CHARLK8 VII. 



CHAKLES VIII. 



18J 



eoMtabl* of France. 



by the 

 UmuUUd 



* * . . 



MM Q**a leabelle of Bavaria, whom for her liosnti 

 ArsMfoaos had emiUd to Toon: tb* Bourgulgnooe DOOM 

 prised to* oapital. UM drp of tb popuUe* roa* od 

 rantend Armanae MM! hU partiaans, ineloding many 



of 



Ik* rsrtahsji *n 



"for W UMPtfatNMM the 



i oons*qu*otlv sur- 

 M and ferociously 



wd*r*d Aim**^ awl partisan*; moloding many bishops and 

 p. of imak,Dd many of Inferior d>pL Tb king Ml iota their 

 hacxK and th* young dauphin WM rescued only by the vigour and 

 activity of Tawwfui d* Cbital (1118). The dauphin established hit 

 court at Po*ti*n; and tb. Bounruigooo* retained Paris ; whil* Nor- 

 Midi* Mi owruo. and iU eapiuL Rou-n. taken by Henry V. (1411. 

 The .nbseqiMat iinHnn at th* Duke of Bourgogne at Montereau 

 threw hu party into tb. arau of the Knglish, and lad to the tnaty of 

 Troy**. by which U>. administration of France WM placed in the 

 lwod* of Henry V, and bit succession to the throne, upon the death 

 of CouHe*.wM stipulated. He married the Prince- Catherine, and 

 jtQjsButod the war vigorously an.l successfully against the dauphin, 

 who WM drlrm to take refuge In the eouthern province*. During the 

 fcimi of Heary in KngUod, an English army, under the Duke of 

 ClaroM*. WM defeated at Bang*, but on Henry 's return the Kngluh 

 reclined their superiority, and held it till their king 1 , death, Slit of 

 August 14:2. Charles .nrvived him only a few week*, dying on the 

 Slit of Ootober in the tame year, aftrr a long and disastrous reign of 

 forty-two yean. 



>> 111 .KS V M., le Victorieux (the Viotoriou.), aon of Charles VI., 



, upon Us father'* death (October 1433) to a kingdom, the 

 greater part of which wai poeMMed by enemies, foreign or domestic. 

 lie celebrated hit coronation at Poitiers in 1423, and aummoned an 

 awembly of the Slates-General at Ilonrges. The commencement of 

 hi. rein wae diatrout; hit troop*, of whom Scottiah auxiliaries 

 formed considerable portloa, were defeated at Crevant and Verneuil, 

 while hie court WM tUined with the blood of two of his favourite*, 

 HliinlTily victims to the jealousy of the conitable Arthur of Hiche- 

 moot, a branch of th* ducal family of Bretagn*. 



In 1428 a body of Kngluh force*, under the moet renowned of their 

 pgosr*. banned OrMana, which wai defended by Dunois, a butard 

 of th* family of Orleans, Xaintraille*, and other distmguished French- 

 men. Th* sieve WM vigorously pressed, and Charles manifesterl little 

 of tb* energy which the (tat* of hi* affairs required. The deliverance 

 of Orloaa* and th* revival of th* ipirit of the French may be ascribed 

 mainly to Jeana* d'Arc [ABC, JEAKVB i>'], wboee extraordinary 



rh*r*nt*r and claim* to luperoatural influence impressed both parties 

 and tamed the tide of fortune. Charle* carried on th 

 general*, seldom exposing his person 

 death or captivity of nearly ail the members of his family, and the 



Charle* carried on the war by his 

 in the field, a caution which the 



evils that would hav* resulted from any accident to him, seem fully 

 to justify. Sucoeas attended his arms; the English power declined ; 

 and tit* treaty of Arras, by which Charles WM reconciled to the Duke 

 of Bonrgogne, and the death of the able Duke of Bedford (regent for 

 Us nephew Henry VI. of England) [BEDFORD, DUKE or], both which 

 event* occurred in the year 1485, rendered the superiority of the 

 French arm* deciaive. Paris opened it* gate* to the French in 1436. 

