John II of France

Our next diamond match comes in 1358, at one of the darkest moments in French history.

Two years earlier, in 1356, the French King John II had been captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers and carried off to London.

His eldest son, the Dauphin Charles, still a young man, was left to govern a kingdom in crisis.

The treasury was empty, the countryside was being ravaged by armies and bandits, and Paris was seething with anger at royal incompetence and heavy taxation.