Charles V[a] (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), calledthe Wise (French:le Sage;Latin:Sapiens), wasKing of France from 1364 to his death in 1380. His reign marked an early high point for France during theHundred Years' War as his armies recovered much of the territory held by the English and successfully reversed the military losses of his predecessors.
Charles became king in 1364. With the help of talented advisers, his skillful management of the kingdom allowed him to replenish the royal treasury and to restore the prestige of the House of Valois. He established the first permanent army paid with regular wages, which liberated the French populace from the companies ofroutiers who regularly plundered the country when not employed. Led byBertrand du Guesclin, theFrench Army was able to turn the tide of theHundred Years' War to Charles' advantage, and by the end of Charles' reign, they had reconquered almost all the territories ceded to the English in 1360. Furthermore, the French fleet, led byJean de Vienne, managed to attack the English coast for the first time since the beginning of theHundred Years' War.
Charles V died in 1380. He was succeeded by his sonCharles VI, whose disastrous reign allowed the English to regain control of large parts of France.
The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. This made a sharp contrast to his father, who was tall, strong and sandy-haired.[4]
In 1343,Humbert II, Dauphin of Viennois (d. 1355), pressured by various financial difficulties, and being left childless after the death of his only son, decided to sell theDauphiné, a vast feudalpolity within theKingdom of Burgundy (Arles), then under the suzerainty of theHoly Roman Empire. Neither the pope nor the emperor wanted to buy, and thus a series of complex negotiations were initiated between Humbert and Charles' grandfather, the reigning French kingPhilip VI. It was initially agreed that Humbert's domains will pass to Charles' paternal unclePhilip, Duke of Orléans, but already in 1344, those provisions were changed, and a new agreement was made, designating Charles' father John as Humbert's heir in the Dauphiné.[5]
By 1349, Humbert decided to finalize the sale and relinquish his rule over Dauphiné in favor of theHouse of Valois, and thus the final agreement was made. Under theTreaty of Romans, the Dauphiné of Viennois was to be held by a son of the future kingJohn the Good. So it was Charles, the eldest son of the latter, who became the first Dauphin of Viennois from the House of Valois. At the age of twelve, he was vested power in the summer of 1349 (16 July), and proceeded toGrenoble (10 December 1349 to March 1350). A few days after his arrival, the people of Grenoble were invited to the Place Notre-Dame, where a platform was erected. Young Charles took his place next to Bishop John of Chissé and received the oath of allegiance of the people. In exchange, he publicly promised to respect the community charter and confirmed the liberties and franchises of former dauphin Humbert II, which were summed up in a solemn statute before he signed his abdication and granted a last amnesty to all prisoners, except those facing the penalty of death.[6]
On 8 April 1350 atTain-l'Hermitage, the young Dauphin married his cousinJoanna of Bourbon at the age of 12. The prior approval of the pope was obtained for thisconsanguineous marriage (both were descended fromCharles of Valois). The marriage was delayed by the death of his motherBonne of Luxembourg and his grandmotherJoan the Lame, swept away by the plague (he no longer saw them after he left for the Dauphiné). The young dauphin himself had been seriously ill from August to December 1349. Gatherings were limited to slow the spread of the plague then raging in Europe, so the marriage took place in private.
The control of Dauphiné was valuable to theHouse of Valois, because it was an important, strategically positioned domain within theHoly Roman Empire, thus allowing the French to extend their influence beyond theRhône Valley, a major trade route between theMediterranean andnorthern Europe since ancient times, putting them in direct contact withAvignon, a papal territory and diplomatic center ofmedieval Europe. Despite his young age, the dauphin applied to be recognized by his subjects, interceding to stop a war raging between two vassal families, and gaining experience that was very useful to him.
Charles was recalled toParis at the death of his grandfather Philip VI (22 August 1350) and participated in the coronation of his father John the Good on 26 September 1350 inReims. With his father ascending to the French throne, young Charles became theheir presumptive and thus for the first time both honors, theDauphin de Viennois and heir to the French throne, were held by the same person. The legitimacy of king John II, and that of the Valois in general, was not unanimous. His father, Philip VI, had lost all credibility with the disasters ofCrécy,Calais, the ravages ofthe plague, and the monetary changes needed to support the royal finances. The royal clan had to cope with opposition from all sides in the kingdom.
