CIIAKLKS V. 



ClIARLBB V. 



Poitiers in lSi- Charles, then duke of Jformandie. wa* present 

 daring thi* bailie, but he escaped by Bight, of which be is said to 

 hav* aet the nrat example. 



ng the captivity of bis father (1S5S-0), he seems to have 

 held the rein* of gev*niot a* hi* lieutenant At the commence- 

 of hi* r^t-^>*<~. be wa* involved in dispute* with the 

 a, the appointed meeting of which was hastened by the 

 > remit of the conflict of Poitier*. The spirit of liberty wss 

 riaiag hi that assembly, and they presented remonstrance* upon the 

 inal sjaiiaisjlialinsj of tb* government, respectful in their term*, 

 though strong and pointed in their complaint*. Robert le Cocq, 

 bishop of Laoo. and Etienoe Marcel, provost of the merchants of 

 Pan*, were the leaden of the popular party in theee struggles. The 

 eoastitaiioa of the French monarchy gave however to the court a 

 reaource which frequently baffled the opposition of the States-General. 

 The king* applied to the State* of tb* provinces into which that great 

 kingdom had been all but dismembered: and from theee smaller 

 aaasniHis* they experienced more deference than from the combined 

 body, in which the spirit of freedom could display iteelf with more 



Chariea, after dissolving the Statoe-Oencral, obtained a considerable 

 rrant from the State* of Langnedoc, assembled at Toulouse : and the 

 rt-r-pl. thn* set was followed during the winter in many other 

 province*. Bat Charles waa still pressed by pecuniary difficulties; 

 aad after resorting to a debasement of the coinage, without filling his 

 exchequer, be was compelled again to summon the States-General 

 tiii* sinmbly he procured fund* sufficient for the levy and 

 m of 30,000 men, but he bad to purchase this aid by various 

 to the public spirit, perhaps also to the ambition of the 

 iv* body. A steading committee of thirty-six deputies 

 represented, during the intervals between the meetings of the States, 

 the popular party in that assembly, and maintained a continual 

 struggle with the crown. Over this committee a temporary revulsion 

 of public f.rling enabled Cbarle* to triumph; but upon the re- 

 g of the States- General, tb* popular party regained the 

 y, and Marcel, supported by the unprincipled Charles le 

 . ttag of Navarre, brother-in-law of the Duke of Normandie, 

 proceeded to the moat violent excesses. Strong in the support of 

 the multitude, whom be instructed to wear hoods of red and blue, be 

 bunt into the pretence of the duke, massacred two of hi* principal 

 officers of state in his presence, while the rabble hunted down and 

 ordered a third. Cbarle* waa compelled to wear the colours of 

 Marcel, aad assure the infuriated mob that he rejoiced in the 

 destruction of traitors. 



In the States-General the predominance of Marcel wa* increased by 

 the retirement of many of the prelates and nobles, disgusted by the 

 preponderance of the tier* o'tat, or commons. The' States increased 

 however the appearance of Charles'* authority by requesting him, as 

 be had now reached the age of twenty-one, to take the title of regent ; 

 and the [<ovinesal aasemblie*, in which the nobles predominated, so 

 far eupported him as to enable him to menace the 'bourgeois,' or 

 ertiaso*. of Paris, with blockade. He obtained too the alliance of the 

 King of Navarre, who had been by Marcel's interest invested with the 

 dignity of captain-general of Paris. Marcel's blind confidence in 

 IBM traitorous prince proved his ruin. He had fortified the castle 

 of the Louvre, and provisioned Paris for a siege; but arranged 

 with Navarre for the surrender of tb* gate St Antoine. Some of 

 bis fellow ullJaan*. detecting the design and raising the populace, 

 murdered Marcel, and several of hi* adherent*, and threw their 

 bodies into the Seine. The regent Chsrle* soon occupied the capital, 

 by the rabmbsion of the inhabitant*, and avenged himself by 

 nnmberles* execution*. 



A dtopnU with the King of Navarre, whose wealth enabled him to 

 assemble a powerful force of mercenaries, was the next trouble of 

 Cbarlee ; and before thi* dispute was accommodated some of the finest 

 part* of the lale of France, Picardie, and Vermandoia, bad been over- 

 run by the mercenaries. ' Tbe free companies,' the name assumed 

 by tb* soldiery who were disbanded during the existing truce between 

 France and England, pillaged various part* of France without oppo- 

 sition; aad a dreadful insurrection of the peasantry, who assumed the 

 till* of the ' Jacquerie,' added to the horrors of the time, [CAILLBT, 

 OotLLAcax.) The Jacquerie were supported by the bourgeois of 

 Paris aad other place*, bat the insurrection was completely put down. 

 Neffoeiatioos for John'* releas* were going on in the interval, but were 

 defaalsil by tb* regent, who knew that his power would be brought to 

 aa end on bis father's return, and by the King of Navarre, to whose 

 plane the existing anarchy offered the greatest scope. At last, after a 

 fresh lava*ii of France by the Engliah, on* of whose commander*, 

 the brave Sir Walter Manny, shattered a lance against one of the 

 barrier* of Paris, where tb* regent was. tb* release of John was 

 obtained by tb* treaty of BreUgoy (1800), and he returned to France 

 ad resumed the government. 



