Black
Archibald, made his first major appearance in history in 1356 at the
Battle of Poitiers where he was captured by the English. Archibald had
accompanied his cousin, William Lord of Douglas, to serve King John II
of France in his wars against the Black Prince. Edward III of England
had concluded truce negotiations with the Scots lasting from 25 March
until Michaelmas, following the Burnt Candlemas of 2 February. During
the truce, Earl William had secured safe passage to travel to Château
Gaillard to visit David II; amongst his entourage was the 28-year-old
Archibald. Once in France, in the chivalric spirit of the age the
Douglases joined the French army, to prevent their harnesses rusting
through inactivity.
Note:
I wonder if there is some conflation of stories regarding the several
Douglases who used Galliard as a refuge?
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