Bertrand du Guesclin pendant le siège de Rennes, 1357

This engraving depicts Bertrand du Guesclin during the siege of Rennes in 1357. The siege of Rennes formed part of the Breton War of Succession, a conflict tied both to Breton dynastic rivalry and to the broader context of the Hundred Years’ War. Bertrand du Guesclin, then at the beginning of his career, built his reputation there as an energetic and skillful defender of fortified towns. The image thus illustrates one of the episodes that helped make him one of the great French military figures of the 14th century. Published circa 1883 in Paul Lehugeur’s Histoire de France en cent tableaux, it also reflects the 19th-century taste for heroic episodes from French history.