Routiers et mercenaires pendant la guerre de Cent ans

The term routiers or ‘gens de route’ referred to disbanded soldiers who continued to wage war illicitly for their own benefit. They formed the great companies after the peace of Brétigny (1360) and were given the evocative name of écorcheurs following the peace of Arras (1435). The (modern) concept of a mercenary is used to designate ‘professional’ soldiers who lent their service to a political power and fought in their name. Both routiers and mercenaries shared the same purpose, which was to amass wealth through the proceeds of war. Very little took place that distinguished mercenaries from the regular soldiers of the time—who were equally hired on a contractual basis, received wages and, for the most part, placed equal hopes in reaping the greatest possible profits from (legitimate) ransoms and booty. The difference highlighted in this volume is the ‘foreignness’ of the mercenaries who fought for a cause which was not that of their natural lord. Nevertheless, the line of demarcation between these categories (mercenaries, routiers and regular soldiers) was thin and easily crossed, as Kenneth Fowler has previously demonstrated. Blurring further the boundaries, Werner Paravicini suggests in this volume that even an outright mercenary could also nourish higher chivalric ideals in taking the cross. As we can see, the task set for the eminent scholars gathered at the castle of Berbiguières—to better capture the figures of routiers and mercenaries in the Hundred Years War—was no mean feat. It is a challenge that they took up very seriously and, indeed, very competently too, paying a fitting tribute to their host, Lord Sumption, to whom this volume of conference proceedings is dedicated

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