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On 26 March 1351 an extraordinary event happened. During the Breton War of Succession, two groups of knights, squires and mercenaries from opposing sides of the conflict agreed to an arranged fight on an open field, both of them bringing exactly thirty men to the contest.

Jean de Beaumanoir led the men loyal to the House of Blois. He was a local Breton knight and captain of the garrison of the castle of Josselin. The combatants he brought faced the knights and mercenaries who were fighting for the rival House of Montfort faction and were led by Robert Bemborough, a knight of either English or German origin who was in charge of the Montfort fortress of Ploërmel.

The contest would be fought as a quasi tournament with a crowd of people who gathered to observe the clash of armored warriors. But in reality it resembled a real battle. The agreed rules were that there was to be no retreat until one side won and the combatants from the other side were either dead, wounded or captured.

And this is how on a remote open field somewhere in the Duchy of Brittany, 30 vs 30 trained warriors fought each other with great ferocity for hours, with a break in between to refresh themselves and take care for the wounded. They also wore distinct symbols, with the Blois faction wearing black crosses and the Montfortists red crosses. It was a weird mix between a sport event and a battle.

For modern people, this would be seen as bizarre senseless violence since the winner did not achieve any actual military gain and the combatants involved seemingly risked their lives for nothing. Yet for medieval knights, this was a most praiseworthy example of the chivalric warrior values they promoted.

It would become known as “the Combat of the Thirty” and celebrated as a highlight of chivalry. It was recorded by 14th century chroniclers Jean Le Bel and Jean Froissart and described as “a most marvelous deed of arms which should never be forgotten but which one should hold up as an example to encourage all knights bachelor.”

It was indeed a very special event. In this article I will describe how this event unfolded and who won. But let’s first explore the wider context because it’s important to understand why the tournament took place. What was this Breton War of Succession and who exactly was fighting over what?

In April 1341, Duke of Brittany John III died without an heir. There were two candidates for the dukedom: his younger half-brother, John, Count of Montfort, and his niece, Joan of Penthièvre, daughter of his brother Guy. Joan was married to Charles of Blois, who came from a powerful French noble house and was also the son of the sister of King Philip VI of France, Margaret of Valois.

John of Montfort wanted to take over the Duchy but he knew that he needed to act fast. His powerful rival Charles of Blois who claimed the Duchy had the backing of most of nobility and behind him was also the King of France. Therefore John took the initiative and started seizing territory by force before the Blois faction could organize. But there was also another thing that went into his favor. The conflict known as the Hundred Years’ War between kings of England and France broke out just few years earlier in 1337. And while the Truce of Espléchin had been agreed in 1340 between the English and French crowns, the King of England Edward III had obvious ambitions to wage war against France again. This played into John of Montfort’s hands and he pledged fealty to the English king, counting on his support in Brittany. Edward III was eager to accept this offer as having Brittany in friendly hands was very useful for his ambitions in France. The Breton ports provided safety for English ships trading with Aquitaine and he could start operations in Normandy from Brittany. Besides, by aiding John of Montfort in his local war of succession, he was technically not breaking any truce with France.

That’s how the Breton War of Succession became a sort of proxy war between England and France and part of the wider conflict now dubbed as the Hundred Years’ War. The English backed the Montforts while the French backed the Blois. It evolved into a grueling war lasting from 1341 to 1365 and ended with an English and Montfortian victory.

But the war took many turns. Initially the two factions were led by John of Montfort and Charles of Blois. However both men ended in captivity at some point and John of Montfort died already in 1345. His heir was his five-year-old son, also named John, but effectively the control of the Montfort faction passed over to his wife Joanna of Flanders. She had already distinguished herself as a capable leader while her husband was imprisoned from November 1341 to September 1343. Joanna led the defense of Hennebont in 1342 where she participated in fighting herself, famously leading 300 knights to sally out of the town and burn down poorly guarded camp of the forces of Charles of Blois. This earned her the nickname “Jeanne la Flamme”. After her husband died, she became the head of the faction again.

Meanwhile Charles of Blois ended up imprisoned himself in 1347. Captured by the English soldiers, he would be kept prisoner in England until a ransom was paid in 1356. During his absence, his wife Joan of Penthièvre was the leader of the Blois faction.

Therefore in 1351 when the “Combat of the Thirty” happened, both factions were led by women. Why is this important? The contemporary 14th century chroniclers Jean Le Bel and Jean Froissart allude that this was the main motivation why this large “tournament” took place. In spirit of medieval chivalry, the leaders of both teams of combatants who fought in the contest, Jean de Beaumanoir and Robert Bemborough, apparently wanted to stage this brutal event in honor of the ladies who led their respective factions.

At the time, there was also a stalemate and truce between both factions, with each controlling important fortresses and towns manned by garrisons of knights and mercenaries. For bellicose knights involved in the conflict, the only way to fight was through prearranged chivalric jousts.

