Charles V of France
Encyclopedia
Charles V called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois. His reign marked a high point for France during the Hundred Years' War
, with his armies recovering much of the territory ceded to England at the Treaty of Brétigny
.
outside of Paris, France, the son of John II of France
and Bonne of Luxembourg. Upon his father's succession to the throne in 1350, Charles became Dauphin of France. He was the first French heir to use the title, which is named for the region of Dauphiné
, acquired by Charles' grandfather.
The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. He made a sharp contrast to his father—who was tall, strong and sandy-haired—and gossip at the time suggested he was not John's son. Similar rumors would pursue Charles' grandson, Charles VII
.
, leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into Normandy
, John led an army of about 16,000 south, crossing the Loire in September, 1356, attempting to outflank the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at Poitiers
. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince—a tactic Edward feared—John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequent Battle of Maupertuis (Poitiers)
, English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured. Charles led a battalion at Poitiers which withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed) or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal is unclear.
The outcome of the battle left many embittered at the nobility, whom popular opinion accused of betraying the King, but Charles and his brothers escaped blame, and he was received with honor upon his return to Paris. The Dauphin summoned the Estates-General
in October to seek money for the defense of the country. Furious at what they saw as poor management, many of those assembled organized into a body led by Etienne Marcel
, the Provost of Merchants (a title roughly equivalent to mayor of Paris today). Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28, made of nobles, clergy and bourgeois, and the release of Charles II of Navarre
, a leading Norman noble with a claim on the French throne who had been imprisoned by John for the murder of his constable. The Dauphin refused the demands, dismissed the Estates-General and left Paris.
A contest of wills followed. In an attempt to raise money, Charles tried to devalue the currency; Marcel ordered strikes, and the Dauphin was forced to cancel his plans and recall the Estates in February, 1357. The Third Estate presented the Dauphin with a Grand Ordinance
, a list of 61 articles that would have given the Estates-General the right to approve all future taxes, assemble at their own volition and elect a Council of 36—with 12 members from each Estate—to advise the king. Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councillors took news of the document to King John, imprisoned in Bordeaux. The King renounced the ordinance before being taken to England by Prince Edward.
Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles of Navarre, who asserted that his claim to the throne was at least as good as that of Edward III
's. The Dauphin, re-entering Paris, won the city back.
Marcel, meanwhile, used the murder of a citizen seeking sanctuary to make an attack close to the Dauphin. Summoning a group of tradesmen, the Provost marched at the head of an army of 3,000, entered the royal palace and had the crowd murder two of the Dauphin's marshals before his eyes. Charles, horrified, momentarily pacified the crowd, but sent his family away and left the capital as quickly as he could. Marcel's action destroyed the Third Estate's support among the nobles, and the Provost's subsequent support for the Jacquerie
undermined his support from the towns; he was murdered by a mob on 31 July 1358. Charles was able to recover Paris the following month; he later issued a general amnesty for all, except close associates of Marcel.
in December and Paris in March but Charles, trusting on improved municipal defences, forbade his soldiers from direct confrontation with the English. Charles relied on improved fortifications made to Paris by Marcel, and would later rebuild the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) wall and built a new wall on the Right Bank that extended to a new fortification called the Bastille
.
Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, and eventually agreed to reduce his terms. This non-confrontational strategy would prove extremely beneficial to France during Charles' reign.
The Treaty of Bretigny, signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France—mostly in Aquitaine
and Gascony
– to the English, and lowered the King's ransom to 3 million ecus. Jean was released the following October his second son, Louis I of Anjou, taking his place as a hostage.
Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a personal tragedy. His three-year-old daughter, Joan, and his infant daughter Bonne died within two weeks of each other; the Dauphin was said at their double funeral to be "so sorrowful as never before he had been." Charles himself had been severely ill, with his hair and nails falling out; some suggest the symptoms are those of arsenic
poisoning.
John proved as ineffective at ruling upon his return to France as he had before his capture. When Louis of Anjou escaped from English custody, John announced he had no choice but to return to captivity himself. He arrived in London in January 1364, became ill, and died the following April.