The first of these was led byCharles II of Navarre, called "the Bad", whose motherJoan II of Navarre had renounced the crown of France for that of Navarre in 1328. Charles II of Navarre was the eldest of a powerful lineage. Ambitious of attaining the crown of France, he managed to gather around him the malcontents. He was supported by his relatives and allies: the House ofBoulogne (and their kin inAuvergne), the barons ofChampagne loyal to Joan II of Navarre (heir ofChampagne, had it not merged into thecrown of France), and by the followers ofRobert of Artois, driven from the kingdom by Philip VI. He also had the support of theUniversity of Paris and the northwestern merchants where the cross-Channel trade was vital.
A brilliant orator, and accustomed to a monarchy controlled by theCortes of Navarre (the equivalent of the States General), Charles the Bad championed the reform of a state considered too arbitrary, leaving no voice to the nobility or the cities (John the Good governed with a circle of favorites and officers sometimes of humble extraction). Unlike his father, Charles V thought that a king must have the approval of his subjects and must listen to their advice. This view allowed him to approach the Norman nobles and the reformists, and thus Charles of Navarre.
The power of Navarre was such that, on 8 January 1354, he murdered with impunity his rivalCharles de la Cerda (the king's favourite), and openly avowed this crime. He even obtained, through theTreaty of Mantes, territorial concessions and sovereignty by threatening to make an alliance with the English. But in Avignon, the English and French were negotiating a peace that would prevent Charles of Navarre from counting on the support of Edward III. He therefore concluded a treaty with the English in which the Kingdom of France would be partitioned between them. An English landing was planned for the end of the truce, which would expire on 24 June 1355.
King John ordered the Dauphin in March 1355 to organize the defense ofNormandy, which required raising the necessary taxes. The task was difficult because of the growing influence of Charles the Bad, who had acquired a status similar to that of a "Duke" under the Treaty of Mantes. He was likely to ally with Edward III and could at any time open the gateway to Normandy to the English. The Dauphin avoided war by reconciling Navarre with the king, which was sealed with a ceremony at the court on 24 September 1355. Edward III was offended at the latest betrayal of Charles of Navarre, and the promised landing did not occur.
King John was considered by many as a rash ruler, much in the same style as the feudal kings who came before which by then was becoming outdated, who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and elevated associates that were sometimes considered questionable. After a three-year break, theHundred Years' War with England resumed in 1355, withEdward, The Black Prince, leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion intoNormandy, John led an army of about 16,000 men to the south, crossing theLoire river in September 1356 with the goal of outflanking the Prince's 8,000 soldiers atPoitiers. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince, a tactic Edward feared, John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequentBattle of Poitiers (19 September 1356), English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured.[7] Charles led a battalion at Poitiers that withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed), or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal, is unclear.[8]
The outcome of the battle left many embittered with the nobility. Popular opinion accused the nobles of betraying the king, while Charles and his brothers escaped blame – he was received with honor upon his return to Paris. TheDauphin summoned theEstates-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 byÉtienne Marcel, theProvost of Merchants (a title roughly equivalent toMayor of Paris today). Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28 made up ofnobles,clergy andbourgeois, and the release of Charles the Bad, 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 ensued. 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. TheThird Estate presented the Dauphin with aGrand 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.[9] Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councillors took news of the document to King John, imprisoned inBordeaux. The King renounced the ordinance before being taken toEngland by Prince Edward.
Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces, and winningParis back. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles the Bad, who asserted that his claim to the throne of France was at least as good as that of KingEdward III of England, who had usedhis claim as the pretext for initiating theHundred Years' War.
Marcel used the murder of a citizen seeking sanctuary in Paris 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 support for the Third Estate among the nobles, and the Provost's subsequent backing of theJacquerie 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 and later issued a general amnesty for all, except close associates of Marcel.
John's capture gave the English the edge in peace negotiations following theBattle of Poitiers. The King signed theTreaty of London in 1359 that ceded most of western France to England and imposed a ruinous ransom of 4 millionécus on the country. The Dauphin (backed by his councillors and theEstates General) rejected the treaty, and English King Edward invaded France later that year. Edward reachedReims in December and Paris in March, but Charles forbade his soldiers from direct confrontation with the English, relying on improved municipal fortifications made to Paris by Marcel. He would later rebuild the wall on the Left Bank (Rive gauche), and he built a new wall on the Right Bank (Rive droite) that extended to a new fortification called theBastille. Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, so he eventually agreed to reduce his terms. Thisnon-confrontational strategy would prove extremely beneficial to France during Charles' reign.
TheTreaty of Brétigny, signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France (mostly inAquitaine andGascony) to the English and loweredthe King's ransom to 3 millionécus. King John was released the following October. His second son,Louis of Anjou, took his place as a hostage.
Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a great personal tragedy at nearly the same time. His three-year-old daughter Joan and infant daughter Bonne died within two months of each other late in 1360; at their double funeral, the Dauphin was said 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 ofarsenic poisoning.[10]
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 in April.
Charles was crownedKing of France in 1364 at theCathedral of Reims.[11] The new king was highly intelligent, but closed-mouthed and secretive, with sharp eyes, a long nose and a pale, grave manner. He suffered fromgout in the right hand and anabscess 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. His manner may have concealed a more emotional side; his marriage toJoan 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 Brétigny and ridding the land of theTard-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 fromBrittany namedBertrand du Guesclin. Nicknamed "the Black Dog ofBrocéliande", du Guesclin fought the English during theBreton War of Succession and was an expert inguerrilla warfare. Du Guesclin also defeatedCharles II of Navarre at theBattle of Cocherel in 1364 and eliminated his threat to Paris.
In order to lure theTard-Venus out of France, Charles first hired them for an attempted crusade intoHungary, but their reputation for brigandage preceded them, and the citizens ofStrasbourg refused to let them cross theRhine on their journey. Charles next sent the mercenary companies (under the leadership of du Guesclin) to fight in a civil war inCastile between KingPeter the Cruel and his illegitimate half-brotherHenry. 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 the fortresses ofMagallón andBriviesca and the capitalBurgos. TheBlack Prince, now serving as his father's viceroy in southwestern France, took up Peter's cause. At theBattle of Nájera in April 1367, the English defeated Henry's army. Du Guesclin was captured after a memorable resistance and ransomed by Charles V, who considered him invaluable. The Black Prince, affected bydysentery, soon withdrew his support from Peter. The English army suffered badly during the retreat. Four English soldiers out of five died during theCastillan Campaign. In 1369, du Guesclin renewed the attack against Peter, defeating him at the decisiveBattle of Montiel. Henry stabbed the captive Peter to death in du Guesclin's tent, thereby 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 under favorable conditions.
After the Castillan campaign, the Black Prince was invalid and heavily in debt. His rule inGascony 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.
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 1375, Charles recovered much of the English territories in France exceptCalais andGascony, effectively nullifying theTreaty of Brétigny.
In 1376,Pope Gregory XI, fearing a loss of thePapal States, decided to move his court back toRome after nearly 70 years inAvignon. Charles, hoping to maintain French influence over thepapacy, 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 FrenchCollege of Cardinals would elect a French pope who would bring the papacy back to Avignon, surrounded theVatican and demanded the election of a Roman. On 9 April, the cardinals elected Bartolomeo Prigamo,Archbishop of Bari, and a commoner by birth, asPope 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 asPope Clement VII that September.
The French cardinals quickly moved to get Charles' support. The theology faculty of theUniversity 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' support allowed Clement to survive as pope and led to thePapal Schism, which would divideEurope for nearly 40 years.
Charles' last years were spent in the consolidation ofNormandy (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 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 thehearth 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 theMaillotin revolt in 1381.
The King died on 16 September 1380 and was succeeded by his 11-year-old son,Charles VI. He is buried in theBasilica of St Denis, about five miles north of Paris.
TheLouvre Palace, shown in this early fifteenth century illumination, representing the month of October inLes très riches Heures du duc de Berry, was rebuilt during the reign of Charles V – inaugurating a new era of royal architecture.
Charles' reputation was of great significance for posterity, especially as his conception of governance was one that courtiers wished his successors could follow.Christine de Pizan's biography, commissioned byPhilip the Bold,Duke of Burgundy, 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 ofNicole Oresme (who translatedAristotle's moral works into French) andGiles of Rome.Philippe de Mézières, in his allegorical "Songe du Vieil Pèlerin", attempts to persuade the dauphin (later King Charles VI) 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 expandedLouvre Palace, and described in great detail by the nineteenth-century French historianLeopold 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 thecommon good. Charles was keen to collect copies of works in French, in order that his counsellors had access to them. Perhaps the most significant ones commissioned for the library were those of Nicole Oresme, who translatedAristotle'sPolitics,Ethics, andEconomics into eloquentFrench for thefirst time (an earlier attempt had been made at thePolitics, but the manuscript is now lost). If thePolitics andEconomics served as a manual for government, then theEthics advised the king on how to be a good man.
Other important works commissioned for the royal library were the anonymous legal treatise "Songe du Vergier", greatly inspired by the debates ofPhilip IV's jurists withPope Boniface VIII, the translations of Raol de Presles, which includedSt. Augustine'sCity of God, and theGrandes Chroniques de France edited in 1377 to emphasise thevassalage ofEdward III.
