C'est la Guerre - Parade Ground

[Seigneury of Yvetot
Seigneury of Pont-Audemer
Countship of Tancarville
Countship of Longueville]

[Arms for the Seigneury of Pont-Audemer]

The town and Seigneury of Yvetot has existed since the 11th century, and is located about fifteen miles from the Channel in between Le Harve, Rouen, and Dieppe. It is notable for their lords bearing the title of King until the 17th century despite the humble extent of their domains. Clotaire I purportedly raised the status of the domain to a kingdom in the 6th century, but this is disputed by others as a myth, and there is considerable doubt that the French kings recognized the title.

The town and Seigneury of Pont-Audemer is located just to the south of the mouth of the Seine river and twenty-five miles west of Rouen.

The town, seigneury, and Countship of Tancarville is found at the mouth of the Seine and was held during the 11th cenutry by Raoul of Tancarville, tutor to William the Conqueror. He became chamberlain of Normandy, that post remaining in his family for so long that it became known as ‘the Chamberlain of Tancarville’. In 1352 it was elevated from a seigneury to a countship for Jean II, viscount of Melun, son of Jean 1st of Melun and Jeanne of Tancarville.

The Countship of Longueville is found in the region to the southwest of Dieppe on the Channel coast. The arms for the Count of Longueville shown here were first associated with Jean d’Orleans, count of Dunois. Since he was born in 1403, and since this army is supposed to be from 1358, it’s one of those embarrasing facts I usually fail to mention. Jean d’Orleans was a bastard of the Count of Orleans which is reflected by the bendlet sinister - a traditional heraldic mark of bastardness. The family arms were later changed to a normal bendlet to honor his service in the hundred year’s war. (Standard bends and bendlets go from the upper left to the lower right. Sinister bends and bendlets go from the upper right to the lower left.) Previously the countship of Longueville had been ceded by Charles the Bad to Charles V in 1356, presumably for being bad. It passed that same year to Charles of Artois. In 1364, it was given to Bertrand du Guesclin. Jean d’Orleans, for whom the direction of his bendlet became such an issue earlier in this paragraph, received the countship from Charles VI in 1454.