English army at Troyes in 1380. 15th-century artwork of an army commanded by the Earl of Buckingham (Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester) with heralds at the walls of Troyes in France in 1380. Buckingham, a leading English noble, was uncle to the young King Richard II. This campaign was in support of John V, Duke of Brittany, then independent of the French crown. The French refused battle on 25 August. Buckingham then laid siege to Nantes, but by January 1381 was forced to retreat. Artwork from the 15th-century French work 'Chronique d'Angleterre' by Jean of Wavrin, a history of England covering the period from 1377 to 1387.