The Praguers One of the primary enemy faction in the video game KCD2, during the medieval history of XIVth–XVth century Bohemia, is frequently caricatured as an army of traitors and cowards. Following the golden age of the late King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, Prague had risen to great prominence. Initially not a single capital, but rather a cluster of four closely situated towns, by the end of the XIVth century it had become a powerful capital for the Kingdom of Bohemia, militarily, economically, and, above all, politically. Indeed, the latin inscription Praga Caput Regni (Prague, Head of the Realm) could be found on some of the shields carried by the city's forces. Although the Kingdom of Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which theoretically entailed significant obligations to serve the imperial cause, the kingdom actually possessed a special autonomous status, a factor that greatly contributed to the expansion of its power. With the accession of the new King of Bohemia, Wenceslaus IV, reputed to be weak and a drunkard, the influence of the Czech lords, which had been constrained during the reign of Charles IV, began to grow. Driven by the ambition and the memory of Prague’s former glory, this shift led to conspiracies and even open warfare. During the internal conflicts involving the Moravian Margraves (1380–1405), Prague came to be viewed as a cursed city by the Bohemian king. The forces operating there were no longer a royal army serving their sovereign; instead, they served the wealthy, powerful lords who were the king’s rivals, a dynamic that ultimately led to the formation of the League of Lords. During the first abduction of the king in 1394, the official army of the king and the city of Prague collaborated with the League of Lords while the monarch was held captive; consequently, they were driven out and punished by the inhabitants of Prague. Meanwhile, an unofficial army, composed of the king’s supporters, was formed in Kuttenberg with the aim of marching directly on the capital to liberate Wenceslas IV. During the second abduction in 1402, orchestrated by the League of Lords, Prague played a major role in the conflict and the invasion led by the Hungarian king, Sigismund, the brother of Wenceslas IV. Under the command of Markavart von Aulitz, the hetman and governor of Prague, the city’s army fought against the loyalists of Wenceslas IV, most notably during the winter of 1402, when they participated in the siege of Kuttenberg following a call for Czech reinforcements by the Hungarian king. Prague became since spring 1402 a puppet for king Sigismund of Hungary. For example Sigismund in summer 1403 was very angry that Pope Boniface named Ladislaus I of Naples king of Hungary, and has since ordered Prague to stop funding the Church of Rome. Ultimately, it was not until the Hungarian king departed the Kingdom of Bohemia for Hungary in the summer of 1403, to repel the invasion of Ladislas of Naples, and King Wenceslas IV escaped from Vienna, that Prague and its army returned to the latter’s control. After once again assembling an army of supporters in Kuttenberg to march on the capital and, with the help of its inhabitants, reclaim it, Wenceslas IV immediately deposed and overthrew the Bohemian government established by Sigismund, as well as all those who had supported the war effort. In the spring of 1405, peace was established between the King of Bohemia, Wenceslas IV, and the League of Lords, bringing an end to the Margraves Moravian Wars. From that point on, Prague and its army were no longer pawns in the grand conspiracies of the nobility, at least until the outbreak of the Hussite Wars in 1419, a period that would fundamentally transform the reputation of Prague, its army, and its inhabitants.

1432, Maine county, south of Normandy A Norman squire named Guillaume de Saint-Aubin was quartered in a village of Maine called Losengière, with some sixty to eighty fighting men resisting against English rule. One night, the English of the Mayenne-la-Juhel garrison came to attack his lodgings. Both sides fought very valiantly, and in the end the English were routed. Among the French was a man-at-arms known as the Bastard Bois-à-Prestre, who after the skirmish had hidden himself in a bush for ambush. Later, two fleeing Englishmen crept into that very same bush. When the Bastard noticed them, he asked: "Who is there?" The Englishmen, with great surprised, replied that they surrendered to him and begged him to spare their lives. Realizing that the English had been defeated, he led his two prisoners to Saint-Aubin and his companions, who had fought valiantly. When Saint-Aubin learned what had happened, he took the two English prisoners away from him. The matter was brought before the knight Ambroise de Loré, marshal of the Duke of Alençon, under whose command they served. He ruled that the Bastard would have no claim whatsoever on the two prisoners. Had it not been for the support of some of his friends, he would have had him severely punished for this misdeed.

"Before becoming partisan warriors, they were the King's men" One of the legendary duos in French military history during the Hundred Years' War: Étienne de Vignolles, nicknamed "La Hire", and Poton de Xaintrailles. Both hailing from the minor Gascon nobility of southern France in the XVth century, they were recruited by the faction leader Count Bernard VII of Armagnac to fight in the French civil war against the Burgundians. Unknowingly, they were destined to become the embodiment of the ideal warrior and to lead hundreds of men for nearly thirty years. From ambushes, surprise captures, and the infiltration of strongholds and cities to cavalry charges, this nearly inseparable duo became indispensable to the cause of King Charles VII, both before and after the time of Joan of Arc. Having not learned to read or write, their activities consisted of serving their king and striking down enemies : the Burgundians and English. Both rose to become great military commanders; Xaintrailles even attained the rank of Marshal of France. Long forgotten, they have been the subject of ongoing study by historians from the XIXth century to the present day, all seeking to uncover the details of their lives and exploits. I dedicate this historical art project, created with my great friend @MHInventory , to the French medievalist historian Christophe Furon, who spent years traveling across France conducting extensive archival research to reconstruct the lives of these two figures. Though he nearly abandoned the project, he persevered, ultimately restoring their honor and highlighting this duo in an ambitious thesis.