Early life Charles was born at the
Château de Vincennes outside of
Paris, the son of
Prince John and
Princess Bonne of France. He was educated at court with other boys of his age to whom he would remain close throughout his life: his uncle
Philip, Duke of Orléans (only two years older than himself), his three brothers
Louis,
John, and
Philip,
Louis of Bourbon,
Edward and
Robert of
Bar, Godfrey of Brabant,
Louis I, Count of Étampes,
Louis of Évreux, brother of
Charles the Bad,
John and
Charles of
Artois,
Charles of Alençon, and
Philip of Rouvres. The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. This made a sharp contrast to his father, who was tall, strong and sandy-haired.
First Dauphin from the House of Valois (pink), within the
Kingdom of Burgundy (Arles), under the suzerainty of the
Holy Roman Empire In 1343,
Humbert II, Dauphin of Viennois (d. 1355), pressured by various financial difficulties, and being left childless after the death of his only son, decided to sell the
Dauphiné, a vast feudal
polity within the
Kingdom of Burgundy (Arles), then under the suzerainty of the
Holy Roman Empire. Neither the
pope nor the
emperor wanted to buy, and thus a series of complex negotiations were initiated between Humbert and Charles' grandfather, the reigning French king
Philip VI. It was initially agreed that Humbert's domains will pass to Charles' paternal uncle
Philip, Duke of Orléans, but already in 1344, those provisions were changed, and a new agreement was made, designating Charles' father John as Humbert's heir in the Dauphiné. By 1349, Humbert decided to finalize the sale and relinquish his rule over Dauphiné in favor of the
House of Valois, and thus the final agreement was made. Under the
Treaty of Romans, the Dauphiné of Viennois was to be held by a son of the future king
John the Good. So it was Charles, the eldest son of the latter, who became the first
Dauphin of Viennois from the House of Valois. At the age of twelve, he was vested power in the summer of 1349 (16 July), and proceeded to
Grenoble (10 December 1349 to March 1350). A few days after his arrival, the people of Grenoble were invited to the Place Notre-Dame, where a platform was erected. Young Charles took his place next to
Bishop John of Chissé and received the oath of allegiance of the people. In exchange, he publicly promised to respect the community charter and confirmed the liberties and franchises of former dauphin Humbert II, which were summed up in a solemn statute before he signed his abdication and granted a last amnesty to all prisoners, except those facing the penalty of death. On 8 April 1350 at
Tain-l'Hermitage, the young Dauphin married his cousin
Joanna of Bourbon at the age of 12. The prior approval of the pope was obtained for this
consanguineous marriage (both were descended from
Charles of Valois). The marriage was delayed by the death of his mother
Bonne of Luxembourg and his grandmother
Joan the Lame, swept away by the
plague (he no longer saw them after he left for the Dauphiné). The young dauphin himself had been seriously ill from August to December 1349. Gatherings were limited to slow the spread of the plague then raging in
Europe, so the marriage took place in private. The control of Dauphiné was valuable to the
House of Valois, because it was an important, strategically positioned domain within the
Holy Roman Empire, thus allowing the French to extend their influence beyond the
Rhône Valley, a major trade route between the
Mediterranean and
northern Europe since ancient times, putting them in direct contact with
Avignon, a papal territory and diplomatic center of
medieval Europe. Despite his young age, the dauphin applied to be recognized by his subjects, interceding to stop a war raging between two vassal families, and gaining experience that was very useful to him.
Mission in Normandy Charles was recalled to
Paris at the death of his grandfather
Philip VI (22 August 1350) and participated in the coronation of his father
John II the Good on 26 September 1350 in
Reims. With his father ascending to the French throne, young Charles became the
heir presumptive and thus for the first time both honors, the
Dauphin de Viennois and heir to the French throne, were held by the same person. The legitimacy of king John II, and that of the Valois in general, was not unanimous. His father, Philip VI, had lost all credibility with the disasters of
Crécy,
Calais, the ravages of
the plague, and the monetary changes needed to support the royal finances. The royal clan had to cope with opposition from all sides in the kingdom. The first of these was led by King
Charles II of Navarre, called "the Bad", whose mother Queen
Joan II of Navarre had renounced the crown of France for that of
Navarre in 1328. Charles II of Navarre was the eldest of a powerful lineage. Ambitious of attaining the crown of France, he managed to gather around him the malcontents. He was supported by his relatives and allies: the House of
Boulogne (and their kin in
Auvergne), the barons of
Champagne loyal to Joan II of Navarre (heir of
Champagne, had it not merged into the
crown of France), and by the followers of
Robert III of Artois, driven from the kingdom by Philip VI. He also had the support of the
University of Paris and the northwestern merchants where the cross-
Channel trade was vital. A brilliant orator, and accustomed to a monarchy controlled by the
Cortes of Navarre (the equivalent of the
States General), Charles the Bad championed the reform of a state considered too arbitrary, leaving no voice to the
nobility or the cities (John the Good governed with a circle of favorites and officers sometimes of humble extraction). Unlike his father, Charles V thought that a king must have the approval of his subjects and must listen to their advice. This view allowed him to approach the Norman nobles and the reformists, and thus Charles of Navarre. The power of Navarre was such that, on 8 January 1354, he murdered with impunity his rival
Constable Charles de la Cerda (the king's favourite), and openly avowed this crime. He even obtained, through the
Treaty of Mantes, territorial concessions and sovereignty by threatening to make an alliance with the
English. But in
Avignon, the English and French were negotiating a peace that would prevent Charles II of Navarre from counting on the support of
Edward III. He therefore concluded a treaty with the English in which the
Kingdom of France would be partitioned between them. An English landing was planned for the end of the truce, which would expire on 24 June 1355. King John II ordered the Dauphin in March 1355 to organize the defense of
Normandy, which required raising the necessary taxes. The task was difficult because of the growing influence of Charles the Bad, who had acquired a status similar to that of a "Duke" under the Treaty of Mantes. He was likely to ally with Edward III and could at any time open the gateway to Normandy to the English. The Dauphin avoided war by reconciling Navarre with the king, which was sealed with a ceremony at the court on 24 September 1355. Edward III was offended at the latest betrayal of Charles of Navarre, and the promised landing did not occur.
