Gouge, Martin
GOUGE, MARTIN (c. 1360-1444), surnamed DE CHARPAIGNE, French chancellor, was born at Bourges about 1360. A canon of Bourges, in 1402 he became treasurer to John, duke of Berri, and in 1406 bishop of Chartres. He was arrested by John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, with the hapless Jean de Montaigu (1349-1409) in 1409, but was soon released and then banished. Attaching himself to the dauphin Louis, duke of Guienne, he became his chancellor, the king's ambassador in Brittany, and a member of the grand council; and on the 13th of May 1415, he was transferred from the see of Chartres to that of ClermontFerrand. In May 1418, when the Burgundians re-entered Paris, he only escaped death at their hands by taking refuge in the Bastille. He then left Paris, but only to fall into the hands of his enemy, the duke de la Tremoille, who imprisoned him in the castle of Sully. Rescued by the dauphin Charles, he was appointed chancellor of France on the 3rd of February 1422. He endeavoured to reconcile Burgundy and France, was a party to the selection of Arthur, earl of Richmond, as constable, but had to resign his chancellorship in favour of Regnault of Chartres; first from March 25th to August 6th 1425, and again when La Tr6moille had supplanted Richmond. After the fall of La Tremoille in 1433 he returned to court, and exercised a powerful influence over affairs of state almost till his death, which took place at the castle of Beaulieu (Puy-de-D6me) on the 25th or 26th of November 1444.
See Hiver's account in the Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires du Centre, p. 267 (1869); and the Nouvelle Biographie generate, vol. xxi.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
