Medieval France
. The sobriquet Boucicaut was given to members of the Le Meingre family of Touraine, two of whom served as marshals of France during the Hundred Years’ War. The elder Jean le Meingre, who was probably born in the decade before 1320, served as an esquire in the campaigns of the 1330s and was one of the many people of undistinguished birth who rose to positions of power under King John II. He was serving as seneschal of Toulouse when the Battle of Poitiers (September 1356) decimated French leadership. Appointed to one of the vacant posts of marshal, he held that office until shortly before his death in early 1368.
Boucicaut was already advanced in years when his son, the younger Jean le Meingre (1366–1421), was born at Tours. By the age of eighteen, the young Boucicaut had fought in his first campaign and served as a chamberlain to the duke of Burgundy. In 1391, he became a marshal of France, the post he held for twenty-seven years.
He also served as governor of Dauphiné (1399–1407) and of Genoa (1401–09). Although he was celebrated in the annals of French chivalry (Livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre, dit Bouciquaut, found in a single manuscript; 1406–09), historians remember him today for his role in two French military disasters, the battles of Nicopolis (1396) and Agincourt (1415), at both of which he was taken prisoner. He died a captive in England in 1421. His younger brother Geoffroy le Meingre was known as “le petit Boucicaut.”
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: AGINCOURT; MARSHAL; NICOPOLIS]
Lalande, Denis, ed. Le livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre, dit Bouciquaut. Geneva: Droz, 1985.
Bozzolo, Carla, and Hélène Loyau. La cour amoureuse dite de Charles VI. Paris: Leopard d’Or, 1982, Vol. 1: Étude et édition critique des sources manuscrites.
Lalande, Denis. Jean II le Meingre, dit Boucicaut (1366–1421): étude d’une biographie héroïque. Geneva: Droz, 1988.
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