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CHARLES VII, King of France, fifth son of Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria, was born in Paris on the 22nd of February 1403. The count of Ponthieu, as he was called in his boyhood, was betrothed in 1413 to Mary of Anjou, daughter of Louis II, Duke of Anjou and king of Sicily, and spent the next two years at the Angevin court.
He received the duchy of Touraine in 1416, and in the next year the death of his brother John made him dauphin of France. He became lieutenant-general of the kingdom in 1417, and made active efforts to combat the complaisance of his mother. He assumed the title of regent in December 1418, but his authority in northern France was paralysed in 1419 by the murder of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, in his presence at Montereau. Although the deed was not apparently premeditated, as the English and Burgundians declared, it ruined Charles's cause for the time. He was disinherited by the treaty of Troyes in 1420, and at the time of his father's death in 1422 had retired to Mehun-sur-Yevre, near Bourges, which had been the nominal seat of government since 1418.
He was recognized as king in Touraine, Berry and Poitou, in Languedoc and other provinces of southern France; but the English power in the north was presently increased by the provinces of Champagne and Maine, as the result of the victories of Crevant (1423) and Verneuil (1424). The Armagnac administrators who had been driven out of Paris by the Duke of Bedford gathered round the young king, nicknamed the "king of Bourges," but he was weak in body and mind, and was under the domination of Jean Louvet and Tanguy du Chastel, the instigators of the murder of John the Fearless, and other discredited partisans. The power of these favourites was shaken by the influence of the queen's mother, Yolande of Aragon, Duchess of Anjou. She sought the alliance of John V, Duke of Brittany, who, however, vacillated throughout his life between the English and French alliance, concerned chiefly to maintain the independence of his duchy. His brother, Arthur of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (Comte de Richemont), was reconciled with the king, and became constable in 1425, with the avowed intention of making peace between Charles VII and the Duke of Burgundy. Richemont caused the assassination of Charles's favourites Pierre de Giac and Le Camus de Beaulieu, and imposed one of his own choosing, Georges de la Tremoille, an adventurer who rapidly usurped the constable's power. For five years (1427-1432) a private war between these two exhausted the Armagnac forces, and central France returned to anarchy.
Meanwhile Bedford had established settled government throughout the north of France, and in 1428 he advanced to the siege of Orleans. For the movement which was to lead to the deliverance of France from the English invaders, see Joan Of Arc. The siege of Orleans was raised by her efforts on the 8th of May 1429, and two months later Charles VII was crowned at Reims. Charles's intimate counsellors, La Tremoille and Regnault de Chartres, Archbishop of Reims, saw their profits menaced by the triumphs of Joan of Arc, and accordingly the court put every difficulty in the way of her military career, and received the news of her capture before Compiegne (1430) with indifference. No measures were taken for her deliverance or her ransom, and Normandy and the Isle of France remained in English hands. Fifteen years of anarchy and civil war intervened before peace was restored. Bands of armed men fighting for their own hand traversed the country, and in the ten years between 1434 and 1444 the provinces were terrorized by these ecorcheurs, who, with the decline of discipline in the English army, were also recruited from the ranks of the invaders.
The Duke of Bedford died in 1435, and in the same year Philip the Good of Burgundy concluded a treaty with Charles VII at Arras, after fruitless negotiations for an English treaty. From this time Charles's policy was strengthened. La Tremoille had been assassinated in 1433 by the constable's orders, with the connivance of Yolande of Aragon. For his former favourites were substituted energetic advisers, his brother-in-law Charles of Anjou, Dunois (the famous bastard of Orleans), Pierre de Breze, Richemont and others. Richemont entered Paris on the 13th of April 1436, and in the next five years the finance of the country was re-established on a settled basis. Charles himself commanded the troops who captured Pontoise in 1441, and in the next year he made a successful expedition in the south.
