Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War
Encyclopedia
The Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War was a French civil war
between the Armagnac
and Burgundian
factions from 1407 to 1435 AD. It occurred while France was already being ravaged by the Hundred Years' War
against the English and the wars surrounding the Western Schism
of the papacy.
and a confrontation between two different economic, social and religious systems. On one hand was France, very strong in agriculture, with a strong feudal and religious system, and on the other was England, a country whose rainy climate favoured pasture and sheep-farming and where artisans, the middle classes and cities were important. The Burgundians were in favour of the English model (the more so since Flanders, whose cloth merchants were the main market for English wool, belonged to the duchy of Burgundy), while the Armagnacs defended the French model. In the same way, the Western Schism
induced the election of an Armagnac-backed antipope based at Avignon, Pope Clement VII
, opposed by the English-backed pope of Rome, Pope Urban VI
.
With Charles VI mad, from 1393, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria
presided over a regency counsel, on which sat the grandees of the kingdom. The uncle of Charles VI, Philip the Bold
, Duke of Burgundy
, who acted as regent during the king's minority (from 1380 to 1388), was a great influence on the queen (he had organized the royal marriage during his regency). This influence progressively shifted to Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother, and it was suspected, the queen's lover.. On the death of Philip the Bold, his son John the Fearless (who was less linked to Isabeau) again lost influence at court. The other uncles of Charles VI were less influential during the regency, Louis II of Naples
was otherwise engaged managing the kingdom of Naples
and John, Duke of Berry
, served as a mediator between the Orléans party (what would become the Armagnacs) and the Burgundy party, whose rivalry would increase bit by bit and in the end, result in a true civil war.
To oppose the territorial expansion of the dukedom of Burgundy (whose possessions included Flanders), the duke of Orléans acquired Luxembourg
in 1402.
While Louis of Orléans, getting 90% of his income from the royal treasury, bought lands and strongholds in the eastern marches of the kingdom that the Burgundians considered their private hunting ground, John the Fearless (lacking the fiery prestige of his father) saw royal largess towards him drying up (Philip received 200,000 livres per year, but John had to satisfy himself with 37,000).
The duke of Orléans, son-in-law of John Galéas Visconti and holding the title for more or less hypothetical fiefdom
s in the peninsula, wanted to let Charles VI intervene militarily in his favor. What is more, it seems he wanted to let the Anglo-French truce break down, even so far as provoking Henry IV of England
to a duel, which John the Fearless could not allow, since Flemish industry depended totally on imported English wool and would have been ruined by an embargo on English goods.
The quarrel at first respected all forms of courtesy
: John the Fearless adopted the nettle as his emblem, whilst Louis of Orléans chose the gnarled stick and the duke of Burgundy the plane
or rabot (distributing "rabotures", or badges, to his supporters).
The king's brother, Louis of Orléans, "who whinnied like a stallion after almost all the beautiful women", is accused of having wanted to seduce or worse, "esforcier", Margaret of Bavaria
, the duchess of Burgundy. Moreover, and even if it was only a rumor, this seducer was the queen's lover and – as Burgundian propaganda ran – the real father of Charles, the heir apparent (the future Charles VII). Louis was certainly close to the queen and benefited from the benevolence of his brother the king, whenever he was out of crisis; he thus succeeded in ousting the Burgundians on the counsel.
Ousted from power and toyed with by Louis, this was too much for John the Fearless. Taking advantage of rising anger among the taxpayers, always under pressure in peacetime, and noting that their taxes serve to finance court festivities, John began to campaign for support, financing demagoguery (promising, for example, tax cuts and state reforms, that is, a controlled monarchy). He thus won over the merchants, the small people and the university.
John threatened Paris in 1405 with a demonstration of his power, but even this did not prove sufficient to restore his influence. He thus decided to get rid of his exasperating rival, having him murdered on rue Vieille du Temple in Paris on November 23, 1407, whilst he was going to the queen's residence at Hôtel Barbette just after she had given birth. Thomas de Courteheuse then sent word to Louis that the king, Charles VI of France
, urgently needed him at hôtel Saint-Paul. Leaving the Hôtel Barbette, Louis was stabbed by fifteen masked criminals led by Raoulet d'Anquetonville, a servant of the duke of Burgundy. Louis's escort of valets and guards were powerless to protect him. John had the support of Paris's population and university, whom he had won over by promising the establishment of an ordinance like that of 1357. Thus able to take power, he could thus also publicly acknowledge the assassination – far from hiding it, he publicized it in an elegy in praise of tyrannicide
by the Sorbonne university theologian Jean Petit
. The assassination thus finally unleashed a civil war that would last 30 years.
