C'est la Guerre - Parade Ground

[Viscountcy of Rohan
House of Albret
Aoibeann of Arran
Dauphine of Auvergne]

The southern battle draws from holdings in southern and western France.

The town and Viscountcy of Rohan is located in Brittany, pretty much smack-dab in the middle of it. (Brittany is the extreme north-west area of France, lying to the west of Normandy.) The Viscountship was raised to a duchy in 1601. The title-holder in 1358 was probably Viscount Jean I of Rohan. I included them so that, since the good viscount doubtlessly had several members of his household travelling with him, I could say the riders of Rohan are part of my army.

The Lordship of Albret (not Albert) is found in Landes, which is the coastal region in southwest France south of Bordeaux but north of the Pyrenees and the Spanish border. This has got to be one ancient coat of arms. I mean, how far at the front of the line did one have to be to get “Red. Just red.” It’s not as if one would want a shield of yellow or pink, either. OK, so pink is not a heraldic color. But red has got to be the studliest color there is if you’re a limb-hewing mayhem-raising knight. I guess black would be cool too, but red has got to be up there. Such primordial simplicity could not last, and starting in 1398 it was quartered with the arms of France in recognition of their service in driving out the goddam English from the region. In 1358 the Lord of Albert was Bernard Aiz of Albret (died sometime between 1357 and 1359 according to my source), his second son Guitard d’Albret (died 1361 but not listed as a Lord of Albret), or his third son Arnaud Amanieu VIII d’Albret, who was also Viscount of Tartas. In any case, Bernard Aiz had no dearth of potential successors as he had fifteen children.

Aoibeann of Arran is the Society for Creative Anachronism personae of my wife, Terri. Arran is a Scottish island off the western coast. The name is Gaelic, although this area of Scotland did not speak Gaelic but the Scots language. Her introduction to the French army is recounted starting in Chapter 3 - Champagne in the Chronicles of Pepin le Bref. In those tales she speaks in modern Scots. (I had no desire to learn, and you probably have no desire to read, ancient Scots.)

The Dauphiné of Auvergne is located about halfway between Paris and the Mediterranean, in the mountainous massif central of France. The origins of the honorific “Dauphin” as a territorial lord have been lost in obscurity, and is shared only with the Dauphin of Viennois. (The later, when attached to the French crown, became the source of the French heir to the throne being called the dauphin.) The title holder was Beraud II “le Grand” of Clermont, who was also Count of Clermont.