| Notes |
- The long reign of Charles VI brings disaster to France. During the
first eight years the king is a minor; power accrues dangerously to
his uncle, the duke of Burgundy. During the last 30 years, from 1392,
the king is mentally deranged - bringing him the name Charles the Mad,
in contrast to his father (Charles the Wise).
The elder Charles, dying in 1380, entrusts the realm to his three
brothers during his son's minority. Of these three dukes one (Louis of
Anjou) is mainly concerned with his claims to the Angevin kingdom of
Naples. Another (John of Berry) plays some role in politics, but
devotes most of his time to his famous collection. The field is open
to the youngest (Philip of Burgundy).
Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy from 1364, is also the heir
through his wife to the rich but rebellious territory of Flanders. He
persuades the young Charles VI to undertake a campaign to suppress the
Flemish cities, a task achieved in a victory at Roosebeke in 1382. The
army is French but the advantage of the victory flows to Burgundy. In
this contrast lies the seed of much future trouble.
Philip the Bold acts as regent until Charles VI takes power into
his own hands in 1388. The young king rules with skill and success,
but only for four years. In 1392 he has an attack of violent madness,
of a kind which recurs for the rest of his life.
Philip the Bold finds it easy to take control again. He rules,
largely in his own interest, for twelve years. But his death in 1404
is followed by a bitter rivalry, leading to civil war, which paralyzes
France for three decades.
The two great nobles vying for power are cousins - Louis, duke of
Orléans, younger brother of the mad king, and John the Fearless who
has succeeded his father as duke of Burgundy. In 1407 the duke of
Orléans is murdered in a Paris street by henchmen of John the
Fearless. The result is civil war between the Burgundians and the
partisans of the murdered duke.
The Orléans supporters are known as the Armagnacs, being led by the
count of Armagnac (whose son is married to a daughter of the murdered
duke of Orléans ). The situation is much complicated by a third
warlike power on the scene.
In 1415 a new king on the English throne, Henry V, escalates
hostilities against the French. The Hundred Years' War has been
rumbling on at a steady pace in recent years. But the arrival of Henry
V in person in the Seine estuary, in August 1415, confronts the
squabbling French with a sharp and immediate challenge.
The French array of knightood defeated by Henry V at Agincourt in 1415
represents one half of France's strength. This is only the Armagnac
contingent. John the Fearless of Burgundy plays a watchful and
duplicitous game, negotiating both with the English and the Armagnacs.
After Henry V takes Rouen in 1419, it seems that the two French
factions may unite against the English threat. But this hope is dashed
when John the Fearless, meeting the Armagnac leaders to negotiate, is
murdered in 1419 in the presence of the 16-year-old dauphin, the
future Charles VII.
By this time the mad king and his heir are on opposite sides of
the struggle. Charles VI's queen, Isabella of Bavaria, has brought her
incapacitated husband into the camp of the Burgundians. From 1418 they
control Paris, after an uprising in the city ejects the Armagnacs. The
Dauphin, son of Charles VI and Isabella, escapes with the Armagnacs to
Bourges where he declares himself to be regent of France.
This hollow boast is mocked by the treaty of Troyes, agreed in 1420
between Isabella and her Burgundian ally (the new duke, Philip the
Good) on one side and Henry V of England on the other.
At Troyes Isabella disowns her son, the Dauphin. Instead she offers
his sister Catherine to Henry V as bride and heiress to the French
throne. It is agreed that Henry will become king of France on the
death of Catherine's mad father, Charles VI.
Events soon make a mockery of this cynical liaison. The marriage
takes place in June 1420. A son, the future Henry VI of England, is
born in December 1421. Henry V dies campaigning in France in August
1422. His father-in-law dies seven weeks later. By the terms of the
treaty,
a ten-month-old English infant becomes the king of France.
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1437 - 1494 (57 years)