at Gien
, the Duke of Orléans, his new father-in-law and the grandees of France formed a league against John and his supporters. The marriage gave the Orleans faction a new head to replace Louis (Charles's new father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac
, who became the natural protector of the Duke and the Duke's mother, Valentina Visconti
) and a new name (the Armagnac party). Other members of the leagues included the dukes of Berry, Bourbon and Brittany, as well as the counts of Alençon and Clermont.
Bernard VII recruited warbands in the Midi that fought with unheard-of ferocity: the Écorcheurs
. At their head, he ravaged the vicinity of Paris and advanced into the Saint-Marcel suburb. A new treaty, signed at Bicêtre on November 2, 1410, suspended hostilities, but both sides had taken up arms again as early as spring 1411. In October 1411, with an army 60,000 strong, the duke of Burgundy entered Paris and attacked the Bretons allied to the Armagnacs, who had retrenched at La Chapelle. He had to withdraw in the end but, in the night of 8 to 9 November, he left via the porte Saint-Jacques, marched across Saint-Cloud and decisively defeated the Écorcheurs
. Then John the Fearless pursued the princes of Orléans and their allies to Bourges, which Orléans was besieging, but the royal army appeared in front of the city on June 11, 1412. Another peace was signed at Bourges on July 15, 1412 and confirmed at Auxerre on August 22.
The English took advantage of the situation by punctually supporting the two parties or buying their neutrality. The Armagnacs concluded a treaty with Henry V of England
in 1412, to prevent an Anglo-Burgundian alliance, so they yielded Guyenne to him and recognized his suzeraineté over Poitou
, Angoulême
and Périgord
. All the same, John the Fearless managed the English well, since an English wool embargo could ruin the cloth merchants of Flanders.
In 1413, John the Fearless supported the Cabochien Revolt
that brought about a slaughter in Paris. The Parisian population, terrified, called on the Armagnacs for aid. Their troops retook the city in 1414. When Henry V of England
renewed hostilities in 1415, the duke of Burgundy remained neutral towards him, leaving Henry able to comprehensively defeat the French army (essentially provided by the Armagnacs), at the battle of Agincourt in October 1415.
On May 29, 1418, thanks to the treason of a certain Perrinet Leclerc and the support of the craftsmen and university, Paris was delivered to Jean de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, captain of a troop favouring the duke of Burgundy. On the following June 12, Bernard VII and other Armagnacs were slaughtered by a mob. John thus became master of Paris once again, and so he entered into negotiations with the English in which he seemed willing to welcome the king of England's claim on the French throne. It thus became imperative for the Dauphin to negotiate a rapprochement with the Burgundians, again to avoid an Anglo-Burgundian alliance. John the Fearless, on his part, had become master of a large part of the kingdom after his capture of Paris, but his finances were at rock bottom. John was thus in favor of meeting the Dauphin, Charles VII of France
, in order to sign up to an advantageous peace, so several meetings were thus organized.
However, having set the precedent for assassinations, on September 10, 1419, John himself was murdered on the bridge at Montereau-Fault-Yonne
, whilst in the town for an interview with Charles. The perpetrators were servants from the Armagnac faction, who feared that Charles might go over to the Burgundian political forms and views. This act prevented all appeasement, and thereby enabled a continuation of English military successes.
Philip the Good, the new Duke of Burgundy, then entered into an alliance with the English (who had always avoided his father), which resulted in the treaty of Troyes. This treaty declaimed Charles VII as a bastard son of Louis of Orléans rather than Charles VI's heir, thus leaving Charles VI with no legitimate male heir and married Charles VI's daughter, Catherine of Valois
, to Henry V. The king of England thus received the crown of France and Charles VI was returned to the power he had had in 1392, just before the onset of his madness. The treaty called for Henry to become regent over on what remained of Charles VI's lands in southeast France until Charles's death. His future legitimate grandson would become sovereign of France and England. As would be expected, this treaty was denounced by the Armagnacs, who reasoned "that the king belongs to the crown and not vice versa". However, Henry V died first in August 1422 and Joan of Arc
's intervention was thus needed for Charles VII to be legitimized by a divine act and crowned at Reims on July 17, 1429, over a year before the coronation of Henry V's successor (the nine-year-old Henry VI of England
) on 16 December 1430 at Notre Dame de Paris
.
alone.