According to Le Bel and Froissart, the idea of a chivalric contest that would eventually lead to the “combat of the thirty” was first suggested by Jean de Beaumanoir, the commander the Blois garrison of the castle of Josselin. Described as “a very valiant knight of a great family in Brittany”, he headed to Ploërmel castle which was a fortress belonging to the Montfort faction. There the commander was Robert Bemborough whose origin was either English or German. Froissart calls him “a German mercenary named Blandebourch”.

Apparently Beaumanoir suggested either a single duel with the commander of the rival garrison, or a jousting contest between three knights from each side. But Bemborough (Blandebourch) was willing to up the stakes in honor of their ladies and suggested a much larger thirty versus thirty contest.

Let’s take a look at what exactly Le Bel wrote in his True Chronicles completed between 1357-60.

“To make things clear, you need to understand that the war in Brittany was continuing between the rival parties of the two ladies: although Lord Charles of Blois was a prisoner in England, and although there was a truce between the two kings, hostilities continued between the forces of the Countess of Montfort and Lord Charles of Blois’s wife.

And one day Sir Jean de Beaumanoir, a most valiant knight of the highest Breton lineage, who was captain of the castle of Josselin and had a mighty company of men-at-arms and squires of his noble line, arrived before the castle of Ploërmel. Its castellan – who was on the Countess of Montfort’s side – was a soldier from Germany called Brandebourch, and he had with him a large number of German soldiers as well as Bretons and English. When Sir Jean saw that none of the garrison would come out, he went to the gate and called for Brandebourch to come and parley; and he asked him if there were two or three knights in the castle who’d be willing to joust – with lances of war – against three of his knights for love of their ladies.

Brandebourch replied that their sweethearts wouldn’t want them to get themselves killed as miserably as in a single joust, ‘for that’s a game of chance that’s over in moments, and you’re more likely to gain a reputation for recklessness and folly than honour and worth! But I’ll tell you what we’ll do: if it please you, pick twenty or thirty companions from your garrison and I’ll do the same from ours, and we’ll go to a good field where we won’t be troubled or impeded, and command both parties and all those watching, on pain of hanging, that no one is to interfere and either baulk or aid the combatants.’

‘Thirty against thirty it is!’ said Sir Jean. ‘I swear it, by my faith.’

‘As do I,’ said Brandebourch, ‘for any man who performs well in that contest will earn more honour than in a joust.’

And so it was settled, and the day was fixed for the following Wednesday, which was four days later. In the meantime each man chose his thirty as he pleased, and each of the sixty equipped himself as finely as he could.”

Jean Le Bel, The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel, 1290 - 1360.

Froissart wrote a similar account of what happened.

There doesn’t seem to be any personal animosity between the both commanders. There was also no possible military gain from this contest. It was purely about honor and warrior ideals of chivalry. Duels between commanders of different garrisons in contested borderlands were not unusual, especially during truces and peace time. Centuries later, such duels would even take place on the Habsburg-Ottoman frontier in Hungary. But what made this one special was the sheer number of combatants and the brutality of it, turning it practically into a real battle. Perhaps the chivalric idealism of “courtly love” was that extra spark that fired up the combatants, or maybe they were just an especially pugnacious bunch of warriors hungry of fighting. Whatever it was, they would be praised for their action by many and achieved great renown.

Froissart stressed the foreign mercenaries in Bemborough’s crew and how he “had with him a great many German, English, Breton and other foreign mercenaries and who were all of the party of the Countess of Montfort.” The Montfort faction employed many mercenaries since the beginning of the war because John of Montfort managed to obtain the ducal treasury in Limoges in the early phase of the war in 1341 and recruited mercenaries to wage the war against local pro-Blois nobility. Later on the Montfort cause was reinforced by English soldiers. Meanwhile the Blois crew commanded by Beaumanoir mostly consisted of local Breton and French nobility, but also of mercenaries as well.

Because of this Le Bel and Froissart chose to call combatants fighting for Bemborough (Brandebourch) “English” and those fighting for Beaumanoir “French.”

“When the day arrived Brandebourch’s thirty companions heard mass and then armed and rode to the appointed place of battle. They all dismounted, and gave instructions to everyone present that no one should be so bold as to intervene, regardless of what befell them. These thirty, whom we’ll call English, had to wait a long time for the others, whom we’ll call French.”

Jean Le Bel, The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel, 1290 - 1360.

This event is a prime example that for many medieval knights, chivalric warrior culture was a very real thing. These men were willing to face other elite and carefully handpicked trained warriors in combat purely for honor.

The rules were simple. The two contingents had to fight dismounted with real sharp weapons like in war without reinforcement or help until one side was victorious. There was no retreat no matter how things went for either side. The only way to win was to fight until all the warriors on the other side were either dead, disabled or captured. In other words, the contest continued until one side couldn’t physically fight back any more.

