Quibbling lawyers

In January 1303 the citizens of Bordeaux rose up and drove out the French after a nine-year occupation. Bordeaux, the chief city of Gascony and centre of the lucrative wine trade, had been seized by the French after the outbreak of war between France and England in 1294. 

The king of France, Philip the Fair, had attempted to redirect the trade from London to Paris. This failed when the local merchants refused to give up their lucrative trade with England. So, despite being under occupation, the city continued to trade with the English and Edward I.

Philip's conquest of Gascony failed due to a number of reasons. He was overstretched, forced to recall his field army from the duchy (tucked away in south-west France) to fight Edward's allies in Flanders and the Low Countries. The French were not popular in Gascony, where most of the nobility considered themselves independent from Paris. To keep the troublesome citizens in line, Philip took hostages from the wealthier families and imprisoned them in filthy conditions, where many died. Unsurprisingly, this did nothing to improve his popularity. 

In early 1303, after several failed revolts, the citizens finally succeeded in driving out the French. They were encouraged by the battle of Courtrai, fought in Flanders in July 1302, where the French field army crashed to a shock defeat at the hands of Flemish militia. This disaster obliged Philip to throw all his resources at the Flemings, which loosened his already fragile grip on Gascony.

Edward I had already tried to exploit the situation. In August 1302, a few weeks after Courtrai, he sent a new English seneschal to Gascony in anticipation of a revolt. His agents probably made contact with the dissidents in Bordeaux. They were led by a charismatic, violent character named Arnaud Caillau, head of an important local family. 

The French were swept out of Bordeaux with surprising ease. The only serious resistance was offered by a French lawyer, who argued that Gascony rightfully belonged to King Philip. Arnaud tore out the luckless man's tongue and threw him out of an upper-storey window. So much for quibbling lawyers.

By 15 January Caillau was installed as mayor, but the English were not welcomed back immediately. Instead the citizens briefly flirted with the idea of converting Bordeaux into a city-republic, independent of both England and and France. This was not so far-fetched as it might sound: similar autonomous states were being set up in Flanders and northern Italy.

This idea was quashed by the arrival of an army from England, comprising over two thousand Gascon exiles loyal to Edward I. These men had spent the past nine years living on the king's wages, and now he expected them to return the favour.

The Bordelais bowed to pressure. Shortly afterwards one Raymond de Leun, citizen of Bordeaux, arrived at the English court to inform Edward the city had returned to Plantagenet allegiance. It would remain an English possession until the final French conquest of Gascony in 1453.