CQO fra 
by Henry, either from want of capacity or inclination to 
fubfifl: this additional army, refnfed to admit him. That 
military adventurer immediately diredted his march to¬ 
wards Brittany, and feized the town of l'ourgeres. The 
duke of Brittany, unable to refill him, complained to the 
king of France, who infiantly determined to feize the fa¬ 
vourable opportunity to invade Normandy. He demanded 
fatisfadlion for the damages the duke of Brittany had fuf- 
tained from the ravages of Surienne; and to enfure a 
refufal, he eflimated thofe damages at one million fix 
hundred thoufand crowns. The incapacity of Henry to 
comply with this exorbitant demand was the fignal for 
war ; and in 1449, four formidable armies entered Nor¬ 
mandy at once : the firtt was commanded by the king of 
France in perfon ; the fecond, by the duke of Brittany ; 
a third, by the duke of Alenjon; and a fourth, by the 
count of Dunois. The inhabitants of Normandy received 
the invaders with alacrity 5 the towns fcarcely waited a 
fummons to open their gates ; Verneuil, Nogent, Chateau- 
Gaillard, Gil'ors, Mante, Vernon, Argentan, Coutance, 
&c. furrendered ; Rouen was the only place that pro- 
mifed to hold out a fiege ; it was invefted by Charles with 
an army of fifteen thoufand men, and defended by the 
duke of Somerfet. The tumultuous clamours of the 
citizens demanded a capitulation ; and Somerfet, over¬ 
whelmed by fecret and open enemies, was compelled to 
retreat to Harfleur, the permiffion for which was pur- 
chafed by the payment of fifty-fix thoufand crowns. In 
the next campaign four thoufand Englifh were landed at 
Cherbourg, under the condudt of fir Thomas Kyriel ; 
thefe were routed by the count of Clermont at Four- 
migny. The duke of Somerfet was again reduced to ca¬ 
pitulate in Caen ; and the furrender of Cherbourg, in 
1450, completed the final conqueft of Normandy. 
The progrefs of the count of Dunois in Guienne was 
almoft equally rapid. To preferve that province the earl 
of Shrewfbury had landed with five thoufand men ; but 
he was compelled againfi his better judgment, by the 
impatient clamours of the citizens of Bourdeaux, to ha¬ 
zard the battle of Catlillon. Oppretfed by fuperior num¬ 
bers, he difdained to furvive a defeat fo fatal to the hopes 
of his country, and fell with his youthful fon, refpedied 
and lamented by all men. Bourdeaux, difmayed at his 
fate, engaged to open her gates if not relieved within a 
certain time. But all concern for France was now fwal- 
lowed up bv the bloody contentions between the houfes 
of York and Lancafier, which fhook even the throne of 
Henry. No fuccours were fent; and Bourdeaux acknow¬ 
ledged the authority of Charles VII. Bayonne followed 
the.example ; and the province of Guienne, after a period 
of three centuries, was in 1453, re-united to the crown of 
France. 
But while the furnames of Good, and Victorious, were 
now given to Charles, while the fortune of the monarch 
was envied and admired, his feelings as a father were mod 
deeply and mortally wounded. The intrigues of the 
dauphin Louis had but too often impeded his career of 
conqued. In oppofition to his father’s pofitive injunc¬ 
tions, he now efpoufed, as his fecond wife, Charlotte 
daughter to the duke of Savoy ; and Charles refented the 
contempt by a declaration of war againd Savov, which 
he was perfuaded to recal, that he might profecute the 
redudlion of Guienne. This being now acccmplifhed, 
Charles, at length weary of the difobedience of his fon, 
and irritated at the exactions which he pradtifed in the 
county of Daup hine, commifiioned Anthony de Chabannes 
count of Dammartin, to feize his perfon. Louis, informed 
of the delign, and hopelefs of protection from his father- 
in-law the duke of Savoy, precipitately withdrew into 
Franche Comte, and afterwards continued his route into 
Brabant. The duke of Burgundy was no l'ooner apprifed 
of his arrival, than he fent his fon to wait on him, Tup- 
plied his necefiities with a liberal band, and gave orders 
that he fliould be treated with every mark of refpedt. But 
this prince refilled to fee him, till he had obtained the 
N C E. 
approbation of his father, Louis retired to the cafiic of 
Guaneppe near Brutfels, which the duke of Burgundy 
allotted for his refidence, and where he afiigned him the 
princely petition of twelve thoufand crowns; but the un¬ 
grateful Louis, ever rettlefs and malevolent, employed 
his leifure hours in fowing the feeds of difeord between 
his benefadlor and his fon the count of Charolois. 
