Arnaud Amanieu was the Lord of Albret from 1358. Arnaud Amanieu was the son of Bernard Ezi IV

Bernard Ezi IV

Bernard Ezi IV was the Lord of Albret from 1324 to 1358 and the son of Amanieu VIII.In 1330, Edward III of England sent men to Gascony to negotiate with the nobles. Bernard tried to negotiate a marriage between his eldest son and heir Arnaud Amanieu and a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl...

 and Mathe of Armagnac

House of Armagnac

The House of Armagnac, at the end of the thirteenth century, was not yet powerful enough to play a political role beyond its possessions. The House of Toulouse, which ruled over the large southwest of France, was defeated by the Capetians during the Albigensian Crusade, but local dynasties, like...

.

In 1330, Edward III of England

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 sent men to Gascony

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

 to negotiate with the nobles. Beranrd Ezi IV tried to negotiate a marriage between Arnaud Amanieu and a daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent

Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent

Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent was a member of the English Royal Family.-Early life:He was born at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, the son of Edward I Longshanks, King of England and his second wife, Margaret of France. He was 62 years younger than his father, who died when Edmund of Woodstock...

, but the plans fell through.

In 1363, Edward the Black Prince, then Duke of Gascony

Duke of Gascony

The Duchy of Vasconia , later known as Gascony, was a Merovingian creation: a frontier duchy on the Garonne, in the border with the rebel Basque tribes...

, went to his province to procure the homage of his barons, chief among whom was Arnaud Amanieu. In the cathedral of Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 on 9 July, the lord of Albret was the first to kneel sans belt and cap before the Prince and swear an oath of fealty (save his allegiance to the King of England), then to kiss a Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 and a cross, and finally to kiss the Prince on the mouth. However, good relations did not last long between Lord and Prince.

In 1368, while preparing to cross the Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

 to join in the Castilian Civil War

Castilian Civil War

The Castilian Civil War lasted three years from 1366 to 1369. It became part of the larger conflict then raging between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France: the Hundred Years' War...

, Edward demanded a contingent from Arnaud Amanieu, but the forces requested were more than the lord of Albret could suffice. Arnaud Amanieu refused, causing the Black Prince to say:

Edward's Council also declared a fouage, a new tax, which was bitterly resented by the great landholders. John I of Armagnac

John I of Armagnac

John I of Armagnac , son of Bernard VI and Cecilia Rodez, was Count of Armagnac from 1319 to 1373. In addition to Armagnac he controlled territory in Quercy, Rouergue and Gévaudan...

, Peter-Raymond II of Comminges, Roger Bernard of Périgord, and Arnaud Amanieu sent appeals to Charles V of France

Charles V of France

Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...

, appeals which are preserved to this day in the Archives Nationales in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. They addressed him as the "sovereign lord of the duchée de Guienne and the other lands baillées to the king of England by the treaty of peace." Needless to say, the king of France readily received the Gascon rebels into his fold.

On 30 June 1368, after Arnaud Amanieu married Margaret of Bourbon, a secret treaty was signed between Charles V, Arnaud Amanieu, John, and Roger Bernard. Charles pledged aid in the event of war and he swore never to give up his claims of sovereignty over Gascony. The lords agreed to serve Charles—for pay—in Auvergne

Auvergne (province)

Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....

, Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, Berry

Berry

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

, and Touraine

Touraine

The Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher and Indre.-Geography:...

, and to take an oath to him. The fouage was remitted for the next decade, unless the barons chose to reimpose it on themselves. A body of lawyers and barons was called to decide the sovereignty question and they unanimously affirmed that Charles was sovereign over Gascony.

Amanieu remained close to the French monarchy until his death in 1401. His son, Charles I

Charles d'Albret

Charles d'Albret was Constable of France from 1402 until 1411, and again from 1413 until 1415. He was also the co-commander of the French army at the Battle of Agincourt where he was killed by the English forces led by King Henry V....

, became Constable of France

Constable of France

The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...

.