Charles VII

Charles VII (born Feb. 22, 1403, Paris—died July 22, 1461, Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Fr.) was the king of France from 1422 to 1461, who succeeded—partly with the aid of Joan of Arc—in driving the English from French soil and in solidifying the administration of the monarchy. Before ascending the throne he was known as the Dauphin and was regent for his father, Charles VI, from 1418.

Early life.

Charles VII was the 11th child of King Charles VI and his wife, Isabella of Bavaria. Indulged by his mother, he was permanently marked by his childhood at the French court, where intrigue, luxury, a taste for the arts, extravagance, and profligacy all prevailed at the same time. Crises caused by his father’s insanity were frequent. In May 1413 rioting Parisians invaded the Hôtel Saint-Paul, where he lived. Toward the end of that year, he was betrothed to Mary of Anjou, the nine-year-old daughter of Louis II of Anjou, king of Naples, and his wife, Yolande of Aragon. Charles went to live in Anjou, where Yolande, energetic and accustomed to rule, established her influence over him. In 1416, he became captain general of Paris and began to participate in the royal council, where Louis of Anjou played a prominent role.

Dauphin.

On the death of his elder brother in April 1417, Charles became dauphin (heir to the throne) at the age of 14. He was named lieutenant general of the kingdom, but his mother left Paris and allied herself with John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. On May 29, 1418, the Burgundians occupied the capital, and Charles had to flee to Bourges. There he put himself at the head of the Armagnac party (rivals of the Burgundians) and at the end of 1418 assumed the title of regent for the deranged Charles VI. Faced with the threat of the English, who had invaded France, and the demands of the English king, Henry V, who claimed the French crown, Charles attempted to reconcile his differences with the Duke of Burgundy. They concluded a pact of friendship at Pouilly on July 2, 1419, but, in the course of another meeting at Montereau on September 10, the Duke was killed by the Armagnacs in Charles’s presence. On December 24 the Duke’s successor, Philip the Good, utilizing powers conferred on him by Charles VI, concluded a general truce with the English, excluding the Armagnacs and sealing the Anglo–Burgundian alliance. In 1420 the Treaty of Troyes recognized Henry V as heir to the French throne, excluding Charles. Charles’s supporters, however, included not only the Armagnacs but also the “party of the King,” which backed his claim to the succession. These people set up an administration in Poitiers and Bourges the jurisdiction of which extended over all of France south of the Loire River, except for the English part of Guyenne. In April of 1422 Charles celebrated his marriage at Bourges. He then resumed warfare, occupied La Charité, and threatened Burgundian territory, though still avoiding any major confrontation with the Anglo–Burgundian armies.

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King.

On the death of his father on Oct. 21, 1422, Charles assumed the title of king of France. His worst difficulties were of a financial nature: the taxes voted by the States General (representative assembly) were insufficient for his needs; he mortgaged his lands and lived by borrowing from financiers and nobles, such as Georges de La Trémoille. His army was repulsed at Verneuil in August 1424, and he tried once again to effect a reconciliation with the Duke of Burgundy; but his efforts were frustrated by the memory of John the Fearless’ murder. In 1425, influenced by his mother-in-law, he dissociated himself from the Armagnacs. Arthur de Richemont, brother of John V, duke of Brittany, and brother-in-law of the Duke of Burgundy, became constable of France; he endeavoured to bring about peace, but the negotiators were still unable to come to an agreement in 1427. The English and the Burgundians revived the war and gained ground. Richemont was disgraced and replaced by La Trémoille, who sought only his own fortune. On Oct. 12, 1428, the English laid siege to Orléans. Charles was 25 years old at this time. For 12 years he had known only war and the worst of intrigues. He could neither reconquer his kingdom nor conclude peace with the Burgundians. Discouraged, he thought of retiring to Spain or of ceding to English pressure. But the defense of Orléans became for the French a symbol of their struggle against the enemy. Joan of Arc, the visionary peasant girl from Lorraine, travelled across the country to fortify the King’s intentions to fight for France. He received her at Chinon in February 1429. She restored the French army’s confidence, and they liberated Orléans. On July 17, after a victorious journey with his army, Charles was crowned at Reims, in spite of his counsellors’ misgivings. Through the efforts of Yolande, La Trémoille was then forced out of the council, and Richemont was restored to favour. In 1435, after protracted negotiations, Philip of Burgundy concluded a separate peace with France at Arras: the King condemned the murder of Philip’s father, and the Duke recognized Charles as his sovereign. A new phase then opened up in Charles’s life. At the age of 32 he seemed to have achieved maturity. He worked regularly with his counsellors. Between 1425 and 1439, he gradually acquired the permanent right to levy taxes that previously had to be approved by the States General, thus gaining financial independence. The merchant Jacques Coeur, court banker, master of the mint, and adviser to the king, did much to expand French commerce in the Mediterranean before he fell from favour in 1451.