Psychologically, preparing for this contest was probably harder than preparing for an actual battle. In a real battle, a knight might not actually experience such hard combat in case the enemy was broken beforehand or dispersed in front of a well-executed charge. There was also always a chance of retreat.

But going into the “Combat of the Thirty”, everyone must have known that this will be a hard battle for everyone involved and that the enemy will hit back with everything. There was no retreat. There were no easy opponents either. Everyone involved was an elite warrior specifically selected to do this. Each side brought the best they had.

“And let us right there try ourselves and do so much that people will speak of it in future times in halls, in palaces, in public places and elsewhere throughout the world.”

Words attributed to Bemborough before heading to the “Combat of the Thirty.”

One final prayer and the selected combatants went to the open field halfway between Ploërmel and Josselin castles. There was an oak near the field which became known as “the Halfway Oak.” A crowd of peasants gathered to watch the spectacle that was about to unfold. They were forbidden to intervene under penalty of hanging. No side was going to receive any help.

Both groups of combatants approached each other to exchange some words then retreated back to assume their positions.

After a signal, they charged at each other!

“And when they all had come face to face, they spoke a little, all sixty of them, and then stepped back a pace, each party to its own side. And then they made all their people retreat well back from field. Then one of them gave a signal and immediately they ran over and fought fiercely all in a pile, rescuing one another handsomely when they saw their companions in trouble.”

Jean Froissart, Chronicles (Amiens ms. version).

The fighting was fierce with swords, daggers, spears, and axes. It was all-out fighting and the only rule that applied was that there was no retreat. There was no going back anymore.

One French knight died already in the initial clash. After several hours of fighting, both sides were exhausted with one Frenchmen and two Englishmen dead according to Le Bel (four Frenchmen and two Englishmen dead according to Froissart). Eventually a break was agreed so that the troops could refresh and resume fighting. They rested for a long time and even had some wine.

“Soon after they had come together, one of the Frenchmen was killed, but the others did not leave off fighting on this account. They held themselves as valiantly on both sides as if they had been all Rolands and Oliviers. In truth, I cannot say ‘These conducted themselves better than the others;’ but they fought so long that they all lost strength and breath and ability to fight.

It seemed a good idea for them to stop and rest, and they rested by mutual agreement. They granted each other a truce until they had recovered and until the first who got up again should call the others back. At this point there were four French dead and two English. They rested a long time, and drank some wine which was brought to them in bottles, and tightened their armor which had broken and cleaned their wounds and bandaged them up.”

Jean Froissart, Chronicles.

The fighting resumed and lasted “for a long time.” Eventually, the English commander Bemborough was killed. The rest of the English formed a defensive wall. Apparently one of the Frenchmen who was mounted on a horse rode into the English formation and broke it. Froissart recorded this, “for as I heard tell from those who saw it, one of the Frenchmen, who was on horseback split them up and badly trod them underfoot.”

Le Bel also mentions that four or five Frenchmen supposedly disobeyed the rules and remained mounted.

“Some people say that four or five of the French remained on horseback at the entrance to the field and only twenty-five dismounted like the English; I don’t know for certain, as I wasn’t there.”

Jean Le Bel, The True Chronicles.

The French ultimately won when nine men from the English side died with others wounded and or captured. There was no retreat like it was agreed. Both sides suffered losses. Le Bel writes that the French “left six of their companions dead on the field, and several more died later from their wounds.”

Regardless of the outcome and unclear circumstances in which the French achieved their victory, both sides were applauded and the memories of the event became popular, praised in ballads and chronicles. The Combat of the Thirty gave great honor to everyone involved in it and even twenty years later, Froissart recalls seeing a scarred survivor of the battle at a banquet in the French King’s court, where he was being toasted and admired by everyone for being part of “the Thirty”.

There were also other interpretations of the battle in folklore which took a more “nationalistic” turn, especially as time went on. A contemporary ballad by an anonymous Breton poet portrayed the English participants of the “combat of the thirty” as villains who tormented people while the Franco-Breton faction supposedly consisted of noble knights who defended the poor. This version of events became especially popular later during the 19th century French nationalism. Similarly, a pro-English version exists in which the French are accused of cheating due to the mounted French knight who was crucial for victory.

But among medieval aristocracy, participants from both sides were lauded for their chivalry and bravery as seen in Le Bel and Froissart chronicles. They focused on how the deed was done and not on who won.

As Jean Le Bel concluded,

“I’ve never heard of any other battle of this kind being proposed or taking place, and all its survivors should be treated with special honour wherever they go. It happened in the year of grace 1351.”

Jean Le Bel, The True Chronicles.

The contest had no influence on the outcome of the war.

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