, France. The new king was highly intelligent but close-mouthed and secretive, with sharp eyes, a long nose and a pale, grave manner. He suffered from gout
in the right hand and an abscess
in his left arm, possibly a side-effect of an attempted poisoning in 1359. Doctors were able to treat the wound but told him that if it ever dried up, he would die within 15 days. "Not surprisingly," said historian Barbara Tuchman
, "the King lived under a sense of urgency." His manner may have concealed a more emotional side; his marriage to Joan of Bourbon was considered very strong, and he made no attempt to hide his grief at her funeral or those of his children, five of whom predeceased him.
His reign was dominated by the war with the English, and two major problems: recovering the territories ceded at Bretigny, and ridding the land of the Tard-Venus (French for "latecomers"), mercenary companies that turned to robbery and pillage after the treaty was signed. In achieving these aims, Charles turned to a minor noble from Brittany named Bertrand du Guesclin
. Nicknamed "the Black Dog of Brocéliande
", du Guesclin fought the English with success during the Breton War of Succession
and was an expert in the guerrilla warfare
. Du Guesclin also defeated Charles II of Navarre
at the Battle of Cocherel
in 1364 and eliminated the noble's threat to Paris.
To attempt to rid the land of the Tard-Venus, Charles first hired them for an attempted crusade into Hungary, but their reputation for brigandage preceded them, and the citizens of Strasbourg
refused to let them cross the Rhine on their journey. Charles next sent the mercenary companies (under the leadership of du Guesclin) to fight in a civil war in Castile
between King Peter the Cruel and his illegitimate half-brother Henry. Peter had English backing, while Henry was supported by the French.
Du Guesclin and his men were able to drive Peter out of Castile in 1365 after the capture of Magallon
and Briviesca
fortresses, and the capital Burgos
. But the Black Prince
, now serving as his father's viceroy in southwestern France, took up Peter's cause. At the Battle of Nájera in April 1367, the English defeated Henri's army. Du Guesclin was captured after a memorable resistance, and ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. The Black Prince, affected by a dysentery, soon withdrew his support from Pedro. The English army suffered badly during the retreat. Actually, four English soldiers out of five died during the Castillan Campaign. In 1369, du Guesclin renewed the attack against Peter, defeating him at the decisive Battle of Montiel
. Henry stabbed the captive Peter to death in du Guesclin's tent, gaining the throne of Castile. Bertrand was made Duke of Molina, and the Franco-Castillan alliance was sealed. Charles V could now resume the war against England in good conditions.
became increasingly autocratic. Nobles from Gascony petitioned Charles for aid, and when the Black Prince refused to answer a summons to Paris to answer the charges, Charles judged him disloyal and declared war in May 1369. Legally, Charles had every right to do this—the renunciation of sovereignty by Charles was never made and therefore Gascony was still legally land held by the King.
Instead of seeking a major battle, as his predecessors had done, Charles chose a strategy of attrition, spreading the fighting at every point possible. The French and Castillan navies destroyed an English fleet at la Rochelle in 1372. Then, du Guesclin launched destructive raids against the coasts of England, naval represals to the English chevauchees. Bertrand du Guesclin, appointed Constable of France
in 1370, beat back a major English offensive in northern France with an unnerving combination of raids, sieges and pitch battles. He notably crushed Robert Knolles
at the Battle of Pontvallain
.
Most of the major English leaders were killed in a few months and the Black Prince fled to England, where he died in 1376. By 1374, Charles had recovered all of France except Calais
and Aquitaine
, effectively nullifying the Treaty of Bretigny.
, fearing a loss of the Papal States
, decided to move his court back to Rome after nearly 70 years in Avignon
. Charles, hoping to maintain French influence over the papacy, tried to persuade Pope Gregory to remain in France, arguing that "Rome is wherever the Pope happens to be." Gregory refused.
