Jean de Montaigu


Jean de Montagu or Jean de Montaigu, was an administrator and advisor to Charles V and Charles VI of France, and a leading figure in France during the early 15th Century.

Biography

His mother was Biette de Cassinel or Biota Cassinelli, called la belle Italienne. She was the daughter of François Cassinel, a sergeant in the Royal Army, and great-granddaughter of Bettino Cassinelli, who had immigrated from Italy to Paris. It was said that he was the illegitimate son of Charles V of France, however some other contradictory sources state that his father was actually Gerard de Montagu.
There have been a number of contradictory books and writings written about him through the centuries which has caused much confusion. According to one of these writings, the rumor of his parentage arose from an erroneous translation into French of a comment made by Nicolas de Baye, the civil clerk of the Paris Parlement in 1409. The translation of Baye's original remark, that Gerard was the son "of a certain canon of Paris, so people said," left out the words "of a certain canon of Paris," causing the sentence to read "Gerart de Montagu, at the time of his death, and shortly before, knight, and previously notary of the king, and son, so people said." A number of contemporary experts now believe he was the illegitimate son of Charles.
What is known is that contrary to some purported documents his mother Biette, who according to Pere Anselme was born around 1340, had a very public love affair with the Dauphin Charles, which occurred when Charles was relieved as Regent of the kingdom upon the return of his father King John from captivity in England in 1360, and ended when John dismayed his subjects and voluntarily returned as a prisoner to England in place of his escaped younger son who had been an arranged hostage, and handed the government back over to his eldest son the Dauphin in 1364. Charles had left his wife for Biette during this time, and did not have a legitimate son and heir when his father departed for England.  
This explains why it is also known that before King John left for England he ennobled Gerard de Montagu, a trusted secretary, abruptly by letters sent to Amiens in December 1363, to get Biette and the newborn son out of the very dangerous city of Paris at the time, and have the new couple raise the son so that all parties involved would remain safe. When the young Jean came of age around fifteen or so years later as was the custom, the then King Charles took him under his wing and tutored him in the ways of government before he died in 1380, and Jean went on to become the closest confidant and administrator to the new king Charles VI.  
Biette Cassinel's brother Ferry Cassinel was bishop of Lodève in 1375, later bishop of Auxerre, and eventually Archbishop of Rheims.
Jean had two brothers or half-brothers: GĂ©rard de Montagu the Younger, who was bishop of Poitiers and bishop of Paris; and Jean de Montagu, who was bishop of Chartres, and archbishop of Sens.
He made a career at the royal court, rising to become Grand Treasurer and Grand Master of France.
Being the leading figure of the royal government during the period following the assassination of Louis, the Duke of Orléans, in the ongoing Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War, he developed a very bitter rivalry with the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, who sought to hold the Regency in place of the mentally incapable King Charles, as his father had done.  
In 1409, John the Fearless had him arrested with the help of the Provost of Paris during one of King Charles' mad spells. The Queen and the Duke of Berry, among several others, pleaded for his release to no avail. After an expedited summary trial where he unsuccessfully appealed to the then Burgundian-controlled Parliament a forced confession of treason and other charges upon being subjected to torture, Montagu was beheaded on 17 October 1409 in front of a large crowd in Paris, at the Gibbet of Montfaucon.
His name was rehabilitated several years later through the efforts of his son Charles, and his remains were interred in a lavishly built tomb at the Monastery of the Celestines of Marcoussis, which Jean de Montagu had greatly expanded between 1402 and 1408.

Children

He married Jacqueline de La Grange, daughter of Étienne de La Grange, President of the Parliament of Paris, and Marie Dubois. They had: