The cutting of the elm was a diplomatic altercation between the kings of France and England in 1188, during which an elm tree near Gisors in Normandy was felled.
The cutting of the elm was a diplomatic altercation between the kings of France and England in 1188, during which an elm tree near Gisors in Normandy was felled.
In the 12th century, the tree marked the traditional place of Franco-Norman negotiations, as the field was located on the border between Normandy, ruled by the English king, and the royal domains of the French king. [1] [2]
One account [3] narrates the meeting between King Henry II of England and King Philip II of France in 1188, following the fall of Jerusalem:
At Gisors, Henry II and his advisers stood under an Elm tree while Philip and his entourage suffered in the full heat of the sun. After the meeting, Philip ordered the tree cut down and hacked to pieces, sending the message that he would offer no quarter to the English.
A quite different account is given by the Minstrel of Rheims (c. 1260), a thirteenth-century historical fiction: [4]
King Richard sent a message to the counts of Sancerre and of Barre, telling them that they took the king's bread and gave him nothing in return but if they were brave enough to come to the elm tree at Gisors, he would consider them truly courageous. The French nobles sent the message back that they would come the next day, at the third hour, to cut the tree down, in spite of him. When the English king heard that they were coming to cut down the tree, he had the trunk reinforced with bands of iron, that were wrapped five times around it. The next morning the French nobles armed themselves, and assembled five squadrons of their men, one of which was led by the count of Sancerre, another by the count of Chartres, the third by the count of Vendôme, the fourth by the count of Nevers, and the fifth by Sir William of Barre and Sir Alain of Roucy. They rode up to the elm tree at Gisors, with the crossbowmen and carpenters out front, and they had in their hands sharp axes and good pointed hammers, with which to cut the bands that were fastened around the tree. They stopped at the elm tree, tore off the bands, and cut it down, in spite of all resistance.
The event has been used in the history proposed by Pierre Plantard and other pseudo-historical theories. In this context, the Cutting of the elm was portrayed as marking the split between the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion.
Philip II, also known as Philip Augustus, was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style himself "King of France". The son of King Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed Dieudonné (God-given) because he was a first son and born late in his father's life. Philip was given the epithet "Augustus" by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the crown lands of France so remarkably.
Year 1188 (MCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
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Louis VI, called the Fat or the Fighter, was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Like his father Philip I, Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power. He spent much of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued the Ile de France or Henry I of England for his continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably, often resorting to force to bring lawless knights to justice, and was the first member of the house of Capet to issue ordonnances applying to the whole of the kingdom of France.
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Jean de Gisors (1133–1220) was a Norman lord of the fortress of Gisors in Normandy, where meetings were traditionally convened between English and French kings. It was here, in 1188, a squabble occurred that involved the cutting of an elm.
Adelaide of Maurienne, also called Alix or Adele was Queen of France as the second wife of King Louis VI (1115–1137).
Gisors is a commune in the French department of Eure, Normandy, France. It is located 62.9 km (39.1 mi) northwest from the centre of Paris.
Blanche of Navarre was Countess of Champagne by marriage to Theobald III, Count of Champagne, and regent of Champagne during the minority of her son Theobald I of Navarre between 1201 and 1222.
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Stephen I (1133–1190), Count of Sancerre (1151–1190), inherited Sancerre on his father's death. His elder brothers Henry Ι and Theobald V received Champagne and Blois. His holdings were the smallest among the brothers.
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The House of Blois was a noble family that arose in the Kingdom of West Francia in the early 10th century, and whose prominent members were often named Theobald.
Simon of Dammartin was count of Ponthieu. In 1214 he fought against Philip Augustus at the battle of Bouvines. With the Capetian victory at Bouvines, he was exiled. Through negotiations of his wife Marie, he was allowed back in Ponthieu and agreed to not allow his daughters to marry with out royal consent.
Jehan de Braine (c. 1200 – 1240) was, jure uxoris, the Count of Mâcon and Vienne from 1224 until his death. He was a younger son of Robert II of Dreux and his second wife, Yolande de Coucy. His wife was Alix, granddaughter of William V of Mâcon. Jehan was also a trouvère and a Crusader. He followed Theobald I of Navarre to the Holy Land in the Barons' Crusade of 1239 and there died a year later. His widow, Alix, sold her counties to Louis IX of France.
Raoul le Bon ', also known as Raoul III de Nesle, was the Count of Soissons from 1180. He was the third son of Raoul II de Nesle and Gertrude de Montaigu.
Louis de Sancerre was a Marshal of France and Constable of France during the Hundred Years' War.
The First Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts and disputes during the High Middle Ages during which the House of Capet, rulers of the Kingdom of France, fought the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England. The conflict emerged over the Plantagenet-held Angevin Empire formed by Henry II of England which at its peak covered around half of the territory within France. The ongoing conflict between the two dynasties resulted in the gradual "reconquest" of most of their kingdom by the Capetians, and later, the Plantagenet's attempts to retake what they believed to be their rightful claims in western France.