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
between the Armagnac
Armagnac (party)
The Armagnac party was prominent in French politics and warfare during the Hundred Years' War. It was allied with the supporters of Charles, Duke of Orléans against John the Fearless after Charles' father Louis of Orléans was killed at the orders of the Duke of Burgundy in 1407...
and Burgundian
Burgundian (party)
The Burgundian party was a political allegiance in France that formed during the reign of Charles VI during the latter half of the Hundred Years' War...
factions from 1407 to 1435 AD. It occurred while France was already being ravaged by the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
against the English and the wars surrounding the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
of the papacy.
Causes
The war's causes are rooted in the reign of Charles VI of FranceCharles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
and a confrontation between two different economic, social and religious systems. On one hand was France, very strong in agriculture, with a strong feudal and religious system, and on the other was England, a country whose rainy climate favoured pasture and sheep-farming and where artisans, the middle classes and cities were important. The Burgundians were in favour of the English model (the more so since Flanders, whose cloth merchants were the main market for English wool, belonged to the duchy of Burgundy), while the Armagnacs defended the French model. In the same way, the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
induced the election of an Armagnac-backed antipope based at Avignon, Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII
Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
, opposed by the English-backed pope of Rome, Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...
.
Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
presided over a regency counsel, on which sat the grandees of the kingdom. The uncle of Charles VI, Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold
Philip the Bold , also Philip II, Duke of Burgundy , was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and his wife, Bonne of Luxembourg. By his marriage to Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, he also became Count Philip II of Flanders, Count Philip IV of Artois and Count-Palatine Philip IV...
, Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...
, who acted as regent during the king's minority (from 1380 to 1388), was a great influence on the queen (he had organized the royal marriage during his regency). This influence progressively shifted to Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother, and it was suspected, the queen's lover.. On the death of Philip the Bold, his son John the Fearless (who was less linked to Isabeau) again lost influence at court. The other uncles of Charles VI were less influential during the regency, Louis II of Naples
Louis II of Naples
Louis II of Anjou was the rival of Ladislaus as King of Naples. He was a member of the House of Valois-Anjou.-Biography:...
was otherwise engaged managing the kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
and John, Duke of Berry
John, Duke of Berry
John of Valois or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was the third son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg; his brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy...
, served as a mediator between the Orléans party (what would become the Armagnacs) and the Burgundy party, whose rivalry would increase bit by bit and in the end, result in a true civil war.
To oppose the territorial expansion of the dukedom of Burgundy (whose possessions included Flanders), the duke of Orléans acquired Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
in 1402.
While Louis of Orléans, getting 90% of his income from the royal treasury, bought lands and strongholds in the eastern marches of the kingdom that the Burgundians considered their private hunting ground, John the Fearless (lacking the fiery prestige of his father) saw royal largess towards him drying up (Philip received 200,000 livres per year, but John had to satisfy himself with 37,000).
The duke of Orléans, son-in-law of John Galéas Visconti and holding the title for more or less hypothetical fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
s in the peninsula, wanted to let Charles VI intervene militarily in his favor. What is more, it seems he wanted to let the Anglo-French truce break down, even so far as provoking Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
to a duel, which John the Fearless could not allow, since Flemish industry depended totally on imported English wool and would have been ruined by an embargo on English goods.
The quarrel at first respected all forms of courtesy
Courtesy
Courtesy comes from old french 'courteis' is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the gentry was compiled in courtesy books...
: John the Fearless adopted the nettle as his emblem, whilst Louis of Orléans chose the gnarled stick and the duke of Burgundy the plane
Plane (tool)
A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood. When powered by electricity, the tool may be called a planer. Planes are used to flatten, reduce the thickness of, and impart a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber or timber. Planing is used to produce horizontal, vertical, or inclined flat surfaces on...
or rabot (distributing "rabotures", or badges, to his supporters).
Outbreak of the war
The king's brother, Louis of Orléans, "who whinnied like a stallion after almost all the beautiful women", is accused of having wanted to seduce or worse, "esforcier", Margaret of Bavaria
Margaret of Bavaria
Margaret of Bavaria, , was the fifth child of Albert, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing, Count of Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland and Lord of Friesia, and Margaret of Brieg. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy...
