Geoffroi de Charny

Geoffroi de Charny
Geoffroi de Charny
	Geoffroi de Charny from a historiated initial in the manuscript of his works preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (Madrid MS. 9270, fol.98r)
Born	c. 1306
Died	19 September 1356 (aged around 50); Poitiers, France
Spouse(s)	1. Jeanne de Toucy (died c.1349); 2. Jeanne de Vergy (died 1428);
Issue	Geoffroi II de Charny (died 1398)
Father	Jean de Charny
Mother	Margaret de Joinville (died c. 1306)

Geoffroi de Charny (c. 1306 – 19 September 1356) was the third son of Jean de Charny, the lord of Charny (then a major Burgundian fortress), and Marguerite de Joinville, daughter of Jean de Joinville, the biographer and close friend of France's King Louis IX. A renowned knight who fought on the French side during the early years of the Hundred Years' War, Charny wrote a semi-autobiographical poem, The Book of Geoffroi de Charny, and a set of questions on chivalric matters for the short-lived Company of the Star, France's counterpart to England's Order of the Garter. Although a prose treatise called the Book of Chivalry has also long been accredited to him,^[1] recent findings indicate this to have been more likely by his son of the same name, Geoffroi II de Charny, who died in 1398.^[2] Charny is also widely associated with the first known showings of the Shroud of Turin, though there are now doubts that he was responsible for these.

He took part in a successful crusading expedition to Smyrna in 1344 and shortly after his return from this King Philip VI appointed him a royal councillor and bearer of the Oriflamme, the sacred battle-standard of France. This role, one in which he continued under King Jean II, made its holder an automatic target for enemy forces on a battlefield, and it was thus that he met his end during the closing moments of the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356.

Geoffroi de Charny was one of Europe's most admired knights during his lifetime, with a widespread reputation for his skill at arms and his honour. The Tournai-based abbot-chronicler Gilles le Muisit wrote of him: a vigorous soldier, expert in weaponry and much renowned both overseas and here. He has taken part in many wars and in many mortal conflicts, in all of them conducting himself with probity and with nobility'.^[3]

^ Richard W. Kaeuper & Elspeth Kennedy, The Book of Chivalry of Geoffroi de Charny: Text, Context, and Translation. Middle Ages Series. (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania U.P, 1996).
^ Ian Wilson, The Book of Geoffroi de Charny, with the Livre Charny edited and translated by Nigel Bryant, (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2021).
^ Gilles le Muisit Chronique et annales de Gilles le Muisit, abbé de Saint-Martin de Tournai (1272-1352), ed. Henri Lemaitre (Paris 1906), p.295.

[1] Richard W. Kaeuper & Elspeth Kennedy, The Book of Chivalry of Geoffroi de Charny: Text, Context, and Translation. Middle Ages Series. (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania U.P, 1996).

[2] Ian Wilson, The Book of Geoffroi de Charny, with the Livre Charny edited and translated by Nigel Bryant, (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2021).

[3] Gilles le Muisit Chronique et annales de Gilles le Muisit, abbé de Saint-Martin de Tournai (1272-1352), ed. Henri Lemaitre (Paris 1906), p.295.

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