Upon the dem'h of John, in 13*4, Charles resumed the rein* of 

 power, not DOW as lieutenant or regent daring the absence of another, 

 but a* king in hi* owa right; and though hi* conduct ha* been deemed 

 by some to afford no proof of wisdom or energy, yet hi* measure* 

 seen to bav* beca well chosen and well timed. He gained no dis- 

 tinction a* a soldier, but in hi* reign France recovered in a great 



degree from the disasters which preceded his accession. Hi" surname, 

 Le Sage (the Wise), baa been supposed to be indicative of bin attain- 

 ment* in literature, which were, for the ago in which he lived, above 

 mediocrity, rather than of hi* general capacity ; but it reams to have 

 been not inapplicable to bis understanding aUo, fur, if he were not 

 wise in the higher acceptation of the word, he certainly posseased 

 a considerable amount of shrewdness and cunning. Tbe early part of 

 Charles's reign waa distinguished by another dispute with the ever 

 faithless and unsettled King of Navarre ; but the valour and conduct 

 of Bertrand du Guesclin gave the superiority to the French. An 

 accommodation with this prince, combined with the conclusion of the 

 war for the succession of Bretagne, in which the English and French 

 engaged aa auxiliaries, and the opening afforded by the civil dissension* 

 of Castile, and by other event*, for the engagement of ' the free corn- 

 panic*' in foreign parts, afforded some relief to France, and allowed 

 Charles to contemplate the recovery of the advantages gained by the 

 English in war, and confirmed to them by the treaty of Bretigny. 



By that treaty Aquiuine had been erected into a principality inde- 

 pendent of the crown of France, in favour of the gallant Edward, so 

 well known as the Black Prince. But Edward had disgusted his 

 subjects by the imposts to which he subjected them, in order to 

 supply hi* necessities ; and some of his most important vassals, the 

 Sire d'Albret and the Count d'Armagnac, had been won over to the 

 French intercut; and at length a general assembly of the Gascon 

 barons appealed to Cbarle* as suzerain an appeal to which the latter 

 readily responded, although the complete independence of Aquitaine 

 had been established by the peace of Bretigny. He summoned 

 Kdward, whom he knew to be languishing under the disease which 

 finally wore him down to the grave, to appear before the Court of 

 Peers at Paris. The indignant warrior replied to the summons, "that 

 the commands of the King of France should be obeyed ; but that 

 when he attended his pleasure in Paris it should be with his helmet 

 on his head, and with sixty thousand men in his train." A declaration 

 of war was alto sent over to Kuglnnd, and insultingly borne by one of 

 Charles's household servant*, instead of by a person of rank and 

 importance equal to the occasion (1369). The reason assigned for this 

 indignity was that the Black Prince bad imprisoned (some say put to 

 death) those who bore the French king's meefage to him. It was 

 therefore thought nnadvuable to risk the live* of persons of rank. 



Charles had chosen the time for the rupture with judgment. 

 Edward III. was getting in yean; the Black Prince was languishing 

 with disease ; and of their best officers several bad been removed by 

 death. Sir John Chandos and Sir Walter Manny, the most dis- 

 tinguished of them, survived the recommencement of hostilities but 

 a very abort time, the first falling in battle, and the second dying 

 soon after. Charles forbade hi* troops to engage in pitched battles, 

 in which experience had shown their inferiority ; but the system of 

 warfare pursued enabled them to gain strength, while that of their 

 opponent* wasted away. The re-capture of Limoges, which had been 

 surrendered to the French by the treachery of its bishop, was the last 

 exploit of the Black Prince, who soon returned to England to linger 

 and die; his subordinates and successors had neither ability nor 

 influence; and the talents and energy of Du Guesclin and Clisson 

 (two natives of Bretagne), and the alliance of Castile, gave the pre- 

 dominance to the French, and enabled them to conquer Bretagne, the 

 duke of which took refuge in Kngland. A well-equipped army of 

 30,000 men, under John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, marched indeed 

 right acrou France from Calais to Bordeaux unopposed. Charles 

 prudently kept his forces in walled towns, and allowed his enemii i to 

 waste their strength in struggling with destitution and famine ainU-t 

 the defiles of Auvergne and Limousin, and of the 30,000 scarcely 

 6000 (reached Bordeaux (1373). A truce for a year was afterwards 

 concluded and prolonged, and negotiations were entered into. During 

 the continuance of this truce occurred the deaths of the Black Prince 

 (1376), and of his father, Kdward III. (1377). Charles employed the 

 interval in regulating the succession and the guardianship of hi 

 children, and in settling the establishments and portions of the younger 

 branches of the royal family. 



Before intelligence reached France of the death of Edward III., 

 Cbarle* bad determined to renew hostilities, and the expiration of thn 

 truce enabled him to do so within a week after the English king bad 

 breathed his last. The English coast was insulted and ravaged by a 

 combined French and Castilian fleet, and Charles's brother, the Duke 

 of Anjou, made a prosperous campaign in Guienne (1377). But not- 

 withstanding these advantages, the throne of Cbarle* was surrounded 

 with many increasing difficulties. He met with some succors against 

 the King of Navarre, whom he bated, and whom he now t-trippcd of 

 all his possessions in Normandy, except Cherbourg, which Navarre 

 secured by an alliance with Kngland : hut the Castilians, whom ho 

 bad engaged to attack the kingdom of Navarre itself, retreated upon 

 the arrival of an English force at Bordeaux. The Duke of Anjou 

 succeeded in suppressing some disturbances at Nltnes and Montpellier 

 (1378-80) provoked by the rapacity of his government; but the 

 severity with which he treated the latter city, and thn p< neral odious- 

 ness of his administration, rendered him so unpopular, that the king 

 deemed it advisable to remove him. The exiled Duke of Bretagne 

 returned from England, and the reviving affections of bis peoplu 

 (whose estrangement from him had mainly contributed to the conquest 



