King de France 1422-1461
Son of Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria, been engaged very young to Marie of Anjou, Charles is educated by his Yolande mother-in-law, duchess of Anjou and queen of Sicily.
Of “king de Bourges” with king de France Count de Poitiers, then duke of Touraine, Charles was hardly prepared with his trade of king, because it was only the third son of Charles VI.
The untimely death and successive of his/her older brothers, Louis de Guyenne (1415) then Jean de Touraine (1417), places it in the position of dolphin at fourteen years.
Context of the beginning of reign
The time is dark: civil war and English invasion - under the authority of the duke of Bedford - interfere to plunge the kingdom in an unprecedented crisis. Charles becomes by the force of the things the color-bearer of the Armagnac party. He undergoes a very hard shock when, in 1418, he must flee Paris, fallen to the hands from the Burgundian ones, then when, the following year, the murder of Jean without Peur (in Montereau) perhaps, that he did not want but that he let achieve himself, brings a anglo-Burgundian narrow alliance, the treaty of Troyes (1420) and its disinheritance with the profit of Henri V of England.
If one adds to that the gossip, justified, who run on the control of his/her mother (so that a long time it had doubts about the legitimacy of his birth), one can explain the apathy of which it showed at the beginning his reign.
“King de Bourges”
Driven out from Paris, Charles withdraws itself in Bourges, where he saw surrounded advisers armagnacs, who see in the absolute hostility in Burgundy the only possible policy to keep places and advantages. It is there that in 1422, with the death of his father, he proclaims king de France.
Poor king de Bourges however has assets. He has the support of the princely houses of Anjou, Orleans and Bourbon; its authority is recognized perfectly on a compact group of territories located at the south of the Loire; finally, there has the support of the civils servant, the monarchical personnel remained faithful, in its mass, with the legitimate heir.
Dissimulated, obsessed by the fear of treason, this weak king lets act his entourage: if it drives out the Armagnacs in 1425, it is to leave the power with the count de Richemont and the faction from Angers; at least this one works it to obtain the reconciliation with the duke of Burgundy.
Towards legitimation
Assisted of a disorganized army, since nonregular, deprived of supports and alliances important, and, especially, confronted with serious financial problems, Charles undergoes two important defeats: Cravant (1423) and Verneuil (1424). Forts of their superiority, the English undertake the head office of Orleans (October 1428), hoping to take the city and to destroy resistance.
Whereas they are about to succeed, the king and his advisers play their last chart: to put in charge of the army, a little like a mascot, young Lorraine, Joan of Arc, which is said sent of God - to proclaim the legitimacy of Charles and to drive out the English of the kingdom. The last army of Charles VII releases Orleans on on May 8th, 1429. This same year, the arrival of Joan of Arc with Chinon and the sacring in Rheims (July 17th) return confidence to Charles VII, who is now legitimated.
The “been useful Good” The king was called “been useful Well” because it had the gift to choose his collaborators. Indeed, if it hardly occupies the front of the scene, it is undeniable that Charles VII knew, as from the years 1435-1440, to be surrounded able men: captains like Dunois and Hire, of the technicians like the brothers Office, creators of royal artillery, the advisers like Pierre de Brézé and Jacques C.ur contributed for much to “serious” of the second part of its reign.
The “victorious one” Release of the kingdom, occupied by the English, and reorganization of the royal power, such are the two claims to fame of Charles VII.
The reconstitution of the royal power
First great diplomatic success is the treaty of Arras (1435), where the Burgundian ones and the English break their alliance. In 1436, the constable of Richemont takes again Paris, opening the way with the progressive release of the territory by Dunois, Hire, Xaintrailles (of 1437 to 1440, in particular).
The signed truce with Tours in 1444 was made profitable to forge the instruments of military success and the reinforcement of the royal power: standing army - with the creation of the companies of ordinance and the frank archers -, permanent direct tax; reorganization of royal justice, installation of a solid tax authority. Thanks to the countryside of Formigny, Normandy is removed with the English (1450), followed by Bordeaux and Guyenne after the battle of Castillon (1453). Consequently, the English hold nothing any more but Calais.
The intrigues peerage-books
This strengthening of the royal authority causes sharp dissatisfactions, to which testify, since 1440, the revolt peerage-book of Praguerie (named thus by allusion to the revolt of the hussites in Prague) then the lawsuit of the duke of Alençon, Jean II, shown of intelligences with the English and condemned by the Court of the pars (1458).
The Burgundian power is not foreign with these intrigues: by accommodating the dolphin Louis (the future Louis XI), in cold with his father, doesn't she seek to obstruct the king? Charles VII, conscious of this danger, took precautions by establishing a strong French influence in Lorraine and intriguing successfully against Philippe the Good (duke of Burgundy, the father of Charles the Bold) in Germany.
With its death, it leaves a free country (certainly ruined by the war, but whose rebuilding started), a reorganized State which found its prestige in Europe, as the big role played by the French diplomats testifies some when one fears a new schism in the Church.