Jean de Dunois

Also known as: Dunois / Iohn earle of Dunois / Jean de Dunois, Bastard of Orléans / Jean de Dunois, Count of Dunois / Jean, Count of Dunois / John, Count of Dunois / earle of Dunois · Family: France · Role: captain · First appears: Henry VI 20

In Henry VI 20, Jean de Dunois opposed John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, and was described as defending himself with other captains “as valiantlie defended as the Englishmen assaulted.” In Henry VI 23, he joined Jean de Lohéac and Jean de Bueil in hastening to raise a siege, but encountered Thomas Kyriell and Matthew Gough, with whom there was a great conflict. In June 1438, he secretly worked from the frontiers of Toulouse to win towns in Guien for France, but John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon changed the commanders, magistrates, and officers, causing Dunois to lose his effort and expense.

In Henry VI 29, Dunois was welcomed by his bastard brother Charles, Duke of Orléans, who thanked him for governing his lands during his captivity; in the same period, Dunois fought Bastard Talbot, William Peitow, and John Repleie, taking them prisoner after the French capture of a bastile at Dieppe. In Henry VI 39, he was counted among the enemies of Henry VI and as a friend and ally of Charles VII, while his connection with Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond was recorded in relation to her marriage to John. In Henry VI 40, he served as an ambassador for Charles VII and heard the privities of the king’s council from William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.

In 1451, Dunois and his brother John of Orléans, Count of Angoulême besieged Montguion and then conquered Blaie by force. Their relationship was also marked by John’s long imprisonment in England, while Dunois was described as acting with him and other captains in the campaign.