The Pope died in March, 1378. When cardinals gathered to elect a successor, a Roman mob, concerned that the predominantly French college
would elect a French pope who would bring the papacy back to Avignon, surrounded the Vatican
and demanded the election of a Roman. On 9 April, the cardinals elected Bartolomeo Prigamo, Archbishop of Bari and a commoner by birth, as Pope Urban VI
. The new pope quickly alienated his cardinals by criticising their vices, limiting the areas where they could receive income and even rising to strike one cardinal before a second restrained him. The French cardinals left Rome that summer and declared Urban's election invalid because of mob intimidation (a reason that had not been cited at the time of the election) and elected Cardinal Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII that September.
The French cardinals quickly moved to get Charles's support. The theology faculty of the University of Paris
advised Charles not to make a hasty decision, but he recognised Clement as Pope in November and forbade any obedience to Urban. Charles's support allowed Clement to survive—he would not have been able to maintain his position without the aid of the King—and led to the Papal Schism, which would divide Europe for nearly 40 years. Historians have severely criticised Charles for allowing the division to take place.
The abscess on the King's left arm dried up in early September 1380, and Charles prepared to die. On his deathbed, perhaps fearful for his soul, Charles announced the abolition of the hearth tax, the foundation of the government's finances. The ordinance would have been impossible to carry out, but its terms were known, and the government's refusal to reduce any of the other taxes on the people sparked the Maillotin revolt in 1381.
The King died on 16 September 1380, and was succeeded by his 12-year-old son, Charles VI
. He is buried in the Basilica of St Denis in St. Denis, France.
Charles' reputation was of great significance for posterity, especially as his conception of rulership was one which courtiers wished his successors could follow. Christine de Pisan's biography, commissioned by Philip the Bold in 1404, is a source of most of the intimate details of the king's life of which we are aware, but also provides a moral example for his successors. It draws heavily on the work of Nicole Oresme (who translated Aristotle's moral works into French) and Giles of Rome. Philipe de Mezieres in his allegorical Songe du Viel Pelerin attempts to persuade the dauphin to follow the example of his wise father, notably in piety, though also to pursue reforming zeal in all policy considerations.
Of great importance to Charles V's cultural program was his vast library, housed in his expanded Louvre, and described in great detail by the 19th century French historian Leopold Delisle. Containing over 1,200 volumes it was symbolic of the authority and magnificence of the royal person, but also of his concern with government for the common good. Charles was concerned to possess copies of works in French, in order that his councellors had access to them. Perhaps the most significant works commissioned for the library were those of Nicole Oresme, who translated Aristotle's Politics, Ethics and Economics into eloquent French for the first time (an earlier attempt had been made at the Politics, but the manuscript is now lost). If the Politics and Economics served as a manual for government, then the Ethics advised the king on how to be a good man.
Other important works commissioned for the royal library were the anonymous legal treatise the Songe du Vergier, greatly inspired by the debates of Philip IV
's jurists with Boniface VIII, the translations of Raol de Presles, which included St. Augustine's City of God, and the production of the Grandes Chroniques de France edited in 1377 to emphasise the vassalage of Edward III.
Charles' kingship placed great emphasis on both royal ceremony and scientific political theory, and to contemporaries and posterity his lifestyle at once embodied the reflective life advised by Aristotle and the model of French kingship derived from St Louis, Charlemagne, and Clovis which he had illustrated in his Coronation Book of 1364, now in the British Library.
Charles V was also a builder king, and he created or rebuilt several significant buildings in the late 14th century style including the Bastille
, the Louvre
, Château de Vincennes
, and Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
, which were widely copied by the nobility of the day.
While he was in many ways a typical medieval king, Charles V has been praised by historians for his pragmatism, which led to the recovery of the territories lost at Bretigny.
His successes, however, proved ephemeral. Charles's brothers, who dominated the regency council that ruled in the king's name until 1388, quarrelled amongst themselves and divided the government. Charles VI, meanwhile, preferred tournaments to the duties of kingship, and his descent into madness in 1392 put his uncles back in power. By 1419, the country was divided between Armagnac
and Burgundian
factions and Henry V
was conquering the northern part of France. The hard-won victories of Charles V had been lost through the venality of his successors.