Charles' kingship placed great emphasis on both royal ceremony and scientificpolitical theory, and to contemporaries and posterity his lifestyle at once embodied the reflective life advised by Aristotle and the model of French kingship derived fromSt. Louis,Charlemagne, andClovis which he had illustrated in hisCoronation Book of 1364, now in theBritish Library.
His successes, however, proved ephemeral. Charles' brothers, who dominated the regency council that ruled in the king's name until 1388, quarrelled among 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 betweenArmagnac andBurgundian factions andHenry V was conquering the northern part of France. The hard-won victories of Charles V had been lost through the venality of his successors.
^News of "l’accouchement madame la duchesse de Normandie" was brought to her husband 30 September 1357.[15]
^An epitaph at Saint-Antoine-des-Champs records the death at the Abbey on 21 October 1360 of "madame Jehanne aisnée fille de Monsieur Charles, aisné filz du roy de France régent le Royaume..."[16]
^An epitaph at Saint-Antoine-des-Champs records the death "au palais" on 7 November 1360 of "madame Bonne seconde fille de Monsieur Charles, aisné filz du roy de France régent le Royaume...".[17]
^The Chronique des règnes de Jean II et de Charles V records the burial on 12 November 1360 of "les deux filles du duc de Normandie" at "Saint-Anthoine près de Paris".[18]
^TheChronique des règnes de Jean II et de Charles V records that 7 June 1366 "la royne de France...Jehanne fille du duc de Bourbon" gave birth to "une fille au Bois de Vincennes...Jehanne".[19]
^TheChronique des règnes de Jean II et de Charles V records the death on 21 December 1366 of "madame Jehanne fille du...roy de France Charles...en l’ostel de la Conciergerie de l’ostel du Roy...près de Saint-Pol" and her burial "en l’eglise Saint-Denis en France".[20]
^Le Laboureur records that Charles V had "trois fils, dont le dernier nommé Jean estant mort en enfance", adding that "il n’en est fait aucune mention dans les histoires" but without noting his own source on which he bases the information.[21]
^"Although Biette Cassinel has been attached occasionally to Charles V, no concrete evidence for a relationship exists."[23]
^Henneman, John Bell Jr. (2006). "Charles V the Wise". In Emmerson, Richard Kenneth (ed.).Key Figures in Medieval Europe:An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 127.ISBN978-0-415-97385-4.OL17240682M.
^Perroy, Édouard (1959).The Hundred Years War. Translated by Wells, W. B. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. p. 146.
^David Nicolle,Poitiers 1356: The Capture of a King, (Osprey Publishing, 2004), 28.
^Jonathan Sumption,The Hundred Years War: Trial by Fire, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 241.
^Thomas Ertman,Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 85–86.
^Jean-Sébastien Laurentie,Histoire de France, divisée par époques depuis les origines gauloises jusqu'aux temps présents, Tome IV, Deuxième époque, (Lagny Frères, Libraires, Paris, 1841), p. 61
^Jonathan Sumption,The Hundred Years War: Trial by Fire, 511.
^Baron Freytag von Loringhoven, Frank (1984).Europäische Stammtafeln (Band III ed.). Marburg, Stargardt. p. Tafel 305.[unreliable source?]
^Cité par Patrick Van Kerrebrouck, dans « Les Valois », 1990. Ce fils bâtard est cité par Pierre Cochon dansChronique normande, 1870, page 136, témoignage à caution.
Henneman, John Bell (1971).Royal taxation in Fourteenth Century France, The Development of War Financing 1322–1356. Princeton University Press.doi:10.1515/9781400869435.ISBN978-1-400-86943-5.
Henneman, John Bell (1996).Olivier de Clisson and Political Society in France Under Charles V and Charles VI. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.doi:10.9783/9781512802573.ISBN978-1-512-80257-3.
Keane, Marguerite (2016).Material Culture and Queenship in 14th-century France: The Testament of Blanche of Navarre (1331–1398). Brill.
Le Laboureur, Jean (1663).Histoire De Charles VI. Roy de France (in French). Paris: Billaine.OL3549218M.
Merlet, Lucien (1852). "Biographie de Jean de Montagu, grand maître de France (1350-1409)".Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes Année.13: 248-284.doi:10.3406/bec.1852.445064.
%2c_basilique%2c_gisant_de_Charles_V_sculpt%25C3%25A9_lorsqu%2527il_avait_27_ans_2.jpg)
.jpg)
