Charles VII of France

Almost immediately after becoming dauphin, Charles had to face threats to his inheritance, and he was forced to flee from Paris on 29 May 1418 after the partisans of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, had entered the city the previous night.^[3] By 1419, Charles had established his own court in Bourges and a Parlement in Poitiers.^[3] On 11 July of that same year, Charles and John the Fearless attempted a reconciliation on a small bridge near Pouilly-le-Fort, not far from Melun where Charles was staying. They signed the Treaty of Pouilly-le-Fort in which they would share authority of the government, assist each other and not to form any treaties without the other's consent.^[4] Charles and John also decided that a further meeting should take place the following 10 September. On that date, they met on the bridge at Montereau.^[5] The Duke assumed that the meeting would be entirely peaceful and diplomatic; thus, he brought only a small escort with him. The Dauphin's men reacted to the Duke's arrival by attacking and killing him. Charles's level of involvement has remained uncertain to this day. Although he claimed to have been unaware of his men's intentions, this was considered unlikely by those who heard of the murder.^[1] The assassination marked the end of any attempt of a reconciliation between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions, thus playing into the hands of Henry V of England. Charles was later required by a treaty with Philip the Good, the son of John the Fearless, to pay penance for the murder, which he never did.

Treaty of Troyes (1420)

At the death of Charles' father Charles VI in October 1422, the succession was cast into doubt. Under the

In his adolescent years, Charles was noted for his bravery and flamboyant style of leadership. At one point after becoming Dauphin, he led an army against the English dressed in the red, white, and blue that represented his family;^{[citation needed]} his heraldic device was a mailed fist clutching a naked sword. However, in July 1421, upon learning that Henry V was preparing to attack from Mantes with a much larger army, he withdrew from the siege of Chartres.^[6] He then went south of the Loire River under the protection of Yolande of Aragon, known as "Queen of the Four Kingdoms" and, on 18 December 1422, married her daughter, Marie of Anjou,^[7] to whom he had been engaged since December 1413 in a ceremony at the Louvre Palace.

Charles, unsurprisingly, claimed the title

After her encounter with Charles in March 1429, Joan of Arc set out to lead the French forces at Orléans. She was aided by skilled commanders such as Étienne de Vignolles, known as La Hire, and Jean Poton de Xaintrailles. They compelled the English to lift the siege on 8 May 1429, thus turning the tide of the war. The French won the Battle of Patay on 18 June, at which the English field army lost about half its troops. After pushing further into English and Burgundian-controlled territory, Charles was crowned King Charles VII of France in Reims Cathedral on 17 July 1429.

Joan was later captured by Burgundian troops under John of Luxembourg at the Siege of Compiègne on 24 May 1430.^[10] The Burgundians handed her over to their English allies. Tried for heresy by a court composed of pro-English clergy such as Pierre Cauchon, who had long served the English occupation government,^[11] she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431.

French victory

Nearly as important as Joan of Arc in the cause of Charles was the support of the powerful and wealthy family of his wife Marie d'Anjou, particularly his mother-in-law, Queen Yolande of Aragon. But whatever affection he may have had for his wife, or whatever gratitude he may have felt for the support of her family, the great love of Charles VII's life was his mistress, Agnès Sorel.

Charles VII and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, then signed the 1435

Over the following two decades, the French recaptured Paris from the English and eventually recovered all of France with the exception of the northern port of Calais.

Close of reign

Charles VII Royal d'or.

Charles VII Ecu neuf, 1436

Charles VII on a Franc à cheval from 1422 or 1423

Charles's later years were marked by hostile relations with his heir, Louis, who demanded real power to accompany his position as the Dauphin. Charles consistently refused him. Accordingly, Louis stirred up dissent and fomented plots in attempts to destabilise his father's reign. He quarrelled with his father's mistress, Agnès Sorel, and on one occasion drove her with a bared sword into Charles' bed, according to one source. Eventually, in 1446, after Charles's last son, also named Charles, was born, the king banished the Dauphin to the Dauphiné. The two never met again. Louis thereafter refused the king's demands to return to court, and he eventually fled to the protection of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1456.

In 1458, Charles became ill. A sore on his leg (an early symptom, perhaps, of

Finally, however, there came a point in July 1461 when the king's physicians concluded that Charles would not live past August. Ill and weary, the king became delirious, convinced that he was surrounded by traitors loyal only to his son. Under the pressure of sickness and fever, he went mad. By now another infection in his jaw had caused an abscess in his mouth. The swelling caused by this became so large that, for the last week of his life, Charles was unable to swallow food or water. Although he asked the Dauphin to come to his deathbed, Louis refused, instead waiting at Avesnes, in Burgundy, for his father to die. At Mehun-sur-Yèvre, attended by his younger son, Charles, and aware of his elder son's final betrayal, the King starved to death. He died on 22 July 1461, and was buried, at his request, beside his parents in Saint-Denis.

Legacy

Although Charles VII's legacy is far overshadowed by the deeds and eventual martyrdom of Joan of Arc and his early reign was at times marked by indecisiveness and inaction, he was responsible for successes unprecedented in the history of the Kingdom of France.^{[citation needed]} He succeeded in what four generations of his predecessors (namely his father Charles VI, his grandfather Charles V, his great-grandfather John II and great-great grandfather Philip VI) failed to do – the expulsion of the English and the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War.^{[citation needed]}

He had created France's first standing army since Roman times. In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli asserts that if his son Louis XI had continued this policy, then the French would have become invincible.^{[citation needed]}

Charles VII secured himself against papal power by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. He also established the University of Poitiers in 1432, and his policies brought some economic prosperity to his subjects.^{[citation needed]}

Family

Children

Charles married his second cousin

Mistresses

• Agnès Sorel,^[21] by whom he had three illegitimate daughters:
  • Marie, possibly born the summer of 1444.^[22]
  • Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, in turn married Diane de Poitiers
    , herself ultimately a famous royal mistress).
  • Jeanne.
• Antoinette de Maignelais,^[24] cousin of Agnès Sorel.

Ancestors

See also

• Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris

Sources

Notes

References

Further reading

• Lanhers, Yvonne (20 July 1998). "Charles VII – king of France". Encyclopædia Britannica (online).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles VII of France.

• Beach, C, ed. (1914). "Charles VII, king of France". The New Student's Reference Work. 1. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.
• Chisholm, H, ed. (1911). "Charles VII (1403–1461), king of France". Encyclopædia Britannica 11th ed. 5. Cambridge University Press.

Charles VII of France House of Valois Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty Born: 22 February 1403 Died: 22 July 1461
Regnal titles
Preceded by Charles VI	King of France disputed with Henry VI of England , 1422–29 21 October 1422 – 22 July 1461	Succeeded by Louis XI
Preceded by John of Valois	Dauphin of Viennois 5 April 1417 – 3 July 1423
	Count of Poitou 1417 – 21 October 1422	Vacant Merged in the crown
	Duke of Berry 1417 – 21 October 1422	Vacant Merged in the crown Title next held by Charles II
	Count of Ponthieu 1417 – 21 October 1422	Vacant Merged in the crown Title next held by Charles II