c. 1300–1356
Geoffroi de Charny was a French knight in the service of Philip VI and John II during the Hundred Years’ War. He fought in several campaigns, was captured more than once and became closely associated with the royal standard known as the Oriflamme.
In 1349 he led the failed attempt to recover Calais through a secret arrangement with a member of the English garrison. Charny was both a prominent French commander and one of the most important medieval writers on chivalric conduct. Geoffroi de Charny was born in France and died in Poitiers, France.
In Richard Foreman’s Calais, The attack is led by Geoffroi de Charny, whose reputation for chivalry does not make the contest less deceptive or bloody. In Jonathan Lunn’s Kemp: The Road to Poitiers, Kemp and the archers must test the methods used at Crécy against King John II’s army, while Sir Geoffroi de Charny carries the Oriflamme into a battle that will decide the fate of commanders and kings.