Duguesclin, Bertrand

(dōō-gaiklang,) a renowned French warrior and statesman, and Constable of France in the 14th cent., was born about 1314. Though deformed in person, and of a fierce and untractable disposition in his youth, he persevered in his endeavors to eclipse these defects by the brilliancy of his actions; and mainly to him must be attributed the expulsion of the English from Normandy, Guienne, and Poitou. D. was captured by the brave English commander, Sir John Chandos, at the battle of Auray in 1364, and was ransomed for 100,000 francs. Sent to subdue the roving companies of soldiery, then wasting France, he placed himself at their head, and led them to foreign wars. While serving in Spain against Peter the Cruel, he was again made prisoner by the English under the Black Prince, but was soon liberated. He was soon after made con The title of D. was preserved in succeeding ages, and for the most part applied to military commanders of high rank, by the northern tribes, who a erted their supremacy over the south of Europe in the latter days of the Roman empire. At the time of the conquest it was given to persons exercising almost absolute and kingly power over large tracts of territory called duke doms, acknowledging the superiority of the monarch, of whom they were supposed to hold their lands by feudal tenure, by some slight and occasional act of homage. (See FEUDAL SYSTEM.) It was, however, no uncommon thing for the D. to enter the lists with his feudal lord on very slight grounds of offence, and succe fully hold his own against him. Such were the dukes of Normandy, Gascony Aquitaine, and Burgundy. Their dominions and titles were heredi tary in all cases. The title is applied even in the present day to the sovereigns of many petty German states, some times with the prefix grand or arch; as the grand-duke of Baden, the archduke Charles, . In England the Norman and Plantage net kings a umed the title by virtue of their continental po e ions, acquired by inheritance or marriage; but it was first conferred as ENGLISH DUKE, IN HIS STATE ROBES.