684 FRA 
tered remnant in France which yet had retained its alle¬ 
giance to England, was entirely overwhelmed, except 
Bayonne, Boiirdeaux, and Calais with its depen¬ 
dencies. But Charles himfelf furvived not long the de- 
roife of his illuftrious competitors; after having eftablifhed 
the precarious throne of the houfe of Valois, he funk in 
the prime of life into the .filent grave. All hiftorians 
agree in afcribing his premature death to the effedts of 
poifoti which had beenadminiftered to him when dauphin, 
by Charles king of Navarre. The immediate confe- 
quences of the noxious draught had been delayed by a 
phyfician fent to the king of France by the emperor 
Charles IV. who diminiflied the mortal tendency of the 
venom by opening an iffiue in his arm ; but he at the fame 
time declared, that whenever the ifTue ceafed, the fate of 
Charles was determined. His prediction was verified ; 
and the king, fenlible of his approaching end, met it with 
fortitude. His laft counfels to the dukes of Berri, Bur¬ 
gundy, and Bourbon, were to beftow the conftable’s fword 
on Oliver Clilfon; to ftrengthen the alliance with Ger¬ 
many by marrying his fon and fuccclTor to a princefs of 
that country ; and to deliver the people as foon as pollible 
from the burthen of taxes which his neceflities had com¬ 
pelled him to impofe. 
At the age of forty-four, A. D. 1380, Charles V. 
breathed his lad. Death had previoufly deprived him of 
his queen Jane, daughter to Peter duke of Bourbon, an 
accomplifhed and virtuous princefs, in whom he intended 
to have veded the regency. Du Guefclin alfo, from 
whole valour the date had derived fuch advantages, was 
no more. The lad moments of the dying monarch were 
overcad by the gloomy profpedt which prefented itfelf; 
but although his fagacity might forefee, his ability could 
not avert, the evils which threatened the kingdom ; his 
iuccedbr was left without experience, and almod without 
a pilot, to deer the velfel of the date through a dangerous 
and tempeduous fea of troubles. 
Charles VI. ftirnamed the Well-beloved , was only twelve 
years old when he afcended the throne of his father. 
The late king had nominated his elded brother the duke 
of Anjou, guardian to his nephew, fill he attained the 
age of majority, or entrance into his fourteenth year. 
'1 he education of the young king was committed to the 
dikes of Burgundy and Bourbon; the former his uncle 
by his father’s, the latter by his mother’s fide: while the 
duke of Berri, the third fon of John the Good, was eclipfed 
by the fuperior power and talents of his competitors. 
The firtt care of thefe princes was the coronation of 
the king, which was fplendidly performed at Rheinrs. 
The fword of condable of France was given to Oliver 
Clidon ; but the duke of Anjou foon betrayed the confi¬ 
dence which had beenrepofed in him ; and lod to honour 
and integrity, feized, in the cadle of Melun, the plate 
and treafures of the late king, to fupport his own ambi¬ 
tious enterprifes. Joan, who was defeended from Charles 
of Anjou, the brother of St. Louis, reigned at this time 
at Naples. She had adopted her relation, Charles Du- 
razzo, as her fuccelfor; but the inhuman Neapolitan de- 
•pofed and murdered his benefadfrefs ; whofe laft breath 
revoked the nomination, and declared the duke of Anjou 
to be the heir to her throne. To advance the wild pre- 
tenfions of that prince, the treafures of France were now 
fcattered with a lavifh hand ; but his troops were defeat¬ 
ed, and his defigns baffled ; and the duke of Anjou dif- 
covered too late that he had facrificcd his honour with¬ 
out gratifying his ambition. 