Meanwhile the princes of the blood and the great nobles resented the ascendancy of councillors and soldiers drawn from the smaller nobility and the bourgeoisie. They made a formidable league against the crown in 1440 which included Charles, Duke of Bourbon, John II, Duke of Alençon, John IV of Armagnac, and the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. The revolt broke out in Poitou in 1440 and was known as the Praguerie. Charles VII repressed the rising, and showed great skill with the rebel nobles, finally buying them over individually by considerable concessions. In 1444 a truce was concluded with England at Tours, and Charles proceeded to organize a regular army. The central authority was gradually made effective, and a definite system of payment, by removing the original cause of brigandage, and the establishment of a strict discipline learnt perhaps from the English troops, gradually stamped out the most serious of the many evils under which the country had suffered.
Pierre Bessonneau, and the brothers Gaspard and Jean Bureau created a considerable force of artillery. Domestic troubles in their own country weakened the English in France. The conquest of Normandy was completed by the battle of Formigny (15th of April 1450). Guienne was conquered in 1451 by Duncis, but not subdued, and another expedition was necessary in 1453, when Talbot was defeated and slain at Castillon. Meanwhile in 1450 Charles VII had resolved on the rehabilitation of Joan of Arc, thus rendering a tardy recognition of her services. This was granted in 1456 by the Holy See. The only foothold retained by the English on French ground was Calais. In its earlier stages the deliverance of France from the English had been the work of the people themselves. The change which made Charles take an active part in public affairs is said to have been largely due to the influence of Agnes Sorel, who became his mistress in 1444 and died in 1450. She was the first to play a public and political role as mistress of a king of France, and may be said to have established a tradition. Pierre de Breze, who had had a large share in the repression of the Praguerie, obtained through her a dominating influence over the king, and he inspired the monarch himself and the whole administration with new vigour.
Charles and Rene of Anjou retired from court, and the greater part of the members of the king's council were drawn from the bourgeois classes. The most famous of all these was Jacques Coeur. It was by the zeal of these councillors that Charles obtained the surname of "The Well-Served." Charles VII continued his father's general policy in church matters. He desired to lessen the power of the Holy See in France and to preserve as far as possible the liberties of the Gallican church. With the council of Constance (1414-1418) the great schism was practically healed. Charles, while careful to protest against its renewal, supported the anti-papal contentions of the French members of the council of Basel (1431-1449), and in 1438 he promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction at Bourges, by which the patronage of ecclesiastical benefices was removed from the Holy See, while certain interventions of the royal power were admitted. Bishops and abbots were to be elected, in accordance with ancient custom, by their clergy.
After the English had evacuated French territory Charles still had to cope with feudal revolt, and with the hostility of the dauphin, who was in open revolt in 1446, and for the next ten years ruled like an independent sovereign in Dauphine. He took refuge in 1457 with Charles's most formidable enemy, Philip of Burgundy. Charles VII nevertheless found means to prevent Philip from attaining his ambitions in Lorraine and in Germany. But the dauphin succeeded in embarrassing his father's policy at home and abroad, and had his own party in the court itself. Charles VII died at Mehun-sur-Yevre on the 22nd of July 1461. He believed that he was poisoned by his son, who cannot, however, be accused of anything more than an eager expectation of his death.
Excerpted from:
Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol V.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 921.