With Biette de Casinel he had a bastard son: Jean De Montaigu
(or Montague) (1363–1409)
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, with his armies recovering much of the territory ceded to England at the Treaty of Brétigny
Treaty of Brétigny
The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...
.
Early life
Charles was born at the château de VincennesChâteau de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French royal castle in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb of the metropolis.-History:...
outside of Paris, France, the son of John II of France
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
and Bonne of Luxembourg. Upon his father's succession to the throne in 1350, Charles became Dauphin of France. He was the first French heir to use the title, which is named for the region of Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
, acquired by Charles' grandfather.
The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. He made a sharp contrast to his father—who was tall, strong and sandy-haired—and gossip at the time suggested he was not John's son. Similar rumors would pursue Charles' grandson, Charles VII
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
.
The Regency and the uprising of the Third Estate
King John was a brave warrior but a poor ruler who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and the elevation of associates considered unworthy. After a three-year break, the war resumed in 1355, with Edward, The Black PrinceThe Black Prince
-Personal nicknames:* Edward, the Black Prince, English prince in the Middle Ages* Naresuan, King of Siam* Junio Valerio Borghese, Italian noble and military leader* Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer* Peter Jackson , 19th century bare-knuckle boxer...
, leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, John led an army of about 16,000 south, crossing the Loire in September, 1356, attempting to outflank the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince—a tactic Edward feared—John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequent Battle of Maupertuis (Poitiers)
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
, English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured. Charles led a battalion at Poitiers which withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed) or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal is unclear.
The outcome of the battle left many embittered at the nobility, whom popular opinion accused of betraying the King, but Charles and his brothers escaped blame, and he was received with honor upon his return to Paris. The Dauphin summoned the Estates-General
French States-General
In France under the Old Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...
in October to seek money for the defense of the country. Furious at what they saw as poor management, many of those assembled organized into a body led by Etienne Marcel
Étienne Marcel
Etienne Marcel was provost of the merchants of Paris under King John II, called John the Good .Etienne Marcel was born into the wealthy Parisian bourgeoisie, being the son of the clothier Simon Marcel and his wife Isabelle Barbou...
, the Provost of Merchants (a title roughly equivalent to mayor of Paris today). Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28, made of nobles, clergy and bourgeois, and the release of Charles II of Navarre
Charles II of Navarre
Charles II , called "Charles the Bad", was King of Navarre 1349-1387 and Count of Évreux 1343-1387....
, a leading Norman noble with a claim on the French throne who had been imprisoned by John for the murder of his constable. The Dauphin refused the demands, dismissed the Estates-General and left Paris.
A contest of wills followed. In an attempt to raise money, Charles tried to devalue the currency; Marcel ordered strikes, and the Dauphin was forced to cancel his plans and recall the Estates in February, 1357. The Third Estate presented the Dauphin with a Grand Ordinance
Great Ordinance of 1357
The Great Ordinance of 1357 was an edict through which Étienne Marcel attempted to impose limits on the French monarchy, in particular in fiscal and monetary matters.-Historical context:...
, a list of 61 articles that would have given the Estates-General the right to approve all future taxes, assemble at their own volition and elect a Council of 36—with 12 members from each Estate—to advise the king. Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councillors took news of the document to King John, imprisoned in Bordeaux. The King renounced the ordinance before being taken to England by Prince Edward.
Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles of Navarre, who asserted that his claim to the throne was at least as good as that of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
's. The Dauphin, re-entering Paris, won the city back.
