BERRY, JOHN, DUKE OF (1340-1416), third son of John II., king of France and Bonne of Luxemburg, was born on Nov. 3o, 134o, at Vincennes. He was created count of Poitiers in 1356, and was made the king's lieutenant in southern France, though the real power rested chiefly with John of Armagnac, whose daugh ter Jeanne he married in 136o. The loss of his southern possessions by the treaty of Bretigny was compensated by the fiefs of Au vergne and Berry, with the rank of peer of France. The duke went to England in 136o as a hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty of Bretigny, returning to France in 1367 on the pretext of collect ing his ransom. On his return he received the province of Langue doc. The peasant revolt of the Tuchins and Coquins, as the insur gents were called, was suppressed with great harshness, and the duke exacted from the states of Languedoc assembled at Lyons a fine of £ I 5,000. He fought at Rosebeke in 1382 against the Flem ings and helped to suppress the Parisian revolts. The repression in 1383 was followed by a series of heavy fines on the chief cities of France, and, says Froissart, "the whole went into the pockets of the duke of Berry and the duke of Burgundy, for the young king was under their governance." By a series of delays Berry caused the failure of the naval expedition prepared at Sluys against Eng land in 1386, and a second accusation of military negligence led to the disgrace of the royal princes and the temporary triumph of the marmousets, as the advisers of the late king were nicknamed. Charles VI. visited Languedoc in 138q—go, and enquired into his uncle's government. The duke was deprived of the government of Languedoc, and his agent, Betizac, was burnt. When in 1401 he was restored, he delegated his authority in the province, where he was still hated, to Bernard d'Armagnac. In 1396 he negotiated a truce with Richard II. of England, and his marriage with the prin cess Isabella of France. He tried to mediate between his brother Philip the Bold of Burgundy and his nephew Louis, duke of Orleans, and later between John "sans Peur" of Burgundy and Orleans. He broke with John after the murder of Orleans, though he tried to prevent civil war, and only finally joined the Armagnac party in 141 o. In 1413 he resumed his role of mediator, and was for a short time tutor to the dauphin. He died in Paris on June 1416, leaving vast treasures of jewellery, objects of 'art, and especially of illuminated mss., many of which have been preserved. He decorated the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges; he built the Hotel de Nesle in Paris, and palaces at Poitiers, Bourges, Mehun-sur Yevre and elsewhere.
See also L. Raynal, Histoire du Berry (Bourges, 1845) ; "Jean, duc de Berry," in S. Luce, La France pendant la guerre de Cent Ans (1890) , vol. i. ; Toulgoet-Treanna, in Mem. de la Soc. des antiquaires du centre, vol. xvii. (189o) . His beautiful illuminated Livre d'heures was reproduced (Paris, fol. 1904) by P. Durrieu.