Mercadier had served Richard I on and off from 1183-1199. Over that time the two men established a close relationship that was well known to contemporaries and members of Richard's family.

In recognition of that history of service Eleanor of Aquitaine made the decision to recruit Mercadier immediately after Richard's death at Chalus on April 6th, 1199. Eleanor was with Richard and Mercadier when the king died and was therefore in a position to enlist Mercadier in person in the days thereafter as word of Arthur of Brittany's attempt for the crown reached her. In John France's assessment "His association with Richard and his apparent conformity to aristocratic norms seems to have made him acceptable in a way which others were not." John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades (London: UCL Press, 1999), 74.

Far from being punished, he was recognized as an extremely capable and trusted lieutenant who had earned his reputation over years of constant campaigning. Mercadier's ruthlessness and capacity for violence were much desired assets given the political circumstances and neither Eleanor nor anyone else at the time was going to shed a tear for a dead crossbowman who had killed their sovereign.

Perhaps in recognition of Mercadier's fearsome reputation, Eleanor chose him to carry out her revenge on Anjou. It was Mercadier who sacked the city of Angers and ravaged the duchy's countryside on her orders in reaction to their support of Arthur of Brittany during the succession crisis.

It is worth noting that some chroniclers were not well disposed towards mercenaries like Mercadier because of their low-born status, a perceived lack of aristocratic sophistication by the social elite, and reputation for butchery. The History of William Marshal composed in the early thirteenth century does not present him in a terribly positive light, although the author did not deny that such men could play an effective roles in the field.