Marcel, meanwhile, used the murder of a citizen seeking sanctuary to make an attack close to the Dauphin. Summoning a group of tradesmen, the Provost marched at the head of an army of 3,000, entered the royal palace and had the crowd murder two of the Dauphin's marshals before his eyes. Charles, horrified, momentarily pacified the crowd, but sent his family away and left the capital as quickly as he could. Marcel's action destroyed the Third Estate's support among the nobles, and the Provost's subsequent support for the Jacquerie
Jacquerie
The Jacquerie was a popular revolt in late medieval Europe by peasants that took place in northern France in the summer of 1358, during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt, which was violently suppressed after a few weeks of violence, centered in the Oise valley north of Paris...
undermined his support from the towns; he was murdered by a mob on 31 July 1358. Charles was able to recover Paris the following month; he later issued a general amnesty for all, except close associates of Marcel.
The Treaty of Bretigny
John's capture gave the English the edge in peace negotiations. The King signed a treaty in 1359 that would have ceded most of western France to England and imposed a ruinous ransom of 4 million ecus on the country. The Dauphin (backed by his councillors and the Estates General) rejected the treaty, and King Edward used this as an excuse to invade France later that year. Edward reached ReimsReims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
in December and Paris in March but Charles, trusting on improved municipal defences, forbade his soldiers from direct confrontation with the English. Charles relied on improved fortifications made to Paris by Marcel, and would later rebuild the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) wall and built a new wall on the Right Bank that extended to a new fortification called the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
.
Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, and eventually agreed to reduce his terms. This non-confrontational strategy would prove extremely beneficial to France during Charles' reign.
The Treaty of Bretigny, signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France—mostly in Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
and Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
– to the English, and lowered the King's ransom to 3 million ecus. Jean was released the following October his second son, Louis I of Anjou, taking his place as a hostage.
Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a personal tragedy. His three-year-old daughter, Joan, and his infant daughter Bonne died within two weeks of each other; the Dauphin was said at their double funeral to be "so sorrowful as never before he had been." Charles himself had been severely ill, with his hair and nails falling out; some suggest the symptoms are those of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
poisoning.
John proved as ineffective at ruling upon his return to France as he had before his capture. When Louis of Anjou escaped from English custody, John announced he had no choice but to return to captivity himself. He arrived in London in January 1364, became ill, and died the following April.
King of France
Charles was crowned King of France in 1364 at the cathedral at ReimsReims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, France. The new king was highly intelligent but close-mouthed and secretive, with sharp eyes, a long nose and a pale, grave manner. He suffered from gout
Gout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
in the right hand and an abscess
Abscess
An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides due to an infectious process or other foreign materials...
in his left arm, possibly a side-effect of an attempted poisoning in 1359. Doctors were able to treat the wound but told him that if it ever dried up, he would die within 15 days. "Not surprisingly," said historian Barbara Tuchman
Barbara Tuchman
Barbara Wertheim Tuchman was an American historian and author. She became known for her best-selling book The Guns of August, a history of the prelude to and first month of World War I, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1963....
, "the King lived under a sense of urgency." His manner may have concealed a more emotional side; his marriage to Joan of Bourbon was considered very strong, and he made no attempt to hide his grief at her funeral or those of his children, five of whom predeceased him.
His reign was dominated by the war with the English, and two major problems: recovering the territories ceded at Bretigny, and ridding the land of the Tard-Venus (French for "latecomers"), mercenary companies that turned to robbery and pillage after the treaty was signed. In achieving these aims, Charles turned to a minor noble from Brittany named Bertrand du Guesclin
Bertrand du Guesclin
Bertrand du Guesclin , known as the Eagle of Brittany or the Black Dog of Brocéliande, was a Breton knight and French military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was Constable of France from 1370 to his death...
. Nicknamed "the Black Dog of Brocéliande
Brocéliande
Brocéliande is the name of a legendary forest that first appears in literature in 1160, in the Roman de Rou, a verse chronicle written by Wace....