, the duchess of Burgundy. Moreover, and even if it was only a rumor, this seducer was the queen's lover and – as Burgundian propaganda ran – the real father of Charles, the heir apparent (the future Charles VII). Louis was certainly close to the queen and benefited from the benevolence of his brother the king, whenever he was out of crisis; he thus succeeded in ousting the Burgundians on the counsel.
Ousted from power and toyed with by Louis, this was too much for John the Fearless. Taking advantage of rising anger among the taxpayers, always under pressure in peacetime, and noting that their taxes serve to finance court festivities, John began to campaign for support, financing demagoguery (promising, for example, tax cuts and state reforms, that is, a controlled monarchy). He thus won over the merchants, the small people and the university.
John threatened Paris in 1405 with a demonstration of his power, but even this did not prove sufficient to restore his influence. He thus decided to get rid of his exasperating rival, having him murdered on rue Vieille du Temple in Paris on November 23, 1407, whilst he was going to the queen's residence at Hôtel Barbette just after she had given birth. Thomas de Courteheuse then sent word to Louis that the king, Charles VI of France
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
, urgently needed him at hôtel Saint-Paul. Leaving the Hôtel Barbette, Louis was stabbed by fifteen masked criminals led by Raoulet d'Anquetonville, a servant of the duke of Burgundy. Louis's escort of valets and guards were powerless to protect him. John had the support of Paris's population and university, whom he had won over by promising the establishment of an ordinance like that of 1357. Thus able to take power, he could thus also publicly acknowledge the assassination – far from hiding it, he publicized it in an elegy in praise of tyrannicide
Tyrannicide
Tyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant, or one who has committed the act. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good. The term "tyrannicide" does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict...
by the Sorbonne university theologian Jean Petit
Jean Petit (theologian)
Jean Petit was a French theologian and professor in the University of Paris...
. The assassination thus finally unleashed a civil war that would last 30 years.
Course
Intending to avenge his father, Charles of Orléans backed the enemies of the dukes of Burgundy wherever he could but even so, in 1409, a peace concluded at Chartres seemed to bring an end to hostilities. However, on April 15, 1410, at the marriage of Charles (Louis's son) and Bonne d'ArmagnacBonne d'Armagnac
Bonne of Armagnac was the daughter of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac and constable of France, and of Bonne of Berry.-Marriage:...
at Gien
Gien
Gien is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.Gien is on the Loire River, from Orléans. The town was bought for the royal property by Philip II of France. The town is twinned with Malmesbury in England.-Sights:*Faience de Gien...
, the Duke of Orléans, his new father-in-law and the grandees of France formed a league against John and his supporters. The marriage gave the Orleans faction a new head to replace Louis (Charles's new father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac
Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac
Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac was the Count of Charolais, Count of Armagnac, and Constable of France. He was the son of John II and Jeanne de Périgord. He succeeded in Armagnac at the death of his brother, John III, in 1391...
, who became the natural protector of the Duke and the Duke's mother, Valentina Visconti
Valentina Visconti
Not to be confused with Valentina Visconti, Queen of CyprusValentina Visconti was the wife of Louis de Valois, Duke of Orléans, a younger brother of Charles VI of France....
) and a new name (the Armagnac party). Other members of the leagues included the dukes of Berry, Bourbon and Brittany, as well as the counts of Alençon and Clermont.
Bernard VII recruited warbands in the Midi that fought with unheard-of ferocity: the Écorcheurs
Ecorcheurs
The écorcheurs were armed bands who desolated France in the reign of Charles VII, stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes....
. At their head, he ravaged the vicinity of Paris and advanced into the Saint-Marcel suburb. A new treaty, signed at Bicêtre on November 2, 1410, suspended hostilities, but both sides had taken up arms again as early as spring 1411. In October 1411, with an army 60,000 strong, the duke of Burgundy entered Paris and attacked the Bretons allied to the Armagnacs, who had retrenched at La Chapelle. He had to withdraw in the end but, in the night of 8 to 9 November, he left via the porte Saint-Jacques, marched across Saint-Cloud and decisively defeated the Écorcheurs
Ecorcheurs
The écorcheurs were armed bands who desolated France in the reign of Charles VII, stripping their victims of everything, often to their very clothes....
