Treaty of Guînes

A contemporary image of the French king, John II

The war was going badly for the French on all fronts and money and enthusiasm for the war was running out. Sumption describes the French administration as "fall[ing] apart in jealous acrimony and recrimination". The new pope, Innocent VI, a relative of John's,[21] encouraged negotiations for a permanent peace treaty and discussions opened at Guînes in early March 1353 overseen by the Cardinal Guy of Boulogne.[22] The modern historian George Cuttino states that Innocent was acting at John's instigation.[23] The English sent a senior deputation: Henry of Lancaster, one of Edward's most trusted and experienced military lieutenants; Michael Northburgh, keeper of the privy seal; William Bateman the Bishop of Norwich, the most experienced diplomat in England; and Simon Islip, an ex-keeper of the privy seal and the archbishop of Canterbury; among others. The French were represented by Pierre de La Forêt, Archbishop of Rouen and John's Chancellor; Charles of Spain, who was the Constable of France and a close confident of John; Robert de Lorris, John's Chamberlain; Guillaume Bertrand, the Bishop of Beauvais; and several other high-ranking figures. Both parties were ill-prepared and ill-briefed[24] with only two of the French delegation having any previous negotiating experience with the English.[25] After several meetings it was agreed they would adjourn to receive further instructions from their monarchs, reconvening on 19 May. Until then hostilities would be suspended by a formal truce. This temporary agreement was signed and sealed on 10 March.[24]

In early May 1353 the English requested the negotiations not be restarted until June, to allow them to discuss the matter more fully. The French responded on 8 May by cancelling the truce and announcing an arrière-ban for Normandy, a formal call to arms for all able-bodied males. The negotiators met briefly in Paris on 26 July and extended the truce until November, although all concerned understood that much fighting would continue. [26] French central and local government collapsed. French nobles took to violently settling old scores rather than fighting the English. Charles of Navarre, one of the most powerful figures in France, broke into the bedroom of Charles of Spain and murdered him as he knelt naked, pleading for his life. Navarre then boasted of it and made tentative approaches to the English regarding an alliance.[27][28] Navarre and John formally reconciled in March 1354 and a new balance within the French government was reached; this was more in favour of peace with England, in some quarters at almost any price. Informal talks started again at Guînes in mid-March. The principle whereby Edward abandoned his claim to the French throne in exchange for French territory was agreed; Edward gave his assent to this on 30 March. Formal negotiations recommenced in early April. The French were represented by Forêt, Lorris and Bertrand again, joined by Robert le Coq, Bishop of Laon, Robert, Count of Roucy, and Jean, Count of Châtillon.[29] The makeup of the English delegation is not known.[30] Discussions were rapidly concluded. A formal truce for a year was agreed, as was the broad outline of a permanent peace.[31] On 6 April 1354 these heads of terms were formally signed by the representatives of both countries,[32] witnessed by Guy of Boulogne.[29]

France after the later (1360) Treaty of Brétigny; the territorial settlement was similar to that proposed in the failed Treaty of Guînes: French territory in green, English territory in pink.

The treaty was very much in the favour of the English. England was to gain the whole of Aquitaine, Poitou, Maine, Anjou, Touraine and Limousin – the large majority of western France – as well as Ponthieu and the Pale of Calais. All were to be held as sovereign English territory, not as a fief of the French crown as English possessions in France had previously been.[33][34] It was also a treaty of friendship between the two nations and both France's alliance with Scotland – over which Edward claimed suzerainty – and England's with Flanders – which was technically a province of France – were to be abandoned.[35] The truce was to be immediately publicised, while the fact that the outline of a peace treaty had been agreed was to be kept secret until 1 October, when Innocent would announce it at the papal palace in Avignon. In the same ceremony, English representatives would repudiate the English claim to John's throne and the French would formally relinquish sovereignty over the agreed provinces.[36] Edward was overjoyed, the English parliament ratified the treaty sight unseen. The English party for the ceremony departed more than four months before they were due in Avignon.[37] John also endorsed the treaty, but members of his council were less enthusiastic.[36]

The English adhered to the truce, but John of Armagnac, the French commander in the south-west, ignored his orders to observe the peace; however, his offensive was ineffectual.[38] Details of how much of the treaty was known to the French ruling elite and their debates regarding it are lacking, but sentiment was against its terms. In August it was revealed that several of the men who had negotiated and signed the treaty had been deeply involved in the plot to murder Charles of Spain. At least three of John's closest councillors fled his court or were expelled. By early September the French court had turned against the treaty. The date for formal ceremony in Avignon was suspended.[39]

In November 1354 John seized all of Navarre's lands, besieging those places which did not surrender. Planned negotiations in Avignon to finalise the details of the treaty did not take place in the absence of French ambassadors. The English emissaries who were to formally announce the agreement arrived amidst much pomp in late December. John had meanwhile decided that another round of warfare might leave him in a better negotiating position and the French planned an ambitious series of offensives for the 1355 campaigning season.[36][40] The French ambassadors arrived in Avignon in mid-January, repudiated the previous agreement and attempted to reopen negotiations. The English and the Cardinal of Boulogne pressed them to adhere to the existing treaty. The impasse continued for a month. Simultaneously the English delegation plotted an anti-French alliance with Navarre. By the end of February the futility of their official missions was obvious to all and the delegations departed with much acrimony. Their one achievement was a formal extension of the ill-observed truce to 24 June. It was clear that from then both sides would be committed to full-scale war.[41][42]