 Xormandie WM reconquered hi 1460, and the final subjugation of 

 wured by th* battle of Castillon in 1453, and the 

 oos were reduced to Calais and tb* surrounding terri- 

 tory. It was during th* eours* of the war [1428] that Charles WM 

 crowned (for a second time) at Reims. The condition of France, 

 during the continuance of hostilities, WM most wretched, not that the 

 w.r WM carried on by the two great powers with energy and vigour, 

 but that th* province* w*r* ravaged by bands of armed marauders, 

 while famine and pestilence wasted Paris and the adjacent province* 

 shortly after tb* expulsion of th* English from the capital in 1436 : 

 nearly 60,000 persons are s. id to have died in Part, alone. 



While engaged hi struggling with th* English, Charle* distinguished 

 himself by two meuurw, which may be considered M the most bene- 

 ficial of his reign. Th* fint of these WM the issuing of that ordinance, 

 known in history by the title of the 'Pragmatic Sanction,' which is 

 M having ' 



' laid the foundation of the liberties of the Galilean 

 church. This ordinance recognised the superiority of (ecumenical 

 or general council* over th* pope* ; and denied to the pontifls, with a 

 few exceptions, th* appointment of bishops, who were to be elected 

 by their respective chapters subject to the royal approval : it prevented 

 til* interference of the KomUh see In the disposal of inferior benefice*, 

 and itiollihsrt th* abuse of < expectations ' or promises in reversion while 

 MM toeumbotit* were yet living. It contained several other regulations 

 tending to curtail th* revenue or the authority of the papsl court. 

 The other groat measure of Charles WM the reform of the army. 

 Tb* irregular band* which had constituted th* military force of the 

 kingdom, served at pleasure and on their own terms, and by their 

 lawleee ravages became th* scourge of the country which they pro- 

 I to defend. By firmness and wl-dom the king converted these 

 detachments into a well-disciplined standing army, and 

 M change may hav* subsequently tended to consolidate the 

 royal power and extinguish political freedom, it can hardly be con- 

 sidersd M other than a benefit at th* time It WM mad* [1440], The 

 |iro*la*a* were delivered from military licence, and the army, though 

 reduced perhaps in nnml era, increased in efficiency. It WM not with- 



out considerable opposition that Charle* affected hi* purpose : the 

 great military leader* formed a cabal, which assumed the name of 

 1 Pragnerle' (from the popular commotions which had agitated Bohemia 

 in tb* time of Huss), and the dauphin, a youth of seventeen (after- 

 ward. Louis XI.), joined the malcontents. But the king wa supported 

 by the bulk of the nation, and by his firmness carried his point. For 

 the wild and nntameable spirits among the common soldier*, a suitablo 

 outlet WM found in two expeditious, one under the dauphin (who had 

 been brought back to his duty) against the 3win and in support of 

 Frederick III. of Au.tria; another, under the king himself, against 

 JsVtm, one of the free cities of Lorraine, which IWn of Anjou, duke 

 of Lorraine, wished to incorporate with his duchy. 



Though the success of Charles's arm* seemi to give justice to his 

 title of 'the Victorious,' and under hi* government tho Kingdom was 

 raised from the lowest point of depression to a respectable and flourish- 

 ing state, yet in his court and in his family this monarch WM far from 

 happy. In his early youth he wss the object of his insane father's 

 caprice, and of the hatred of his licentious mother, who had allied her- 

 self to the Bourguignon faction. Hi* wife, Marie of Anjou, WM indeed 

 the faithful and affectionate companion of his early distress, notwith- 

 standing the just cause of jealousy which he gave her ; and her npirit 

 1. said to have roused him from the indolence and depression in which 

 he WM disposed to sink when the predominance of the Kngliih WM in 

 it* zenith. Tradition hM transferred to another the part which she 

 thus performed : Agnes Sorel, the mistress of Charles, has been men- 

 tioned M tho encoursger of the king when he WM faint-hearted, but 

 her influence was of later date than the period of Charles's greatest 

 depression (Note Z in H.lUm's ' Middle Ages,' vol. i. chap. 1. part II.): 