Arthur count of Richemont, and conftable of France, 
had by the death of his nephew acquired the duchy of 
Brittany ; but the fatisfadlion which the king might de¬ 
rive from the advancement of that prince, who had faith¬ 
fully adhered to him, was imbittered by the treafonable 
intrigues of the duke of Alenfon. That haughty chief, 
difgufted at the coldnefs with which the king regarded 
his pretenfions to Fourgeres, a town occupied by the duke 
of Brittany, entered into a negociation with England. His 
wild defigns, which threatened the tranquillity of Nor¬ 
mandy, were detected ; and Charles inanguifh exclaimed, 
“ In whom can I trull, when the very princes of my own 
blood confpire againfi me.” The duke, in 1457, was 
immediately arrelled, tried, and condemned by a fentence 
of the parliament: at the requelt of the duke of Brittany, 
his punilhment of deatii was commuted to perpetual im- 
prifonment ; and the caftle of Loches was afiigned as the 
feat of his captivity. The dauphin and the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy were fufpedted of having countenanced the defigns 
of the duke of Alenfon ; but they had their origin in the 
arts of Louis, and the ambition of the count of Charo¬ 
lois. In this extraordinary coincidence of events, the 
king of France became actuated by compalTion to efpoufe 
the caufe of Henry VI. who was defpoiled of the crown 
of England by the triumphant houfe of York ; the count 
of Charolois offered to command the forces intended for 
this expedition; but under this pretence he endeavoured 
to conceal his abominable defign of arming againfi his 
own father the duke of Burgundy. His intention being 
penetrated by Charles, that monarch exclaimed, “ For 
two fuch kingdoms as my own, I would not have the 
lead participation in fo unworthy an action.” But lie 
beheld with diftruft the refider.ee of the dauphin in the 
dominions of the duke of Burgundy ; and it is not impro¬ 
bable that he entertained an inclination to deprive ills 
ungrateful fon of the fucceffion, when a life of fixty and 
a reign of thirty-nine years were extinguifhed, A.D. 14^ 1 3 
by a death as Angular as it was lamentable. 
The dauphin’s vindictive fpirit and unnatural difpofi- 
tion, had infpired Charles with continual fufpicions of 
poifon. The wretched monarch, jealous of all, and ig¬ 
norant vvhofe attachment to rely on, was feized with fo 
terrible a panic, that for five or fix days he refnfed every 
kind of fuftenance. When he was at length prevailed on 
by his fecond fon the duke of Berri, to take a fmall por¬ 
tion of aliment, it was too late. Nature refufed her office ; 
and the fatal apprehenfion of dying by poifon through the 
procuration of his own fon and fuccelfor, occafioned him 
to perifli through the procraftinated calls of exceffive 
hunger. His character was mild, generous, and courteous; 
but too frequently funk into indolence and effeminacy ; 
yet fometimes rifing into thofe exertions of magnanimity 
and virtue which fhould ever diftinguifh the hero and the 
prince. His life was chequered by every viciffitude of 
fortune ; and when he had triumphed over the hereditary 
enemies of his throne, he fell at laft the vidtim of domeftic 
diflenfion. His remains, Ihamefully negledted by his fon, 
were interred at the expence of the faithful companion of 
all his fortunes, Tannegui de Challel. 
On the death of Charles, his fon Louis XI. fucceeded 
to the throne, to which he had long afpired. He was 
confidered as one of the greatefl politicians of his age; 
though his character was not on that account the more 
amiable: on the contrary, there are few princes whofe 
hifiory appears in a more deteftable point of view. So 
dellitute was he of natural affedtion, that he openly re¬ 
joiced at his father’s death. The competition of his 
younger brother the duke of Berri, vanilhed at his ap- 
z pearance; 
