1363–1364: Avignon, Crusade Project, Return to London, and Funeral

After Brétigny, John II must face two urgent matters: paying the ransom and retaking control of a kingdom ravaged by companies. A dream solution would be to transform insecurity into an external expedition, while obtaining papal financing.

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🕍 1363: Avignon, Papacy, and Financial Impasse

John II goes to Avignon to seek papal aid. He also hopes to arrange a major marriage for his son Philip. But the papacy changes hands: plans encounter political and financial constraints, and the envisioned union does not come about.

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✝️ March 30, 1363: “Taking the Companies” on Crusade

Pope Urban V imagines a solution: send the companies on crusade, which would relieve both France and papal territory. John II is seduced: an expedition would allow him to reclaim honor, and he hopes to capture some ecclesiastical financing.

On March 30, 1363, he receives the cross at Avignon. But the papacy strictly regulates fund-raising, which reduces the king’s maneuver room.

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🏛️ December 1363: States at Amiens, Decision to Return

The ransom remains difficult to pay and hostage liberation drags on. John II convenes the States at Amiens late December 1363 and announces his decision to return to England to renegotiate, in a context where some hostages are escaping.

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⚰️ 1364: Death in London and Return of the Body

John II leaves for London on January 3, 1364. He dies on April 8, 1364, at the Savoy hotel. Sources do not allow establishing a single cause with certainty: illness and exhaustion from captivity are plausible explanations.

The body is returned to the kingdom in early May: it is exposed, then buried at Saint‑Denis, royal necropolis.

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🧠 To Remember

• Avignon and the crusade are an attempt at political and financial “exit”.
• The return to London underscores the ransom impasse.
• The king’s death closes a reign of crises, but leaves instruments for recovery.