Different Loyalties For Different Classes
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Joseph Henson
History 4A
John Corbally
11/21/2006
Different Loyalties For Different Classes
Around the turn of the 14th century, the seedlings of the modern Western European nations were already in place, most notably in France and England. Despite having a king, who ruled over an area nominally bound together by a national identity and name, these were still nations with strong local lords, unclear boundaries, and mixed allegiances. The Hundred Years War is often simplified as being fought solely between France and England, yet really many more people, fighting with a host of different loyalties in mind, took part in the conflict, merely choosing one side or the other for their own purposes. All did claim loyalty to a king and a national identity, but varied on the differences between these two loyalties. Froissarts Chronicles displayed that for the nobles, loyalty to the king and national identity were virtually synonymous, whereas for peasants national identity was associated with the land they lived on, and loyalty to the king was only given in return for protection, a more modern philosophy that took root because of the groups differing world-views and goals.
Under the feudal system of medieval Europe a king remained in power through the support of his nobles, whose loyalty went hand in hand with their perceived nationality. These counts, earls and dukes provided money, regional authority and raised troops in times of war, it was only with their support and unification that a king could hope to maintain at least a nominal level of control over his kingdom. During the Hundred Years War nobles of many different areas, outside of the loose boundaries of England and France, lent their support to either the French or English kings, and with that loyalty came the national identity associated with the king in particular. Froissart made this evident with respect to two Gascon nobles, Captal de Buch and Bascot de MaulД©on. Captal de Buch, is first introduced by Froissart as a Gascon knight who fought with distinction for the English monarchy, especially under Prince Edward at Poitiers. (Frossiart 139). Thus, Froissart later noted that he identified himself as “an Englishman”, due to his loyalty to the English king, rather than any birthright (Froissart 153) The same is true of Bascot de MaulД©on, a Gascon knight who claimed he had “alwaysfought for the King of England” and thus would always “remain a loyal Englishman”, despite not being from English soil (Froissart 288-289). This interpretation of national identity arose among the noble class due to their mobility around Europe, and the desire to associate with the two great powers of France and England in order to serve their own want for war treasures and honor in battle. Froissarts Chronicles elucidate the duality of national identity and loyalty to a king within the minds of European knights and nobles, in that they did not yet consider nationality to be bound to the land but rather bound to a monarchy, an ideal not shared by the common people.
In the 1300s the common peasantry, who represented an overwhelming majority of the population yet wielded almost no power under the feudal system, were the first to embrace the more modern thinking that national identity went with the land and that the king was just a ruler responsible to the people. As peasants had little legal recourse to secure their rights, their only recourse was uprisings, that took place across Europe to varying degrees. Froissart chronicled one particular uprising in England in 1381, where he made clear that the common people believed their national identity was bound to the soil and that the king was only a ruler, treated accordingly to his actions. During the rebellion Froissart noted that the peasants desired to “be one and the same, [English]” and claimed they represented the “noble commons of England” (Froissart 212). Here it is revealed that the peasants felt nationality extended to them because they worked and lived on the soil, not merely because of their loyalty to the king. Likewise, the peasants came from many different counties yet united to campaign for the rights of all Englishmen, highlighting that they felt bound by a common national identity, due to their common living conditions. France emerged from the Hundred Years War with less national identity and centralization that England, however the general trend was the same in that French peasants still identified with their land, even if it was on a smaller scale. The peasantry of Europe viewed their king as a protector, as Froissart recounted that when the King of France was about to leave Paris and his citizens begged him to “stay and protect [his] loyal city”, just as the serfs had looked to their local lord for protection (Froissart 78). Likewise the commoners looked to the king