154 



CHARLES. 



pave Reno time lo come up with 20,000 men. On the 

 approach of this army, he deserted, with his troops, 

 to the enemy, so Uiat the army of Charles now con- 

 sisted of only 4000 men. Against the advice of his 

 council, Charles pcr-i>ted in risking battle with un- 

 equal forces. On the 5th or 6th .Ian., 1477 (John 

 \on Muller himself is in doubt respecting the day), 

 fhc two armies met: the win? of the Burgundian was 

 broken through and dispersed, and the centre, com- 

 manded by the duke in person, was attacked in front 

 and flank. As Charles was putting on his helmet, 

 the gilded lion, which served for a crest, fell to the 

 ground, and lie exclaimed, with surprise, " Ecce mag- 

 num signum Dei !" Defeated, and carried along with 

 the current of fugitives, he fell, with his horse, into a 

 ditch, where he was killed by the thrust of a lance, in 

 the forty-fourth year of his age. His body, covered 

 with blood and mire, and with the head imbedded in 

 the ice, was not found till two days after the battle, 

 when it was so disfigured that for some time his own 

 brothers did not recognize it. He was finally known 

 by the length of his beard and nails (which he had 

 suffered to grow since his defeat at Morat), as well as 

 by the scar of a sword-cut, which he had received in 

 the battle of Montlheri. With this prince expired 

 the feudal government in Burgundy. 



Charles was not without good qualities. In the 

 government of his people, we find no traces of the 

 severity with which he treated himself, and his dispo- 

 sition made him attentive to the administration of jus- 

 tice. He was buried at Nancy, at the command of 

 the duke of Lorraine. In 1550, Charles V., his 

 great-grandson, caused his remains to be conveyed to 

 Bruges. He was married three times, but left only 

 one daughter, Maria, heiress of Burgundy, by Isabella 

 of Bourbon, his second wife. (See Maximilian I.) 

 Compare the work of the baron de Barante, peer of 

 France, Hist, des Dues de Bourgogne de la Maison de 

 P'alois (Paris, 1824, 10 vols). In Quentin Durward, 

 Sir Walter Scott has described the character of 

 Charles, and some of the quarrels between him and 

 Louis of France. 



CHARLES VII., king of France. See France, 

 and Joan of Arc. 



CHARLES IX., king of France, son of Henry II. 

 and Catharine of Medici, born in 1550, at St Ger- 

 main-en-Laye, ascended the throne at the age of 

 ten years, after the death of his brother Francis 

 II. No regency was appointed, and it was deem- 

 ed sufficient to write to the parliament, through 

 the young prince, that he had requested his mother 

 to undertake the administration of the public af- 

 fairs; and the parliament acquiesced in this reso- 

 lution, to avoid exciting new contests between the 

 Guises and the princes of the blood. Catharine 

 consented that the king of Navarre should be ap- 

 pointed governor-general of the realm, as she was 

 too well aware or the weakness of his character 

 to fear it. In order to gratify her ambition, she re- 

 solved to throw every thing into confusion. (See 

 Catharine de Medici). The Guises soon saw that 

 they must oppose a Catholic league to the political 

 associations of the Calvinists. (See Guise). The 

 cruel persecutions against the Huguenots now broke 

 out. (See Bartholomew's Day, St). The duke of 

 Guise, who obtained possession of the person of the 

 young king, was shot by an assassin before Orleans, 

 in February, 1563. In his last moments, he advised 

 the king and the queen mother to negotiate with the 

 parties. This advice was dlowed ; a treaty was 

 signed, March 19, and Havre was taken from the 

 English, July 27. The king, who was the same 

 year declared of age, visited the provinces in com- 

 pany with tis mother. At Bayonne, he had a meet- 

 ing with his sister Isabella, the wife of Philip II. of | 



Spain. This excited such suspicions in the Calvin- 

 ists, that they took up arms, and immediately formed 

 the plan of attacking the king on his return to Paris. 

 Being wanted in season, he escaped the danger ; but 

 this plot could not fail to arouse the hatred of Charles, 

 who was proud by nature, and more to be pitied than 

 blamed for his too great confidence in his artful mo- 

 ther. After the battle of St Denis, 1567, in which 

 the constable of Montmorenci lost his life, Catharine 

 entered into negotiations for peace. But the Calvhv 

 ists reserved a part of the places which they were to 

 have surrendered, and continued to keep up a com- 

 munication with England and the German princes. 

 A new civil war soon broke out. Notwithstanding 

 the jealousy of Charles, Catharine placed the duke 

 of Anjou at the head of the royal army. The prince 

 of Conde having been shot in the battle of Jarnac, in 

 1569, and the admiral Coligni having been defeated 

 at Montcontour, in the same year, the king conclud- 

 ed peace, in 1570, on terms winch were so favour- 

 able to the Calvinists, that they seem even to have 

 suspected treachery under them. The heads of that 

 party did not therefore all appear at court when 

 Charles celebrated his marriage with Elizabeth, the 

 daughter of Maximilian II. By degrees this distrust 

 disappeared, and the marriage of the young king of 

 Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) with Margaret, 

 sister of Charles IX., seemed to banish every suspi- 

 cion. This marriage took place August 18, 1572. 

 On the 22d, the first attempt was made on the life of 

 Coligni, and on the 24th began that massacre known 

 under the name of the massacre of St Bartholomew's, 

 from liaving taken place on the night of the festival 

 of that saint. Civil war broke out for the fourth 

 time, and Catharine now became aware of the errors 

 of her policy. Charles could no longer conceal his 

 aversion to her, and was on the point of assuming 

 himself the reins of government, when he died, child- 

 less, in 1574. He was succeeded by his brother 

 Henry III. Charles was brave, indefatigable, ambi- 

 tious, of a lively, penetrating genius, ana loved the 

 sciences. The cruelties which disgrace his reign 

 should be laid to the charge of his mother rather 

 than himself. 



CHARLES I., king of England and Scotland, was 

 born in Scotland, hi the year 1600, and was the second 

 son of James VI. and Anne of Denmark. Soon after 

 the birth of his son, James succeeded to the crown of 

 England, and, upon the death of prince Henry, in 

 1612, Charles was created prince of Wales. His youth 

 appears to have passed respectably, little being re- 

 corded of him previously to his romantic journey into 

 Spain in company with Buckingham, in order to pay 

 his court in person to the Spanish infanta. Through the 

 arrogance of Buckingham, this match was prevented, 

 and the prince was soon after contracted to Henrietta 

 Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France. In 1625, 

 he succeeded to the throne, on the death of his father, 

 and received the kingdom embroiled in a Spanish 

 war, and full of suspicion and dislike to the minister 

 Buckingham. The first parliament which he sum- 

 moned, oeing much more disposed to state grievances 

 than grant supplies, was dissolved ; and, by loans 

 and other expedients, an expedition was fitted out 

 against Spain, which terminated in disgrace and dis- 

 appointment. In the next year, a new parliament 

 was summoned ; and the disgust and jealousy, which 

 prevailed between the king and this assembly, laid 

 the foundation of the misfortunes of his reign. The 

 house of commons impeached the minister, and the 

 king supported him. They held fast the public 

 purse, and he intimated a design of following new 

 counsels, should they continue to resist his will, and 

 suddenly and angrily dissolved them, after a short 

 session, while they were preparing a remonstrance 



