Camus Bour facts for kids
Bour Camus, also known as Camus Bour Lesparre, was a famous mercenary captain during the Hundred Years' War. A mercenary is a soldier who fights for money, not for a specific country or cause. Bour Camus came from either Navarre or Gascony, regions in what is now France and Spain.
After a peace agreement called the Treaty of Brétigny was signed during the Hundred Years' War, many soldiers like Bour Camus found themselves without jobs. These soldiers often grouped together and became known as the Tard-Venus. They were like large groups of armed people who traveled around and took things from towns and villages, especially in southern France. Bour Camus and his men joined these groups. His adventures are written about in the important historical book, the Chronicles of Froissart.
Adventures in Italy
After a big battle called the Battle of Brignais, Bour Camus traveled to Italy. He went there with other well-known mercenary leaders like John Hawkwood, John Creswey, and Robert Briquet. Their goal was to fight against two powerful rulers in Milan, Galeazzo II Visconti and Bernabò Visconti.
During these wars in Italy, Bour Camus was known for being very harsh. He was captured in December 1367. The people working for the Duke of Bourbon caught him at the castle of Beauvoir.
Who were the Tard-Venus?
The Tard-Venus were groups of soldiers who became unemployed after the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360. This treaty temporarily ended some fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Without jobs, these soldiers often turned to taking resources from towns and villages to survive. They caused a lot of trouble in the French countryside during the 1360s.
