Guy II de Nesle Lord of Mello, was a Marshal of France

Marshal of France

The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

 (1348) who was killed in the Battle of Mauron

Battle of Mauron

The Battle of Mauron was fought in 1352 between an Anglo-Breton force and France. The Anglo-Bretons were victorious.The battle took place in the context of the Hundred Years War...

.

Jean was the son of Jean I de Nesle (died 1352), Lord of Offemont and a grandson of Guy I of Clermont

Guy I of Clermont

Guy I of Clermont was Lord of Breteuil and Offemont and a Marshal of France.He was the youngest son of Simon II of Clermont and Adele of Montfort....

, who was killed in the Battle of the Golden Spurs

Battle of the Golden Spurs

The Battle of the Golden Spurs, known also as the Battle of Courtrai was fought on July 11, 1302, near Kortrijk in Flanders...

 (1302).
Nesle was made a Marshal of France in 1348 by King Philip VI of France

Philip VI of France

Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...

 and was commander of the army in Artois

Artois

Artois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...

, Bourbonnais

Bourbonnais

Bourbonnais was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponded to the modern département of Allier, along with part of the département of Cher. Its capital was Moulins.-History:...

 and Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 during the Hundred Years' War

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

. He was captured in 1351 by the English during the Siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély

Saint-Jean-d'Angély

Saint-Jean-d'Angély is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.The commune has its historical origins in the Abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély.-Royal abbey:...

, but released after paying a ransom.

In 1352, Nesle was co-founder of the by King John II of France

John II of France

John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...

 newly created Order of the Star

Order of the Star (France)

The Order of the Star was an order of chivalry founded on 6 November 1351 by John II of France in imitation of the Order of the Garter recently founded by Edward III of England...

. In August of that same year, Nesle led a contingent of some hundred Kights of the Order into Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

. There, near Mauron, they were surprised by a numerical superior English force. Despite having the opportunity to escape, Nesle ordered his Knights to attack, in accordance with the motto of the Order, that fleeing is never an option.

The entire force was killed, which dealt a serious blow to survival of the Order of the Star.

Guy de Nesle was married with Jeanne de Bruyères, and had a son Jean II de Nesle. His grandson Guy III de Nesle was killed in the Battle of Azincourt (1415). His brother Guillaume, as well as his cousin Marshal Jean de Clermont

Jean de Clermont

Jean de Clermont , Lord of Chantilly and of Beaumont, was a Marshal of France who was killed in the battle of Poitiers. Jean was a grandson of Guy I of Clermont....

, were killed in the Battle of Poitiers (1356)

Battle of Poitiers (1356)

The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....

.

Literature

• Barbara Tuchman
  Barbara Tuchman
  Barbara Wertheim Tuchman was an American historian and author. She became known for her best-selling book The Guns of August, a history of the prelude to and first month of World War I, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1963....
  
  : A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century