Grand Constable of France


The Grand Constable of France, was the First Officer of the Crown, one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the King's army. He, theoretically, as lieutenant-general to the King, outranked all nobles in the realm, and was second-in-command only to the King of France.
The Connétable de France was also responsible for military justice and served to regulate the Chivalry. His jurisdiction was called the connestablie.
The office was established by King Philip I in 1060 AD, with Alberic becoming the first Constable. The office was abolished in 1627, with an edict, by Cardinal Richelieu, upon the death of François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, in order to strengthen the immediate authority of the King over his army.
The position was officially replaced by the purely ceremonial title "Dean of Marshals", who was in fact the most senior "Marshal of France" ; as the word doyen is used in French mainly in the sense of "the eldest".
The later title Marshal General of France or more precisely "Marshal General of the King's camps and armies" was bestowed on the most outstanding military leaders. The recipient had command authority over all the French armies and garrisons who were engaged in war, and was senior to the Maréchaux de France, but had none of the extended political powers of the earlier "Constable of France".

Badge of office

The badge of office was a highly elaborate sword called Joyeuse, after the legendary sword of Charlemagne. Joyeuse was a sword made with fragments of different swords and used in the Sacre of the French Kings since at least 1271. It was contained in a blue scabbard embellished with royal symbol, the fleur-de-lis, in column order from hilt to point. Traditionally, the constable was presented with the sword on taking his office by the King himself.

Authority

After the abolition of the office of Sénéchal in 1191, the Connétable became the most important officer in the army, and as First Officer of the Crown, he ranked in ceremonial precedence immediately after the peers. He had the position of Lieutenant-general of the King within the kingdom. The constable had under his command all military officers, including the powerful maréchaux; he was also responsible for the financing of the army, and administering military justice. The official name of the jurisdiction was la connétablie, which he exercised with the assistance of the Maréchaux de France. This paralleled the Court of the Lord Constable, later called curia militaris of Court of Chivalry, which existed in England at that time.

Persons subordinate to the Constable of France

NOT UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE CONSTABLE:
Note that there are gaps in the dates as the position was not always filled following the demise of its occupant.

Constables of the Kings of France

The Capétien Dynasty
The Valois Dynasty
The Valois Angoulême Dynasty
The Bourbons
During the Consulate regime, the deposed Bourbon dynasty, through the Comte d'Artois, allegedly offered Napoléon Bonaparte, at that time First Consul of the Republic, the title of "Constable of France" if he would restore the Bourbons as Kings of France. Bonaparte declined the offer. However, in 1808, Emperor Napoléon I did himself appoint the Grand Dignitaries of the French Empire, among them his younger brother Louis Bonaparte, as Constable, and Marshal of the Empire Louis Alexandre Berthier, the French Army Chief of Staff and Prince of Neuchâtel as Vice-Constable. Both titles were of a purely honorific nature, and disappeared with the Napoleonic regime's fall.

Movies

If I Were King, 1938, with François Villon, who was appointed by Louis XI, King of France to be Constable of France for one week.
Various versions of Shakespeare's play Henry V depict Constable Charles d'Albret, Comte de Dreux, who was appointed by Charles VI of France and was killed in the Battle of Agincourt. He is played by Leo Genn in the 1944 film, by Richard Easton in the 1989 film, and by Maxime Lefrancois in the 2012 film. In the 1944 film he dies in personal combat with King Henry. In the 1989 film he is depicted as falling from his horse into the mud. In the 2012 film he is shot by a longbowman after stabbing the Duke of York in the back in woodland away from the main battle.