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Index of Encyclopedia Entries:
Medieval Cosmology Prices of Items in Medieval England
Edward II Isabella of France, Queen of England Piers Gaveston Thomas of Brotherton, E. of Norfolk Edmund of Woodstock, E. of Kent Thomas, Earl of Lancaster Henry of Lancaster, Earl of Lancaster Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster Roger Mortimer, Earl of March Hugh le Despenser the Younger Bartholomew, Lord Burghersh, elder
Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
Edward III Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England Edward, Black Prince of Wales John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall The Battle of Crécy, 1346 The Siege of Calais, 1346-7 The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster Edmund of Langley, Duke of York Thomas of Woodstock, Gloucester Richard of York, E. of Cambridge Richard Fitzalan, 3. Earl of Arundel Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March The Good Parliament, 1376 Richard II The Peasants' Revolt, 1381 Lords Appellant, 1388 Richard Fitzalan, 4. Earl of Arundel Archbishop Thomas Arundel Thomas de Beauchamp, E. Warwick Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford Ralph Neville, E. of Westmorland Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk Edmund Mortimer, 3. Earl of March Roger Mortimer, 4. Earl of March John Holland, Duke of Exeter Michael de la Pole, E. Suffolk Hugh de Stafford, 2. E. Stafford Henry IV Edward, Duke of York Edmund Mortimer, 5. Earl of March Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland Sir Henry Percy, "Harry Hotspur" Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester Owen Glendower The Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403 Archbishop Richard Scrope Thomas Mowbray, 3. E. Nottingham John Mowbray, 2. Duke of Norfolk Thomas Fitzalan, 5. Earl of Arundel Henry V Thomas, Duke of Clarence John, Duke of Bedford Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury Richard, Earl of Cambridge Henry, Baron Scrope of Masham William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk Thomas Montacute, E. Salisbury Richard Beauchamp, E. of Warwick Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter Cardinal Henry Beaufort John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset Sir John Fastolf John Holland, 2. Duke of Exeter Archbishop John Stafford Archbishop John Kemp Catherine of Valois Owen Tudor John Fitzalan, 7. Earl of Arundel John, Lord Tiptoft
Charles VII, King of France Joan of Arc Louis XI, King of France Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy The Battle of Agincourt, 1415 The Battle of Castillon, 1453
The Wars of the Roses 1455-1485 Causes of the Wars of the Roses The House of Lancaster The House of York The House of Beaufort The House of Neville
The First Battle of St. Albans, 1455 The Battle of Blore Heath, 1459 The Rout of Ludford, 1459 The Battle of Northampton, 1460 The Battle of Wakefield, 1460 The Battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461 The 2nd Battle of St. Albans, 1461 The Battle of Towton, 1461 The Battle of Hedgeley Moor, 1464 The Battle of Hexham, 1464 The Battle of Edgecote, 1469 The Battle of Losecoat Field, 1470 The Battle of Barnet, 1471 The Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471 The Treaty of Pecquigny, 1475 The Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485 The Battle of Stoke Field, 1487
Henry VI Margaret of Anjou Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York Edward IV Elizabeth Woodville Richard Woodville, 1. Earl Rivers Anthony Woodville, 2. Earl Rivers Jane Shore Edward V Richard III George, Duke of Clarence
Ralph Neville, 2. Earl of Westmorland Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick Edward Neville, Baron Bergavenny William Neville, Lord Fauconberg Robert Neville, Bishop of Salisbury John Neville, Marquis of Montagu George Neville, Archbishop of York John Beaufort, 1. Duke Somerset Edmund Beaufort, 2. Duke Somerset Henry Beaufort, 3. Duke of Somerset Edmund Beaufort, 4. Duke Somerset Margaret Beaufort Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke Humphrey Stafford, D. Buckingham Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham Humphrey Stafford, E. of Devon Thomas, Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby Sir William Stanley Archbishop Thomas Bourchier Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex John Mowbray, 3. Duke of Norfolk John Mowbray, 4. Duke of Norfolk John