The conduct of the duke of Burgundy was equally to 
be arraigned : infiead of training the mind of the royal 
pupil to the purfuit of magnanimity and virtue, he in¬ 
dulged him in every defeription of pleafure and excels ; 
and fought to fecure his aff'edtions by gratifying rhe licen¬ 
tious pafiions of youth. The acquiefcence of the duke 
of Berri was purchafed by the reftoration of the county of 
Languedoc ; while the citizens of Paris, opprelfed by new 
Saxes, broke out into open (edition, which was with great 
2 
N C E. 
difficulty quelled. A peace had been concluded with the 
duke of Brittany; but PhiF-p of Burgundy, who on the 
departure of the duke of Anjou for Naples, had affiumed 
the (ole adminirtration, foon involved the kingdom in 
hoftilities with the Flemings. Thefe commercial people, 
enraged at the heavy imports with which they were bur- 
thened to fupply the prodigality of their count, erected 
the ftandard of revolt, and chofe as their leader Philip, 
the fon of James Arteveld, the famous brewer of Ghent. 
The fon degenerated not from the abilities of the father; 
bold in action, eloquent in council, penetrating and enter- 
prifing, he prepared his adherents to encounter with refc- 
lution the (form which menaced them. At the head of 
near fourfeore thoufand men, animated by the prefence of 
their youthful monarch, the duke of Burgundy, accom¬ 
panied by the dukes of Berri and Bourbon, and the prin¬ 
cipal nobility of France, invaded Flanders, to reftore the 
authority of the exiled count. But thefe fplendid pre. 
parations for a time portended only difeomfiture, as the 
early operations of the war were highly favourable to the 
Flemings. A confiderable detachment of the French was 
routed in an ineffedtual attempt to raife the liege of Oude- 
narde ; and the king might have been perhaps expofed to 
the difgrace of a fruitlefs campaign, had .not the impru¬ 
dent ardour of the inexperienced Arteveld induced him 
to hazard a decifive adtion near the village of Rofebecque, 
On the banks of the Lis, in 1383, the hopes of the Flern- 
ings were extinguifhed by the fuperior difeipline of the 
French ; 25,000 of the infurgents perifhed on the field of 
battle ; and among thefe was their youthful leader Arrc- 
veld. Oudenarde was immediately relieved ; Courtrai, 
the chief feat of revolt, furrendered ;.and the turbulent 
Flemings were once more reduced to fubmiffion by the 
arms of France. 
In 1384, the death of the count of Flanders annexed 
that country, with the provinces of Artois, Revel, and 
Nevers, to the poffieffions of the duke of Burgundy. 
About the fame time the duke of Anjou, overwhelmed 
by the calamities of his Italian expedition, expired at 
Barr, in Calabria ; and the king of France, delivered 
from the immediate controul of two of his uncles, began 
to alfume the reins of government, and difeovered fymp- 
toms of genius and fpirit, which revived the drooping 
hopes of his country. His marriage had already engrolfed 
the attention of his council; he had-an interview with 
Ifabella daughter of the duke of Bavaria ; and the in(i- 
nuating addrefs and perfonal charms of that princefs, de¬ 
termined his choice in her favour. The underftanding 
of the young king alfo appears to have been clear and 
manly. He again deprived his uncle the duke of Berri 
of the government of Languedoc, which he continued to 
abufe ; and conciliated the affedtions of his people, by 
refioring their privileges, and relieving them from the 
vexatious taxes which the regents had impofed. He re¬ 
duced the Flemings to acknowledge the authority of his 
uncle the duke of Burgundy ; he detached John de Vienne 
with fifteen hundred men at arms to-reinforce the Scotch 
in their incurfions againft the Englirti ; and encouraged by 
the feeble charadter of Richard II. he prepared a prodi¬ 
gious fleet at Sluys for the ptirpofe of an invafion, in hopes 
of recovering Calais in exchange for what conquefts he 
might make in England. This enterprife, like every 
one of a fimilar natqre, was given up, withouteven theex- 
pei iment being tried. But the invafion might perhaps have 
been laid afide in confeqiience of the mental derangement, 
which in 1390, unfortunately attacked the French king. 
During the firft rtage of his delirium, the grief of his 
people proclaimed the blamelefs tenor of his adminirtra- 
tion : and the hopes afforded by his phylicians of a fpeedy 
recovery, were welcomed by marks of unfeigned and un¬ 
bounded tranfport. The doubtful (fate of his intelledts, 
however, rendered it necelfary that the royal power 
(hould be verted in more able hands ; and the competition 
for the regency brought forward two characters which 
hitherto had been concealed from public obfervation. 
llabella, 