. Then John the Fearless pursued the princes of Orléans and their allies to Bourges, which Orléans was besieging, but the royal army appeared in front of the city on June 11, 1412. Another peace was signed at Bourges on July 15, 1412 and confirmed at Auxerre on August 22.
The English took advantage of the situation by punctually supporting the two parties or buying their neutrality. The Armagnacs concluded a treaty with Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
in 1412, to prevent an Anglo-Burgundian alliance, so they yielded Guyenne to him and recognized his suzeraineté over Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, Angoulême
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
and Périgord
Périgord
The Périgord is a former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne département, now forming the northern part of the Aquitaine région. It is divided into four regions, the Périgord Noir , the Périgord Blanc , the Périgord Vert and the Périgord Pourpre...
. All the same, John the Fearless managed the English well, since an English wool embargo could ruin the cloth merchants of Flanders.
In 1413, John the Fearless supported the Cabochien Revolt
Cabochien Revolt
The Cabochien revolt was an episode in the Civil war between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians which was in turn a part of the Hundred Years' War.In the spring 1413 John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, managed to raise the people of Paris and impose a reform called the Cabochien ordinance...
that brought about a slaughter in Paris. The Parisian population, terrified, called on the Armagnacs for aid. Their troops retook the city in 1414. When Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
renewed hostilities in 1415, the duke of Burgundy remained neutral towards him, leaving Henry able to comprehensively defeat the French army (essentially provided by the Armagnacs), at the battle of Agincourt in October 1415.
On May 29, 1418, thanks to the treason of a certain Perrinet Leclerc and the support of the craftsmen and university, Paris was delivered to Jean de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, captain of a troop favouring the duke of Burgundy. On the following June 12, Bernard VII and other Armagnacs were slaughtered by a mob. John thus became master of Paris once again, and so he entered into negotiations with the English in which he seemed willing to welcome the king of England's claim on the French throne. It thus became imperative for the Dauphin to negotiate a rapprochement with the Burgundians, again to avoid an Anglo-Burgundian alliance. John the Fearless, on his part, had become master of a large part of the kingdom after his capture of Paris, but his finances were at rock bottom. John was thus in favor of meeting the Dauphin, Charles VII of France
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
, in order to sign up to an advantageous peace, so several meetings were thus organized.
However, having set the precedent for assassinations, on September 10, 1419, John himself was murdered on the bridge at Montereau-Fault-Yonne
Montereau-Fault-Yonne
Montereau-Fault-Yonne, or simply Montereau, is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-Name:...
, whilst in the town for an interview with Charles. The perpetrators were servants from the Armagnac faction, who feared that Charles might go over to the Burgundian political forms and views. This act prevented all appeasement, and thereby enabled a continuation of English military successes.
Philip the Good, the new Duke of Burgundy, then entered into an alliance with the English (who had always avoided his father), which resulted in the treaty of Troyes. This treaty declaimed Charles VII as a bastard son of Louis of Orléans rather than Charles VI's heir, thus leaving Charles VI with no legitimate male heir and married Charles VI's daughter, Catherine of Valois
Catherine of Valois
Catherine of France was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of Henry V of Monmouth, King of England, mother of Henry VI, King of England and King of France, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of...
, to Henry V. The king of England thus received the crown of France and Charles VI was returned to the power he had had in 1392, just before the onset of his madness. The treaty called for Henry to become regent over on what remained of Charles VI's lands in southeast France until Charles's death. His future legitimate grandson would become sovereign of France and England. As would be expected, this treaty was denounced by the Armagnacs, who reasoned "that the king belongs to the crown and not vice versa". However, Henry V died first in August 1422 and Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
's intervention was thus needed for Charles VII to be legitimized by a divine act and crowned at Reims on July 17, 1429, over a year before the coronation of Henry V's successor (the nine-year-old Henry VI of England
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
) on 16 December 1430 at Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
.
End of the War
Engaged in a patient reconquest of French territory, Charles VII wished to isolate the English from the Burgundians. In 1435, he concluded the treaty of Arras with Philip the Good, recognizing Burgundy's independence. This agreement officially put an end to the war and allowed Charles VII to recapture practically all the English's continental possessions, leaving them in 1453 with CalaisCalais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
alone.