 .he died in 1450, and all contemporaries agree in commendation of her 

 loveliness and her Intellectual powers. The artfulness and malignity 

 which the dauphin (Charles's eldest son) manifested when he became 

 king [Looo XL], are sufficient to account for the jealousy with which 

 his father from an early period regarded him. Tha connection of this 

 prince with the ' Praguerie ' hu been already notioed ; his subsequent 

 dispute* with his father increased to such a degree that he fled to tho 

 territories of the Duke of Bourgogne, by whom he WM sheltered, and 

 who WM consequently involved in disputes with Charles, who desired 

 his son's return. As to the court of Charles, the first person who exer- 

 cised predominant influence there wan Tannegui du CuAtel, the prime 

 agent in the murder of Jean Sans Peur, duke of Bourgogne (1419); 

 but when Arthur of Bretagne, count of Richemont, became countable 

 of France, he perceived that the removal of Tannegui WM necessary 

 in order to open the way for a reconciliation with the Bourguignons, 

 of the desirableness of which he wai early sensible. Tannegui wag 

 consequently sent into honourable exile from the court M seneschal of 

 Beaucaire, in 1424. The violence of Riohemont, a blunt rough soldier, 

 Involved him in disputes with the minion* of the court, and two of 

 them were hastily and arbitrarily executed by his procuration ; a third, 

 La Tremouille, more artful, maintained his post, and the court became 

 divided into two factions that of La Treuiouille and that of Riche- 

 mont ; ultimately however tho constable prevailed. At a later period, 

 Antony of Cbabannes, lord of Dammartin, became predominant. He 

 had caused, in 1463, the ruin, by false accusation, of Jacques Cotrar, a 

 merchant and banker of Bourges, whose extensive business and great 

 wealth had enabled him to afford Charles most important aid in finan- 

 cial affairs ; and it WM from jealousy or fear of Dammartin that the 

 Dauphin Louis fled to Bourgogne. Dammartin seems to have retained 

 bis influence until the death of Charles, which took place from a 

 singular cause. He appears to have inherited from his father a taint 

 of insanity, and the latter end of his life WM embittered by mono- 

 mania, manifesting itself in the apprehension that his children had 

 conspired to poison him. Under this apprehension he refused food 

 for seven days, and died of exhaustion at Mehun-sur-Yevre, near 

 Bourges, on the 22nd of July 1461. 



It WM In the reign of this prince that the Oreek language was first 

 taught in the University of Puns. That university is said to hare 

 contained at this time 25,000 students. 



CHARLES VIII., son of Louis XL, succeeded to the throne upon 

 the death of his father in 1488, being little more than thirteen 

 oM. HU father had failed to appoint any regency, and the guardian- 

 ship of the king and the kingdom became consequently on object of 

 ambition to those whose proximity in blood to the crown authorised 

 them in aspiring to such an elevation. Tho dignity of president of 

 the council of state WM bestowed on the Duke of Orleans, next heir 

 to the throne; but the guardianship of the king's person, together 

 with the real power of the government, WM bestowed upon Anno of 

 France, lady of Bcaujcu, the king's eldest sister, at that time about 

 twenty-two years of age. 



The minority of Charles WM troubled by the disturbance* raised by 

 the ambitious nobles, impatient of the predominance of the lady of 

 lieaujeu. In 1486 th* Duke of Urlfout and the Count Dunois, son of 

 the famous Count Dunois who had defended Orleans agniuat tho 

 Knglish [CUABLES VIL], raised the standard of rebellion, but sub- 

 mitted on the king's approach ; their discontent however continued, 

 and Orleans retired into Bretagne, the duke of which province afforded 

 him protection, and united with Maximilian, king of the Romans, in 

 intrigues against France, In 1485-86 Dunois, with the Count of 

 Angoulume, attempted an insurrection hi Quienne, but WM fore 



