in their overseas endeavors. Meanwhile, the south of the Puisaye was in the orbit of the County of Nevers and specifically of the Barony of Donzy. The crisis of the late Middle Ages and specifically the Hundred Years' War marked a rupture in the history of the region. Toucy was devastated in the runup to the Battle of Cravant, and was subsequently displaced by Saint-Fargeau as the main urban center of the Puisaye. Antoine de Chabannes significantly developed Saint-Fargeau, reconstructing its castle but also founding a hospital there. Generally, the century between 1450 and 1550 was a time of prosperity and renewal in the region, still represented in the landscape by numerous village churches built during that era. This period of prosperity ended with the Wars of Religion and troubles of the early 17th century. By the end of France's Ancien Régime, the core of Puisaye including Bléneau, Saint-Fargeau, Toucy and Saint-Sauveur was part of the province of Orléanais. It was a provincial borderland, with parts of the present communauté de communes de Puisaye-Forterre in Champagne (e.g. Charny), Burgundy (e.g. Pourrain, Courson-les-Carrières), and Nivernais (e.g. Saint-Vérain). Moreover, Île-de-France (e.g. Courtenay) was close by to the north, and Berry just across the Loire river. Lordship of Puisaye The Lordship of Puisaye is attested under that name from the late 13th century to the late 16th century, corresponding to an area that varied across time but generally included the towns of Bléneau, Mézilles, Saint-Fargeau, and until the early 16th century, Toucy. The lordship of Puisaye was inherited by the Counts, then Dukes of Bar following the 1255 marriage between Theobald II, Count of Bar and Joanna of Toucy, heiress of a lineage that started with Ythier de Narbonne in the 11th century (). On Joanna of Toucy's death in 1317 the lordship went to Edward I, Count of Bar and then to his son Henry IV, Count of Bar, and grandson, Robert, Duke of Bar. One of Robert's sons, John of Bar, inherited the lordship (but not the Duchy of Bar) when Robert died in 1411, but he was himself soon killed at the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415. The Lordship of Puisaye was then seized, together with the Duchy (whose ruler Edward III was also killed in Agincourt) by Cardinal Louis of Bar, brother of John and Edward and a significant political figure of the era. On Louis's death the