John IIArticle Free Pass John II, byname John the Good, French
Jean le Bon (born April 16, 1319, near Le Mans, Fr.—died April
8, 1364, London), king of France from 1350 to 1364. Captured by
the English at the Battle of Poitiers on Sept. 19, 1356, he was
forced to sign the disastrous treaties of 1360 during the first
phase of the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) between France and
England. After becoming king on Aug. 22, 1350, John continued a
truce with the English until later that year, when he had an
English hostage, Raoul de Brienne, comte d’Eu, former constable
of France, executed. By March 1351 King Edward III of England
realized the impossibility of remaining at peace; but John
committed the first act of hostility by attacking and
recapturing Saint-Jean-d’Angély in western France that September
7. John signed a new truce with England on Sept. 12, 1351, but
broke it by supporting the partisans of Charles of Blois (a
pretender to Brittany, then held prisoner by Edward) in August
1352; the peace, however, wa