Regency and the uprising of the Third Estate King John was considered by many as a rash ruler, much in the same style as the feudal kings who came before which by then was becoming outdated, who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and elevated associates that were sometimes considered questionable. After a three-year break, the
Hundred Years' War with England resumed in 1355, with
Edward, The Black Prince, leading an English-
Gascon army in a
violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into
Normandy, John led an army of about 16,000 men to the south, crossing the
Loire river in September 1356 with the goal of outflanking the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at
Poitiers. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince, a tactic Edward feared, John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequent
Battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356), English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured with Charles' 14-year-old brother
Philip. Charles led a battalion at Poitiers that withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed), or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal, is unclear. The outcome of the battle left many embittered with the
nobility. Popular opinion accused the nobles of betraying the king, while Charles and his brothers escaped blame – he was received with honor upon his return to
Paris. The
Dauphin summoned the
Estates-General in October to seek money for the defense of the country. Furious at what they saw as poor management, many of those assembled organized into a body led by
Étienne Marcel, the
Provost of Merchants (a title roughly equivalent to
Mayor of Paris today). Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28 made up of
nobles,
clergy and
bourgeois, and the release of
Charles the Bad, who had been imprisoned by John for the murder of his Constable Charles de la Cerda. The Dauphin refused the demands, dismissed the Estates-General, and left Paris. A contest of wills ensued. In an attempt to raise money, Charles tried to devalue the currency; Marcel ordered strikes, and the Dauphin was forced to cancel his plans and recall the Estates in February 1357. The
Third Estate presented the Dauphin with a
Grand Ordinance, a list of 61 articles that would have given the Estates-General the right to approve all future taxes, assemble at their own volition, and elect a Council of 36 (with 12 members from each Estate) to advise the king. Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councillors took news of the document to King John, imprisoned in
Bordeaux. The King renounced the ordinance before being taken to
England by Prince Edward. Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces, and winning Paris back. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles the Bad, who asserted that his claim to the throne of France was at least as good as that of King
Edward III of England, who had used
his claim as the pretext for initiating the
Hundred Years' War. Marcel used the murder of a citizen seeking sanctuary in Paris to make an attack close to the Dauphin. Summoning a group of tradesmen, the Provost marched at the head of an army of 3,000, entered the
royal palace, and had the crowd murder two of the Dauphin's
marshals before his eyes. Charles, horrified, momentarily pacified the crowd, but sent his family away and left the capital as quickly as he could. Marcel's action destroyed support for the Third Estate among the nobles, and the Provost's subsequent backing of the
Jacquerie undermined his support from the towns. He was murdered by a mob on 31 July 1358. Charles was able to recover Paris the following month and later issued a general amnesty for all, except close associates of Marcel.
Treaty of Brétigny John's capture gave the English the edge in peace negotiations following the
Battle of Poitiers. The King signed the
Treaty of London in 1359 that ceded most of western France to
England and imposed a ruinous ransom of 4 million
écus on the country. The Dauphin (backed by his councillors and the
Estates General) rejected the treaty, and English King Edward
invaded France later that year. Edward reached
Reims in December and Paris in March, but Charles forbade his soldiers from direct confrontation with the English, relying on improved municipal fortifications made to Paris by Marcel. He would later rebuild the wall on the Left Bank (
Rive gauche), and he built a new wall on the Right Bank (
Rive droite) that extended to a new fortification called the
Bastille. Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, so he eventually agreed to reduce his terms. This
non-confrontational strategy would prove extremely beneficial to France during Charles' reign. The
Treaty of Brétigny, signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France (mostly in
Aquitaine and
Gascony) to the English and lowered
the King's ransom to 3 million
écus. King John was released the following October. His second son,
Louis of Anjou, took his place as a hostage. Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a great personal tragedy at nearly the same time. His three-year-old daughter Joan and infant daughter Bonne died within two months of each other late in 1360; at their double funeral, the Dauphin was said to be "so sorrowful as never before he had been." Charles himself had been severely ill, with his hair and nails falling out; some suggest the symptoms are those of
arsenic poisoning. John proved as ineffective at ruling upon his return to France as he had before his capture. When Louis of Anjou escaped from English custody, John announced he had no choice but to return to captivity himself. He arrived in
London in January 1364, became ill, and died in April. ==King of France==