Jacques Daret and the Artistic Significance of…

Yishiha, a eunuch of Haixi Jurchen derivation, had been ordered to lead an expedition to the mouth of the Amur to pacify the Wild Jurchens when the Ming dynasty under the the Yongle Emperor established the Nurgan Regional Military Commission on the banks of the Amur River in 1409.

The Nurgan Regional Military Commission is abolished in 1435, and the Ming court ceases to have substantial activities here, although garrisons will continue to exist in Manchuria.

Dmitry Shemyaka and Vasily II manage to drive Vasily the Cross-Eyed from the Kremlin in 1435, capturing and blinding him and thus rendering him unfit for the throne.

On Vasily’s return to Moscow, he has the traitor Vsevolzhsky blinded.

Erik returns Schleswig to Holstein in 1435 under terms unfavorable to Kalmar, leaving him with nothing to show for his quarter-century-long struggle.

A truce in November 1434 leads to an agreement early in 1435 calling for a return to the pre-rebellion status quo.

The Riksdag (Swedish: “Day of the Realm”), the Swedish states general that first meets formally in 1435, is unique in Europe because it includes the peasantry as the fourth state.

The Swedish council declares Engelbrektsson Sweden’s administrator, while Erik simultaneously negotiates with Swedish nobles to restabilize the union and gain control of his endangered throne.

Although Erik has promised to respect Sweden's constitutional rights, it shortly becomes clear that he has acted in bad faith.

The painter Masolino da Panicale completes the Baptistery and the Collegiata in the Lombard town of Castiglione d'Olona in 1435.

René, duc d’Anjou, was twenty-five in 1434 when he inherited from his brother Louis III of Anjou the French lands of Provence and Anjou, as well as a claim to the throne of Naples, offered to Louis by Angevin ruler Joanna II as her adoptive heir.

At her death on February 2, 1435, René, as her adopted son, had become titular king.

The rival claimant, Alfonso V of Aragon, who had been adopted as Joan’s heir in 1421 and disinherited by her two years later after attempting to seize power, readies an assault on Naples but while blockading the port of Gaeta, a key citadel from which to launch an attack, his fleet of twenty-five galleys is met by the Genoese ships sent by Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan, who rules both cities.

In the ensuing battle off the island of Ponza, Alfonso is defeated and made prisoner, with many others, and sent to Genoa and then to Milan.

Casale Monferrato, founded in the eighth century on the site of ancient Bodincomagus on the Po River in the Monferrato Hills east of Turin, has since the tenth century belonged to the marquessate of Monferrato, and becomes its capital in 1435.

The Congress of Arras and the Treaty of Arras: Burgundy Breaks with England (1435)

By the mid-1430s, English fortunes in the Hundred Years' War had markedly declined following the death of Joan of Arc. Despite the shifting military and political realities, most of King Henry VI's advisors remained opposed to negotiating a meaningful peace with King Charles VII of France. Divisions among English leadership complicated the kingdom’s strategic direction: the influential John, Duke of Bedford, favored a vigorous defense of Normandy; his brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, advocated limiting commitments to Calais alone; and the powerful statesman Cardinal Henry Beaufort leaned toward peace negotiations.

The resulting impasse brought both sides to the Congress of Arras in the summer of 1435, a diplomatic conference mediated significantly by Cardinal Beaufort. English negotiators, however, approached the congress with unrealistic expectations, assuming discussions would solely involve England and France. Their key proposal was limited to an extended truce and the marriage between young King Henry VI and a daughter of Charles VII. Critically, the English delegation refused to relinquish their claim to the French crown—a position that undermined any prospects for meaningful compromise.

Mid-negotiation, the English representatives abruptly departed the congress to confront raids by prominent French commanders, notably Jean Poton de Xaintrailles and Étienne de Vignolles, known as La Hire. During their absence, French diplomats, supported by prominent clergy and encouraged by representatives of Pope Eugene IV and the Council of Basel, skillfully convinced Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to abandon England and reconcile with Charles VII. Burgundy, virtually autonomous by this period, had aligned with England since the assassination of Philip's father, John the Fearless, in 1419—an assassination in which Charles VII had been implicated.

When the English delegation returned, they found their diplomatic position disastrously weakened by Burgundy's unexpected defection. This reversal represented a profound political setback for England, exacerbated by the untimely death of their regent, John, Duke of Bedford, on September 14, 1435—just days before the congress concluded.

The ensuing Treaty of Arras, finalized later that same month, represented a decisive diplomatic victory for Charles VII and reshaped the political landscape of Atlantic West Europe. By formally recognizing Charles VII as the legitimate King of France, Philip of Burgundy severed the longstanding Anglo-Burgundian alliance. In return, Charles VII exempted Philip from feudal homage, promising instead to punish those responsible for the murder of Philip’s father. The treaty effectively ended the deep-seated conflict between Armagnac and Burgundian factions, enabling Charles VII to consolidate his rule and leaving England diplomatically isolated, reliant solely on its tenuous alliance with distant Scotland.

The consequences of the Treaty of Arras were profound and enduring. It marked the definitive shift in Burgundy’s alignment from England to France, accelerated the steady erosion of English territorial control, and underscored France's growing diplomatic and military advantage. From 1435 onward, English presence in northern and western France steadily diminished, signaling a major turning point that ultimately led to their near-total expulsion from French territory by the end of the Hundred Years' War.

Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, Richemont, and the Turning Point at Arras (1435)

Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, Marshal of France and influential member of King Charles VII’s Great Council, played a pivotal diplomatic role at the critical conferences of Nevers and ...