JOHN II. (1319-1364), surnamed the Good, king of France, son of Philip VI. and Jeanne of Burgundy, succeeded his father in 1350. At the age of 13 he married Bona of Luxemburg, daugh ter of John, king of Bohemia. His first act upon becoming king was to order the execution of the constable, Raoul de Brienne. John surrounded himself with evil counsellors, Simon de Buci, Robert de Lorris, Nicolas Braque, who robbed the treasury and oppressed the people, while the king gave himself up to tourna ments and festivities. Raids of the Black Prince in Languedoc led to the states-general of 1355, which readily voted money, but sanctioned the right of resistance against all kinds of pillage—a distinct commentary on the incompetence of the king. In Sept. 1356 John gathered the flower of his chivalry and attacked the Black Prince at Poitiers where he was defeated and made prisoner. Taken to England to await ransom, John was at first installed in the Savoy Palace, then at Windsor, Hertford, Somerton, and at last in the Tower. He was granted royal state with his captive com
panions, made a guest at tournaments, and supplied with luxuries imported by him from France. The treaty of Bretigny (1360), which fixed his ransom at 3,000,00o crowns, enabled him to return to France, but although he married his daughter Isabella to Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, for a gift of 600,000 golden crowns, imposed a heavy feudal "aid" on merchandise, and various other taxes, John was unable to pay the ransom. He returned of his own free will to England in January 1364 and was received with great honour, lodged again in the Savoy, and was a frequent guest of Edward at Westminster. He died on April 8, and the body was sent back to France with royal honours.
See Froissart's Chronicles; Due d'Aumale, Notes et documents relatifs a Jean, roi de France, et a sa captivite (1856) ; A. Coville, in Lavisse's Histoire de France, vol. iv., and authorities cited there.