Bertrand du Guesclin (The Eagle of Brittany)

Bertrand du Guesclin (c. 1320–1380), nicknamed 'The Eagle of Brittany' and 'The Black Dog of Broceliande', was Constable of France and the savior of the Valois monarchy during the Hundred Years' War. Lacking handsome aristocratic looks, he possessed formidable physical strength, unyielding willpower, and military cunning.

Appointed Constable by King Charles V 'The Wise' in 1370, Du Guesclin abandoned the catastrophic French habit of suicidal cavalry charges against English longbowmen. Instead, he instituted a relentless war of ambush, night raids, cut supply lines, and rapid siege operations. By his death in 1380, he had liberated Normandy, Poitou, and Guyenne, reducing English continental possessions to mere coastal enclaves at Calais, Bordeaux, and Bayonne.