Jean II of Harcourt

Jean II of Harcourt known as the Valiant knight (born v. 1240 - died the December 21st 1302), was knight, lord of Harcourt and baron d' Elbeuf and Viscount of Châtellerault. It was wire of Jean Ier the industrial tribunal, lord of Harcourt and baron d' Elbeuf, and of Alix de Beaumont.

Marshal of France as of the year 1283, it followed the king Philippe Bold the in the Croisade of Aragon of 1285. While Philippe made the seat of the town of Pinks, that it had invested, the June 28th, it could not arrive at his camp no convoy, without it having a combat there. One expected one however from them, when one was informed that the king d' Aragon wanted to remove it, and that for this purpose, it had been put, the August 14th, in ambush between Bagnols and Gérone, with four hundred horses and two thousand men of foot, the elite of its troops. Philippe instructed the marshal with Harcourt to support and protect this convoy. The marshal having left, towards the end of the night, with the constable Raoul de Nesle and five hundred riders, they arrived, the August 15th, with the point of the day, towards the place where king d' Aragon had embusqué himself. This one began a load then, that the French accepted with much bravery and intrepidity. They charged in their turn with greatest success, and reflect the Spaniards in a complete rout. King d' Aragon was wounded in this action, and the town of Gérone capitulated, the September 7th.

When the King carried the war in England in 1295, it named Jean d' Harcourt general lieutenant naval with Mathieu IV of Montmorency. The fleet went in front of Dover; the city was taken and burned.

In 1302, Harcourt accompanied Charles de Valois in Sicily. It ordered the gendarmerie and deployed a great valiancy. Embanked by the disease, he died in the return of forwarding the December 21st 1302. He was buried with the priory of the park of the Château of Harcourt.

He had married in first Agnès weddings of Lorraine, girl of Ferry III duke of Lorraine and Marguerite de Champagne. Widower and without children, it remaria towards 1275 with Jeanne de Châtellerault and had:

Jean III († 1329), lord d' Harcourt
Jeanne, married to Henri, baron d' Avaugour, of Goello and Mayenne († 1331)
Marguerite, married to Robert lord of Boulainvillers and Chepoy, then in Raoul d' Estouteville lord of Oars.

Source: military Chronology, volume II, pag. 112; French history , by the Father Daniel.

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