", du Guesclin fought the English with success during the Breton War of Succession
Breton War of Succession
The Breton War of Succession was a conflict between the Houses of Blois and Montfort for control of the Duchy of Brittany. It was fought between 1341 and 1364. It formed an integral part of the early Hundred Years War due to the involvement of the French and English governments in the conflict; the...
and was an expert in the guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
. Du Guesclin also defeated Charles II of Navarre
Charles II of Navarre
Charles II , called "Charles the Bad", was King of Navarre 1349-1387 and Count of Évreux 1343-1387....
at the Battle of Cocherel
Battle of Cocherel
The Battle of Cocherel it fought on May 16, 1364 between the king of France and the forces of Charles II of Navarre, over the succession to the dukedom of Burgundy....
in 1364 and eliminated the noble's threat to Paris.
To attempt to rid the land of the Tard-Venus, Charles first hired them for an attempted crusade into Hungary, but their reputation for brigandage preceded them, and the citizens of Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
refused to let them cross the Rhine on their journey. Charles next sent the mercenary companies (under the leadership of du Guesclin) to fight in a civil war in Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
between King Peter the Cruel and his illegitimate half-brother Henry. Peter had English backing, while Henry was supported by the French.
Du Guesclin and his men were able to drive Peter out of Castile in 1365 after the capture of Magallon
Magallón
Magallón is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. , the municipality has a population of 1,205 inhabitants.-Main sights:*Castle*Church of Santa María de la Huerta*Convent of the Dominicans...
and Briviesca
Briviesca
Briviesca is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2007 census , the municipality has a population of 7,227 inhabitants....
fortresses, and the capital Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
. But the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
, now serving as his father's viceroy in southwestern France, took up Peter's cause. At the Battle of Nájera in April 1367, the English defeated Henri's army. Du Guesclin was captured after a memorable resistance, and ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. The Black Prince, affected by a dysentery, soon withdrew his support from Pedro. The English army suffered badly during the retreat. Actually, four English soldiers out of five died during the Castillan Campaign. In 1369, du Guesclin renewed the attack against Peter, defeating him at the decisive Battle of Montiel
Battle of Montiel
The battle of Najera was of dubious long-term significance as Pedro of Castile and the Black Prince fell out over money. The Black Prince, affected by a dysentery, soon withdrew his support from Pedro and returned to Aquitaine...
. Henry stabbed the captive Peter to death in du Guesclin's tent, gaining the throne of Castile. Bertrand was made Duke of Molina, and the Franco-Castillan alliance was sealed. Charles V could now resume the war against England in good conditions.
War resumes
After the Castillan campaign, the Black Prince was invalid and heavily in debt. His rule in GasconyGascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
became increasingly autocratic. Nobles from Gascony petitioned Charles for aid, and when the Black Prince refused to answer a summons to Paris to answer the charges, Charles judged him disloyal and declared war in May 1369. Legally, Charles had every right to do this—the renunciation of sovereignty by Charles was never made and therefore Gascony was still legally land held by the King.
Instead of seeking a major battle, as his predecessors had done, Charles chose a strategy of attrition, spreading the fighting at every point possible. The French and Castillan navies destroyed an English fleet at la Rochelle in 1372. Then, du Guesclin launched destructive raids against the coasts of England, naval represals to the English chevauchees. Bertrand du Guesclin, appointed Constable of France
Constable of France
The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...
in 1370, beat back a major English offensive in northern France with an unnerving combination of raids, sieges and pitch battles. He notably crushed Robert Knolles
Robert Knolles
Sir Robert Knolles was an important English soldier of the Hundred Years' War, who, operating with the tacit support of the Crown, succeeded in taking the only two major French cities, other than Calais and Poitiers, to fall to Edward III...
at the Battle of Pontvallain
Battle of Pontvallain
The Battle of Pontvallain was an important battle in France’s Hundred Years War with England. It was fought in early December 1370 in the Sarthe region between English forces that had broken away from the army commanded by the English knight Sir Robert Knolles and a French army under the...
.
Most of the major English leaders were killed in a few months and the Black Prince fled to England, where he died in 1376. By 1374, Charles had recovered all of France except Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
, effectively nullifying the Treaty of Bretigny.
