King of France, born in Vincennes, NC France. He came to the throne in 1364, and in a series of victories regained most of the territory lost to the English in the Hundred Years' War.
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French Monarchy Capetian Dynasty (Valois branch)
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Charles V the Wise (French: Charles V le Sage) (January 31, 1338 – September 16, 1380) was king of France from 1364 to 1380 and a member of the Valois Dynasty.
Early life
Charles was born at Vincennes, Île-de-France, France, the son of King Jean II and Bonne of Luxembourg.
The Regency and the Bourgeois Rising
King Jean was a brave warrior but a poor ruler who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and the elevation of associates considered unworthy.
The outcome of the battle left many embittered at the nobility, who popular opinion accused of betraying the King, but Charles and his brothers escaped blame, and he was received with honor upon his return to Paris. Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28, made of nobles, clergy and bourgeois, and the release of Charles II of Navarre, a leading Norman noble with a claim on the French throne who had been imprisoned by Jean for the murder of his constable. Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councilors took news of the document to King Jean, imprisoned in Bordeaux.
Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles of Navarre, who claimed his claim to the throne was at least as good as that of King Edward of England's.
The Treaty of Bretigny
Jean's capture gave the English the edge in peace negotiations. Charles relied on improved fortifications made to Paris by Marcel, and would later rebuild the Left Bank wall and built a new wall on the Right Bank that extended to a new fortification called the Bastille.
The Treaty of Bretigny, signed on May 8, 1360, ceded a third of western France -- mostly in Aquitaine and Gascony -- to the English, and lowered the King's ransom to 3 million ecus.
Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a personal tragedy.
King of France
Charles was crowned King of France in 1364 at the cathedral at Reims, France.
His reign was dominated by the war with the English, and two major problems: Recovering the territories ceded at Bretigny, and ridding the land of the Tard-Venus (French for "latecomers"), mercenary companies that turned to robbery and pillage after the treaty was signed. Du Guesclin defeated Charles II of Navarre in Normandy in 1364 and eliminated the noble's threat to Paris;
To attempt to rid the land of the Tard-Venus, Charles first hired them for an attempted crusade into Hungary, but their reputation for brigandage preceded them, and the citizens of Strasbourg refused to let them cross the Rhine on their journey.
Du Guesclin and his men were able to drive Pedro out of Castile in 1365, but The Black Prince, now serving as his father's viceroy in southwestern France, took up Pedro's cause.
The war resumes
The Black Prince's rule in Gascony became increasingly autocratic, and when Pedro defaulted on his debts after Najera, the Prince taxed his subjects in Guienne to make up the difference. Nobles from Gascony petitioned Charles for aid, and when the Black Prince refused to answer a summons to Paris to answer the charges, Charles judged him disloyal and declared war in May, 1369. Legally, Charles had no right to do this -- the French had given up sovereignty over Gascony under the Treaty of Bretigny -- but the king ignored this.
Instead of seeking a major battle, as his predecessors had done, Charles chose a strategy of attrition, spreading the fighting at every point possible.
Papal Schism
In 1376, Pope Gregory XI, fearing a loss of the Papal States, decided to move his court back to Rome after nearly 70 years in Avignon. Charles, hoping to maintain French influence over the papacy, tried to persuade Pope Gregory XI to remain in France, arguing that "Rome is wherever the Pope happens to be."
Death
Charles' last years were spent in the consolidation of Normandy (and the neutralization of Charles of Navarre).
The abcess on the King's left arm dried up in early September, 1380, and Charles prepared to die.
The King died on September 16, 1380, and was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Charles VI.
Legacy
While he was in many ways a typical medieval king, Charles V has been praised by historians for his willingness to ignore the chivalric conventions of the time to achieve his aims, which led to the recovery of the territories lost at Bretigny.
Marriage
April 8, 1350 to Jeanne de Bourbon (February 3, 1338 – February 4, 1378)Issue
Jeanne (1357-1360) Jean (1359-1364) Bonne (1360-1360) Jean (1366-1366) Charles VI of France (1368-1422) Marie (1370-1377) Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans (1372-1407) Isabelle (1373-1378) Catherine (1378-1388), m. John of Berry, Count of Montpensier (son of John, Duke of Berry)|
Preceded by: John II |
King of France April 8, 1364–September 16, 1380 |
Succeeded by: Charles VI |
Sources
Tuchman, Barbara.
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