Howard, Duke of Norfolk Henry Percy, 2. E. Northumberland Henry Percy, 3. E. Northumberland Henry Percy, 4. E. Northumberland William, Lord Hastings Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel William Herbert, 1. Earl of Pembroke John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford Thomas de Clifford, 8. Baron Clifford John de Clifford, 9. Baron Clifford John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester Thomas Grey, 1. Marquis Dorset Sir Andrew Trollop Archbishop John Morton Edward Plantagenet, E. of Warwick John Talbot, 2. E. Shrewsbury John Talbot, 3. E. Shrewsbury John de la Pole, 2. Duke of Suffolk John de la Pole, E. of Lincoln Edmund de la Pole, E. of Suffolk Richard de la Pole John Sutton, Baron Dudley James Butler, 5. Earl of Ormonde Sir James Tyrell Edmund Grey, first Earl of Kent George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent John, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton James Touchet, 7th Baron Audley Walter Blount, Lord Mountjoy Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns Thomas, Lord Scales John, Lord Lovel and Holand Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell Sir Richard Ratcliffe William Catesby Ralph, 4th Lord Cromwell Jack Cade's Rebellion, 1450
Tudor Period
King Henry VII Queen Elizabeth of York Arthur, Prince of Wales Lambert Simnel Perkin Warbeck The Battle of Blackheath, 1497
King Ferdinand II of Aragon Queen Isabella of Castile Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
King Henry VIII Queen Catherine of Aragon Queen Anne Boleyn Queen Jane Seymour Queen Anne of Cleves Queen Catherine Howard Queen Katherine Parr
King Edward VI Queen Mary I Queen Elizabeth I Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond
Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland James IV, King of Scotland The Battle of Flodden Field, 1513 James V, King of Scotland Mary of Guise, Queen of Scotland
Mary Tudor, Queen of France Louis XII, King of France Francis I, King of France The Battle of the Spurs, 1513 Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Eustace Chapuys, Imperial Ambassador The Siege of Boulogne, 1544
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey Archbishop Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex Thomas, Lord Audley Thomas Wriothesley, E. Southampton Sir Richard Rich
Edward Stafford, D. of Buckingham Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford John Russell, Earl of Bedford Thomas Grey, 2. Marquis of Dorset Henry Grey, D. of Suffolk Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester George Talbot, 4. E. Shrewsbury Francis Talbot, 5. E. Shrewsbury Henry Algernon Percy,
5th Earl of Northumberland Henry Algernon Percy,
6th Earl of Northumberland Ralph Neville, 4. E. Westmorland Henry Neville, 5. E. Westmorland William Paulet, Marquis of Winchester Sir Francis Bryan Sir Nicholas Carew John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral Edward Seymour, Protector Somerset Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury Henry Pole, Lord Montague Sir Geoffrey Pole Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland Henry Manners, Earl of Rutland Henry Bourchier, 2. Earl of Essex Robert Radcliffe, 1. Earl of Sussex Henry Radcliffe, 2. Earl of Sussex George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter George Neville, Baron Bergavenny Sir Edward Neville William, Lord Paget William Sandys, Baron Sandys William Fitzwilliam, E. Southampton Sir Anthony Browne Sir Thomas Wriothesley Sir William Kingston George Brooke, Lord Cobham Sir Richard Southwell Thomas Fiennes, 9th Lord Dacre Sir Francis Weston Henry Norris Lady Jane Grey Sir Thomas Arundel Sir Richard Sackville Sir William Petre Sir John Cheke Walter Haddon, L.L.D Sir Peter Carew Sir John Mason Nicholas Wotton John Taylor Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger
Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio Cardinal Reginald Pole Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester John Aylmer, Bishop of London Thomas Linacre William Grocyn Archbishop William Warham Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford
Pope Julius II Pope Leo X Pope Clement VII Pope Paul III Pope Pius V
Pico della Mirandola Desiderius Erasmus Martin Bucer Richard Pace Christopher Saint-German Thomas Tallis Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent Hans Holbein, the Younger The Sweating Sickness
Dissolution of the Monasteries Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536 Robert Aske Anne Askew Lord Thomas Darcy Sir Robert Constable