The administration of the realm was reorganized, and in 1438 Charles promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, limiting papal authority over the church in France. The Sanction also increased the King’s control over the granting of ecclesiastical revenues. The discipline of the army was improved and methods of recruitment made more efficient by the ordinances of 1439, 1445, and 1448. In 1437 the King took command of his armies again for the first time since his coronation and returned to Paris, which had been liberated from the English the previous year. The power of the nobility was lessened by his reforms; encouraged by the Duke of Burgundy—and especially by Charles’s son, the dauphin Louis (later King Louis XI)—they formed a coalition against the King (the Praguerie). Charles reacted skillfully and energetically, and the rebellion was put down (1440). To counter such intrigues, to end the destruction caused by the Écorcheurs (bands of mercenary soldiers then ravaging the country), and also because of a stalemate in diplomatic negotiations with England, Charles renewed the war in 1441 both north of Paris and in Guyenne, in the southwest. In 1444, negotiations finally brought a general truce, but no permanent peace was concluded, and hostilities were resumed in 1449; the King’s cousin, Jean d’Orléans, comte de Dunois, was placed in charge of operations. Charles campaigned successfully in Normandy and took possession of its capital, Rouen, on Nov. 20, 1450. In 1453, after the victory of Castillon and the surrender of Bordeaux, Guyenne returned to France after having been associated with England for three centuries.

The King’s last years were troubled. The reconquered areas were restive under the yoke of royal administration, and the princes still posed a dangerous threat to the royal power: the revolt of Jean V, comte d’Armagnac, and the treason of Jean II, duc d’Alençon, were severely repressed. Philip of Burgundy dreamed of dominating France, and the Dauphin, who was approaching 40, had difficulty in concealing his impatience to reign. The King died at Mehun-sur-Yèvre at the age of 58; he had reigned for 38 years and eight months.

Legacy

Charles VII’s reign was one of the most important in the history of the French monarchy. Although France had lost the economic prosperity and commercial importance it had enjoyed in the preceding centuries and the great nobles had become independent during the long partisan struggles of the Hundred Years’ War period, Charles was able to begin the work of reunifying the kingdom by rallying the peoples’ loyalty to himself as the legitimate king.

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Later, when the national feeling, revived by foreign occupation, had crystallized around him, he introduced financial and military reforms that strengthened the revived power of the monarchy. His action in obtaining a posthumous reversal of Joan of Arc’s condemnation (1456) was perhaps less inspired by a concern for justice than by a need to justify the circumstances surrounding his coronation. Charles has often been accused of apathy. He did require constant encouragement from courageous and intelligent counsellors, such as Yolande of Aragon, Richemont, Joan of Arc, and his mistress Agnès Sorel, and he certainly had no taste for dangerous adventures, prestigious operations, or sumptuous exhibitions. His innate indolence and his shyness—as well as his good sense and wisdom—induced him to prudence, notably in his foreign policies (as when he refused to participate in a crusade urged on him by the Pope). He was adept at minimizing papal influence over the internal affairs of his kingdom.

Like his cousin of Burgundy, he was pleasure loving, especially toward the end of his life, had influential mistresses (Agnès Sorel and, after her death in 1450, Antoinette de Maignelay), and had no fixed residence, travelling from one castle to another.

He also patronized the arts, surrounding himself with men of letters and intellectuals.

He always preferred peace to war, and his conciliatory policy—he repeatedly pardoned towns that collaborated with the English—contributed much toward restoring unity to his country.