Jean de Carrouges - Royal Service

Royal Service

Over the next three years, Jean and Marguerite de Carrouges had two more children and settled in Paris and Normandy, profiting from their celebrity with gifts and investments. In 1390, Carrouges was promoted to a chevalier d'honneur as a bodyguard of the King, a title which came with a substantial financial stipend and was a position of important social standing. The following year he was dispatched to Hungary on a mission to investigate the severity of the threat from the Ottoman Empire, the boundaries of which had been steadily spreading under Sultan Bayezid I. In this mission he was second in command to Jean de Boucicant, a Marshal of France and famous soldier, indicating the elevated social position Carrouges enjoyed following the duel.

In 1392 however, Carrouges was present for one of the more notorious occurrences in fourteenth century France; the first descent into madness of King Charles VI. As a chevalier d'honneur, Carrouges accompanied the King on campaign and thus was present when the Royal Army entered Brittany to hunt for Pierre de Craon, a noble who had fled Paris following a failed attempt to murder Olivier de Clisson, Constable of France. As the army passed Le Mans on 8 August 1392, a loud noise within his entourage startled the French King, who believing himself to be under attack, lashed out at the nearest person to him. The man happened to be his brother Louis of Valois, who turned and fled from his brother's sword. Killing several pages who attempted to calm his temper, the King set off on full pursuit of Louis, leaving the army strung out across the countryside behind him. The pursuit continued for hours until the exhausted King was eventually subdued by his bodyguard, including Jean de Carrouges.