Sir Jenico d'Artois, Dartas, Dartass or Dartasso (c.1350 – November 1426) was a Gascony-born soldier and statesman, much of whose career was spent in Ireland. He enjoyed the trust and confidence of three successive English monarchs, and became a wealthy landowner in Ireland. Early career Although the best-known version of his surname suggests Artois as his birthplace, historians agree that he was a native of Gascony. This province in France, which had been part of the dowry of Eleanor of Aquitaine on her marriage in 1152 to Henry II of England, was in the fourteenth century still an English possession. Little seems to be known about his parents. He had at least one brother, Sampson, to whom he remained close throughout his life. It has been suggested that he was a "rootless" individual, who ultimately settled in Ireland because he had no strong ties anywhere else. D'Artois served in the garrison of Cherbourg in 1367 and 1368, during the time when the town was a possession of Charles II of Navarre. In January 1379, he was involved in the capture and ransom of Olivier de Geusclin, a brother of Bertrand du Guesclin, the Constable of France. By that time, the garrison at Cherbourg was being shared with English soldiers. D'Artois switched his allegiance from Navarre to England, and by December 1380 had moved to the garrison at Guînes, within the Pale of Calais. He had acquired the patronage of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, by 1384, and subsequently entered the service of the earl's son, Henry "Hotspur" Percy. D'Artois commanded one of Hotspur's ships on his 1387 expedition to relieve Brest, and the following year was captured alongside him at the Battle of Otterburn. Servant of the English Crown In 1390, d'Artois joined the Barbary Crusade led by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. He subsequently joined Henry of Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV of England) in Lithuania, fighting with the Teutonic Knights. His exploits there brought him to the attention of John Waltham (the Lord High Treasurer under Richard II), who recruited him as a household esquire. In September 1392, d'Artois entered the employ of Richard II, and by 1394 he is known to have been high in the King's favour. He accompanied the King on his military expedition to Ireland in that year and distinguished himself as a soldier, fighting against the Gaelic clans in Counties Carlow and