Papal schism
In 1376, Pope Gregory XIPope Gregory XI
Gregory XI was pope from 1370 until his death.-Biography:He was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort, in Maumont, in the modern commune of Rosiers-d'Égletons, Limousin around 1336. He succeeded Pope Urban V in 1370, and was pope until 1378...
, fearing a loss of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
, decided to move his court back to Rome after nearly 70 years in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
. Charles, hoping to maintain French influence over the papacy, tried to persuade Pope Gregory to remain in France, arguing that "Rome is wherever the Pope happens to be." Gregory refused.
The Pope died in March, 1378. When cardinals gathered to elect a successor, a Roman mob, concerned that the predominantly French college
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
would elect a French pope who would bring the papacy back to Avignon, surrounded the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
and demanded the election of a Roman. On 9 April, the cardinals elected Bartolomeo Prigamo, Archbishop of Bari and a commoner by birth, as Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...
. The new pope quickly alienated his cardinals by criticising their vices, limiting the areas where they could receive income and even rising to strike one cardinal before a second restrained him. The French cardinals left Rome that summer and declared Urban's election invalid because of mob intimidation (a reason that had not been cited at the time of the election) and elected Cardinal Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII that September.
The French cardinals quickly moved to get Charles's support. The theology faculty of the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
advised Charles not to make a hasty decision, but he recognised Clement as Pope in November and forbade any obedience to Urban. Charles's support allowed Clement to survive—he would not have been able to maintain his position without the aid of the King—and led to the Papal Schism, which would divide Europe for nearly 40 years. Historians have severely criticised Charles for allowing the division to take place.
Death
Charles's last years were spent in the consolidation of Normandy (and the neutralisation of Charles of Navarre). Peace negotiations with the English continued unsuccessfully. The taxes he had levied to support his wars against the English had caused deep disaffection among the working classes.The abscess on the King's left arm dried up in early September 1380, and Charles prepared to die. On his deathbed, perhaps fearful for his soul, Charles announced the abolition of the hearth tax, the foundation of the government's finances. The ordinance would have been impossible to carry out, but its terms were known, and the government's refusal to reduce any of the other taxes on the people sparked the Maillotin revolt in 1381.
The King died on 16 September 1380, and was succeeded by his 12-year-old son, Charles VI
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
. He is buried in the Basilica of St Denis in St. Denis, France.
Legacy
Of great importance to Charles V's cultural program was his vast library, housed in his expanded Louvre, and described in great detail by the 19th century French historian Leopold Delisle. Containing over 1,200 volumes it was symbolic of the authority and magnificence of the royal person, but also of his concern with government for the common good. Charles was concerned to possess copies of works in French, in order that his councellors had access to them. Perhaps the most significant works commissioned for the library were those of Nicole Oresme, who translated Aristotle's Politics, Ethics and Economics into eloquent French for the first time (an earlier attempt had been made at the Politics, but the manuscript is now lost). If the Politics and Economics served as a manual for government, then the Ethics advised the king on how to be a good man.
Other important works commissioned for the royal library were the anonymous legal treatise the Songe du Vergier, greatly inspired by the debates of Philip IV
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
's jurists with Boniface VIII, the translations of Raol de Presles, which included St. Augustine's City of God, and the production of the Grandes Chroniques de France edited in 1377 to emphasise the vassalage of Edward III.
Charles' kingship placed great emphasis on both royal ceremony and scientific political theory, and to contemporaries and posterity his lifestyle at once embodied the reflective life advised by Aristotle and the model of French kingship derived from St Louis, Charlemagne, and Clovis which he had illustrated in his Coronation Book of 1364, now in the British Library.
Charles V was also a builder king, and he created or rebuilt several significant buildings in the late 14th century style including the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
, the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, Château de Vincennes
Château de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French royal castle in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb of the metropolis.-History:...
, and Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
, which were widely copied by the nobility of the day.
While he was in many ways a typical medieval king, Charles V has been praised by historians for his pragmatism, which led to the recovery of the territories lost at Bretigny.
