Battle of Mirebeau 1202
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The battle of Mirebeau took place on the 1st of August 1202 when a force, led by the 15 year old Arthur of Brittany and Hugh IX de Lusignan, that had trapped Eleanor of Aquitaine at Mirebeau Castle were surprised and overrun by an army of John of England.1 Arthur and Hugh de Lusignan, along with some 200 others were captured, and Arthur was handed over to John by William de Braose. Arthur's sister Eleanor was also captured and sent to England where she remained a prisoner until her death in 1241.2
Contemporary reports say that John treated his prisoners very badly, and this caused great resentment amongst the families of those captured.3 As a result large parts of John's Angevin Empire turned against him and rebelled, switched there allegiance to Philip II of France.4 John had Arthur transferred to Rouen where he 'disappeared' on or around the 3rd of April 1203, later accounts say that John in a frenzy struck him with a stone and had is body thrown into the Seine. Arthur's body is said have been later recovered by fishermen and buried at the priory of Ste Marie-des-Prés.2
- 1. King John. Yale English Monarchs (Yale University Press 1997). pp77-78.
- 2. a. b. King John. Yale English Monarchs (Yale University Press 1997). p83.
- 3. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). p382.
- 4. King John. Yale English Monarchs (Yale University Press 1997). p86.