Bertrand du Guesclin

Overview

Bertrand du Guesclin is the French commander whom Charles V appoints constable for ability and uses to shift the Hundred Years’ War from English-favored open battle toward attritional recovery.

Current Profile

The episode defines du Guesclin chiefly through strategic contrast. English victories at Crécy and Poitiers depended on battles that French armies repeatedly accepted under unfavorable conditions. Du Guesclin instead avoids offering another decisive engagement and helps recover territory through an attritional strategy.

His appointment is also presented as evidence of Charles V’s practical state rebuilding: command ability matters more than pedigree when the object is to reverse territorial loss without repeating earlier battlefield disasters.

Key Characteristics

• French commander elevated to constable under Charles V.
• Appointment framed as merit over pedigree.
• Avoider of open battle against English strengths.
• Practitioner of attrition and incremental territorial recovery.
• Military counterpart to French fiscal and administrative rebuilding.

Evidence

• Appointment: 321: Hundred Years’ War: A Storm of Swords (Part 4) says Charles chooses du Guesclin for ability rather than birth.
• Strategic method: 321: Hundred Years’ War: A Storm of Swords (Part 4) says he avoids open battle and favors attrition.
• Result: 321: Hundred Years’ War: A Storm of Swords (Part 4) places that strategy inside the collapse of most English holdings.

Qualifications

The source provides a strategic summary rather than campaign-by-campaign evidence. Du Guesclin’s individual contribution cannot be separated here from Charles V’s revenues, local loyalty, English fiscal problems, disease, and treaty politics.

What Changed

• Created du Guesclin’s profile as the commander of battle avoidance and territorial attrition.

Relationships

• Charles V of France - king who appoints him and supplies the wider recovery program.
• Edward the Black Prince - English commander and ruler whose position deteriorates during French recovery.
• Attritional Reconquest - military approach most directly associated with his role in the episode.
• Battlefield Victory and Political Control - strategic problem answered by declining battle and attacking control over time.
• Hundred Years’ War - conflict whose first-phase balance he helps reverse.