His successes, however, proved ephemeral. Charles's brothers, who dominated the regency council that ruled in the king's name until 1388, quarrelled amongst themselves and divided the government. Charles VI, meanwhile, preferred tournaments to the duties of kingship, and his descent into madness in 1392 put his uncles back in power. By 1419, the country was divided between Armagnac
Armagnac (party)
The Armagnac party was prominent in French politics and warfare during the Hundred Years' War. It was allied with the supporters of Charles, Duke of Orléans against John the Fearless after Charles' father Louis of Orléans was killed at the orders of the Duke of Burgundy in 1407...
and Burgundian
Burgundian (party)
The Burgundian party was a political allegiance in France that formed during the reign of Charles VI during the latter half of the Hundred Years' War...
factions and Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
was conquering the northern part of France. The hard-won victories of Charles V had been lost through the venality of his successors.
Ancestors
Marriage and issue
- 8 April 1350 to Joan of Bourbon (3 February 1338 – 4 February 1378); producing:
- Joanna (Jeanne) of France (September 1357 – 21 October 1360), interred at Saint-Antoine-des-Champs AbbeySaint-Antoine-des-Champs AbbeySaint-Antoine-des-Champs Abbey was a convent in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The faubourg Saint-Antoine developed around it. It later became the hôpital Saint-Antoine.-List of abbesses:...
, France) - John of France (1359–1364)
- Bonne of France (1360 – 7 December 1360, Paris, France), interred beside her sister, Jeanne
- John (Jean), Dauphin of France (Vincennes, 7 June 1366 – 21 December 1366)
- Charles VI of FranceCharles VI of FranceCharles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
(3 December 1368 – 22 October 1422) - Mary (Marie), Princess of France (Paris, 27 February 1370 – June 1377, Paris)
- Louis of Valois, Duke of OrléansLouis of Valois, Duke of OrléansLouis I was Duke of Orléans from 1392 to his death. He was also Count of Valois, Duke of Touraine , Count of Blois , Angoulême , Périgord, Dreux, and Soissons....
(13 March 1372 – 23 November 1407) - Isabella (Isabelle), Princess of France (Paris, 24 July 1373 – 13 February 1377, Paris)
- CatherineCatherine of Valois (1378-1388)Catherine of Valois was the youngest child of Charles V of France and Joanna of Bourbon. She was a sibling of Charles VI of France and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans.- Biography :...
, Princess of France (Paris, 4 February 1378 – November 1388, buried at Abbaye De Maubuisson, France), m. John of BerryJohn de Valois, Count of MontpensierJohn of Berry , count of Montpensier , was a French nobleman. He was the son of John, Duke of Berry, and of Joanna of Armagnac...
, Count of MontpensierMontpensierThe French lordship of Montpensier , located in historical Auvergne, became a countship in the 14th century....
(son of John, Duke of BerryJohn, Duke of BerryJohn of Valois or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was the third son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg; his brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy...
)
- Joanna (Jeanne) of France (September 1357 – 21 October 1360), interred at Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Abbey
With Biette de Casinel he had a bastard son: Jean De Montaigu
Jean de Montaigu
Jean de Montaigu , Bâtard de France, was an illegitimate son of Charles V of France, and an advisor to his father and also to his half-brother, Charles VI. His mother was Charles V's Italian maîtresse-en-titre, Biette de Cassinel, wife of Gerard de Montaigu the Elder...
(or Montague) (1363–1409)
Sources
- Christine de Pisan, Livre des Faits et Bons Meurs du Sage Roi Charles
- Deslile (ed), Grandes Chroniques de France
- Philippe de Meziers, Songe du Viel Pelerin
- Autrand, Françoise, Charles V
- Cazelles, Raymond, Société Politique, Noblesse et Couronne
- Delachenal, Roland, Charles V
- Henneman, John Bell, Olivier de Clisson
- ——, Taxation in Fourteenth Century France
- Quillet, Jeannine, Charles V, Le Rois Lettre
- Tuchman, Barbara, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, New York; Ballantine Books, 1978.