Treaty of Guînes

A contemporary image of the French king, John II

The war also went badly for the French on other fronts[15] and money and enthusiasm for the war were running out in France. Sumption describes the French administration as "fall[ing] apart in jealous acrimony and recrimination". Encouraged by the new pope, Innocent VI, negotiations for a peace treaty opened at Guînes beginning in early March 1353, overseen by the Cardinal Guy of Boulogne.[16] 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; the Bishop of Norwich, the most experienced diplomat in England; and Simon Islip, an ex-keeper of the privy seal and an ex-archbishop of Canterbury. The French were represented by Pierre de La Forêt, Archbishop of Rouen and John's Chancellor; Charles of Spain 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. After several meetings it was agreed that they would adjourn to receive further instructions from their monarchs, reconvening on 19 May. It was agreed that until then hostilities would be suspended by a formal truce. This temporary agreement was signed and sealed on 10 March.[17]

In early May the English requested that the negotiations not be restarted until June, to allow them to discuss the matter more fully. The French responded by cancelling the truce and called an arrière-ban, a formal call to arms for all able-bodied males, for Normandy on 8 May. The negotiators met briefly in Paris on 26 July and went through the motions of extending the truce until November, although all concerned understood that much fighting would continue. [18] French central and local government collapsed. French nobles took to violently settling old scores rather than fight the English. Charles of Navarre, one of the most powerful figures in France, murdered Charles of Spain in his bedroom, boasted of it, and made tentative approaches to the English regarding an alliance.[19] Navarre and John formally reconciled in March 1354 and a new balance within the French government 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 of a peace being brokered by Edward abandoning 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 and rapidly concluded. A formal truce for a year was agreed, as was a permanent peace.[20] On 6 April 1354 a treaty was formally signed by the representatives of both countries.[21]

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 England. By it England was to gain the whole of Aquitaine, Poitou, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Limousin – the large majority of western France – as well as the Pale of Calais. All were to be held in Edward's own name, not as a fief of the French crown.[22] 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.[23] The truce was to be immediately publicised, the treaty 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 the agreed provinces.[22] Edward was overjoyed, the English parliament ratified it sight unseen, and the English party for the ceremony departed more than four months before they were due in Avignon.[24] John also endorsed the treaty, but members of his high council were less enthusiastic.[22]

This did not occur, as John was persuaded that another round of warfare may leave him in a better negotiating position and withdrew his representatives.[25] The English adhered to the truce, but John Count of Armagnac, the French commander in the south west, ignored his orders to observe the peace; however, his offensive was ineffectual.[22][26] 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 the formal ceremony in Avignon was put back.[27]

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 among much pomp in late December. The French court turned entirely against the treaty and planned an ambitious series of offensives for the 1355 campaigning season. The French ambassadors arrived 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. The 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.[22][28]