Oath of Supremacy The Act of Supremacy, 1534 The First Act of Succession, 1534 The Third Act of Succession, 1544 The Ten Articles, 1536 The Six Articles, 1539 The Second Statute of Repeal, 1555 The Act of Supremacy, 1559 Articles Touching Preachers, 1583
Queen Elizabeth I William Cecil, Lord Burghley Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Nicholas Bacon Sir Thomas Bromley
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley Sir Francis Knollys Katherine "Kat" Ashley Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester George Talbot, 6. E. of Shrewsbury Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury Gilbert Talbot, 7. E. of Shrewsbury Sir Henry Sidney Sir Robert Sidney Archbishop Matthew Parker Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich Sir Christopher Hatton Edward Courtenay, E. Devonshire Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland Thomas Radcliffe, 3. Earl of Sussex Henry Radcliffe, 4. Earl of Sussex Robert Radcliffe, 5. Earl of Sussex William Parr, Marquis of Northampton Henry Wriothesley, 2. Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 3. Southampton Charles Neville, 6. E. Westmorland Thomas Percy, 7. E. Northumberland Henry Percy, 8. E. Northumberland Henry Percy, 9. E. Nothumberland William Herbert, 1. Earl of Pembroke Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Henry Howard, 1. Earl of Northampton Thomas Howard, 1. Earl of Suffolk Henry Hastings, 3. E. of Huntingdon Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland Henry FitzAlan, 12. Earl of Arundel Thomas, Earl Arundell of Wardour Edward Somerset, E. of Worcester William Davison Sir Walter Mildmay Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Amyas Paulet Gilbert Gifford Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague François, Duke of Alençon & Anjou
Mary, Queen of Scots Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell Anthony Babington and the Babington Plot John Knox
Philip II of Spain The Spanish Armada, 1588 Sir Francis Drake Sir John Hawkins
William Camden Archbishop Whitgift Martin Marprelate Controversy John Penry (Martin Marprelate) Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury John Dee, Alchemist
Philip Henslowe Edward Alleyn The Blackfriars Theatre The Fortune Theatre The Rose Theatre The Swan Theatre Children's Companies The Admiral's Men The Lord Chamberlain's Men Citizen Comedy The Isle of Dogs, 1597
Common Law Court of Common Pleas Court of King's Bench Court of Star Chamber Council of the North Fleet Prison Assize Attainder First Fruits & Tenths Livery and Maintenance Oyer and terminer Praemunire
The Stuarts
King James I of England Anne of Denmark Henry, Prince of Wales The Gunpowder Plot, 1605 George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset Arabella Stuart, Lady Lennox
William Alabaster Bishop Hall Bishop Thomas Morton Archbishop William Laud John Selden Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford Henry Lawes
King Charles I Queen Henrietta Maria
Long Parliament Rump Parliament Kentish Petition, 1642
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford John Digby, Earl of Bristol George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax Robert Devereux, 3rd E. of Essex Robert Sidney, 2. E. of Leicester Algernon Percy, E. of Northumberland Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester Edward Montagu, 2. Earl of Manchester
The Restoration
King Charles II King James II Test Acts
Greenwich Palace Hatfield House Richmond Palace Windsor Palace Woodstock Manor
The Cinque Ports Mermaid Tavern Malmsey Wine Great Fire of London, 1666 Merchant Taylors' School Westminster School The Sanctuary at Westminster "Sanctuary"
Images:
Chart of the English Succession from William I through Henry VII
Medieval English Drama
London c1480, MS Royal 16 London, 1510, the earliest view in print Map of England from Saxton's Descriptio Angliae, 1579 London in late 16th century Location Map of Elizabethan London Plan of the Bankside, Southwark, in Shakespeare's time Detail of Norden's Map of the Bankside, 1593 Bull and Bear Baiting Rings from the Agas Map (1569-1590, pub. 1631) Sketch of the Swan Theatre, c. 1596 Westminster in the Seventeenth Century, by Hollar Visscher's View of London, 1616 Larger Visscher's View in Sections c. 1690. View of London Churches, after the Great Fire The Yard of the Tabard Inn from Thornbury, Old and New London
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