Charles of Orleans, Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six

Transcript:

Please note this contains parts one, two, three, four, five, and six (download links).

Charles of Orleans Part 1:

Welcome. Before I even start this episode I want to bring up something very important, bias. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s something that I shouldn’t ignore. I have plenty of biases, which I do try to acknowledge, including one that will come up in the episode, this isn’t the bias I’m talking about. I’m not even talking about source bias, no, I’m talking about subject bias. I want the subject to be the main character when I present them. So, when covering, say, Richard 3rd Duke of York, his goals, his point of view, and his side will feature. The other side gets mentioned, but it’s never the main focus. With this first subject, Charles of Orleans, this will be odd having listened to Richard 3rd Duke of York or even Edward, Prince of Wales. Charles is a Frenchman, on the French side of the Hundred Years War, and that stance never changes. He wants his uncle and then his cousin to be king, not any Lancastrian. So, while it was probably really clear that I’m a huge fan of Richard 3rd Duke of York, I’m also a fan of Charles of Orleans, for completely different reasons. This is also going to explain, just as a reminder, how William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (and previously Earl of Suffolk) is a bit of a villain in Richard 3rd Duke of York’s story, but a bit of hero in Charles’ story (spoilers). If you were a believer in the English right to France through Edward III and Henry V’s claims then Suffolk is a villain, but if you were a believer in the Valois claim to France then Suffolk is neutral to hero. So, always remember that when listening to any episodes. I should also warn you that this will be the longest subject thus far, Charles, spoilers, lives longer than any Passed thus far except Robert Curthose. And unlike Robert we know so much more about Charles’ childhood, which is where I’ll be starting now. 

Charles of Orleans had a normal childhood, at least for a child whose mother had been banished from Paris, despite his father being the second most powerful man in the city. Okay, he probably didn’t have a normal childhood, but how many princes do? At least until his father’s death his childhood was not something to complain about. Charles was the oldest surviving son of Louis, Duke of Orleans and his wife, Valentina Visconti. He was their fourth son though, they had lost two earlier sons. Oh, Charles is also related to two other famous Charleses, Charles VI and Charles VII, he was actually named after the former. To keep from confusing these three men I’ll be using regnal numbers for the two kings and Charles of Orleans will just be Charles. Oh, and I’m going to call John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy John or John the Fearless, but his followers will be the Burgundians. There are also a lot of Louis in this episode, so I’ll try to keep those straight for you! Most princes of the blood will be named by their title, so when a father dies and his son succeeds to that title I will make notes of this change in nomenclature and make sure to remind you the first few times I use their new name (this will happen twice with the Bourbon title). One more naming note for you. While the civil war that will start up 1407 is referred to as the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War, but the Armagnac faction would be better referred to as the Orleanist, which is what I’ll be doing. The good news, if you Google Orlean-Burgundian War it comes up with the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War. 

(If you hear this you are listening to an AI stolen copy of this Passed episode. Please visit passedpod.com for links to this show by it’s creator, Veronica Fortune)

I should probably go back to the beginning, since I’ve already killed off our subject’s father. Charles was born on 24th of November 1394. I know I mentioned it earlier, but Charles of Orleans was named after his uncle, Charles VI, who was also his godfather and in a moment of mental health held the infant at his baptism. At the time of his birth Charles had one older brother living. Sadly this brother would die before Charles’ first birthday. Valentina and Louis were actually first cousins once removed, yes, everyone’s related, papal dispensation was received. In case you think the name Visconti sounds familiar you’re not wrong. She is the niece of Violante Visconti, the widow of Lionel of Antwerp, the second son of Edward III (oh yes, everyone really is related). This means that Valentina’s father was Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who was accused of murdering his sister’s third husband. He had married one of Louis’ aunts, and Valentina was their only child to survive to adulthood, Gian had two other children with his second wife. Oh, and yes, names starting with V are rather popular for women in the Visconti family. Louis was the younger son of Charles V of France. Charles V is the often overlooked king who allowed France to begin to recover from the early victories of Edward III in the Hundred Years’ War. Sadly, Charles V’s reign was short, only 14 years (the same length as his father, but dwarfed by the 44 year reign of his son). Louis wasn’t even eight when his father died. He was his brother’s heir presumptive,  for all but a three month period when his first nephew was born, until 1392. 

Charles was born during an unsure time in the French court. His uncle, Charles VI, had his first mental episode in 1392. I’ve mentioned this in plenty of earlier episodes. What I didn’t know until starting to research for Charles’ episodes, the only person who could successfully calm Charles VI during his episodes was Valentina. Remember when I was discussing months ago that John of Gaunt and his brother Edmund of Langley and their issues with Castelian wives? How I agreed with Helen Carr that they probably would have been better off if they traded wives? Yeah, Charles VI and Lous of Orleans had the same thing going on, remember the rumours of Isabeau and Louis having an affair. I will point out quickly that both Charles VI and Louis were each kind to their respective wives, at least when Charles could be. But really, each brother got along with the other’s wife in a way that might to point to them being better suited. Sadly, this was not a time when people get to pick their own partners.

It should be awesome that Charles VI’s sister-in-law could help him, that sounds like a great thing for the kingdom, right? Well, apparently no. Because when Charles VI was ill his uncles and cousins had more power they didn’t love the idea of him being well. How to deal with this? Well, there’s always that great old chestnut: witchcraft! Witchcraft: it can be used for anything. Need your nephew’s wife out of the way (to prevent the possible legitimisation of their children)? Witchcraft! Need to embarrass the king’s mother and wife? Witchcraft! Need to keep the king from having lucid moments to retain your own power? Witchcraft! Yes, Valentina was accused of witchcraft and sorcery, oh, and not for making the king better, she was blamed for his illness. The logic was that since she made him better she must be causing the illness to gain power. Yeah, witchcraft really does make blaming things on women a bit easier, today we just have to resort to accusing them of wearing moon bumps and lying about being pregnant. 

These accusations towards Valentina occurred around a year after Charles’ birth. Valentina was banished from Paris based on these accusations when Charles was 17 months old. Louis, her husband, and theoretically the second most powerful man in Paris, well, did nothing. He allowed his wife to be banished without protest. Part of this was the ongoing struggles between Louis and the other leading magnates of the kingdom, including his own uncle Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and cousin Louis II Duke of Anjou. Louis of Orleans may have also been trying to protect his wife, whom he seems to have adored, and protect his own political power. Valentina was hurt by her banishment, but she accepted it, honestly, Paris wasn’t really her style. She was granted one small favour, her son was able to join her. 

Valentina was pregnant with Charles’ younger brother, Philip, at the time of her exile. While being sent away from Paris she wasn’t being sent into poverty. Her husband, would visit her regularly. In addition he would send her loads of gifts, oh and he provided well financially. Louis paid Valentina 200 gold francs per month and the king paid her 6,000 per year. Charles VI appears to have greatly missed his sister-in-law and wanted to make sure she was being provided for. Even though Charles and his mother had been sent away his father still wanted the young man to look like him. It was a popular style in the day to dress children as miniatures of their parents, and Louis made sure his son looked like him even when they were apart. In their defence my daughter and I have matching swim suits and everyone tells us we look adorable at swim practice. 

Charles’ brother, Philip, was born on either the 21st or 24th of July 1396. They would be close throughout their childhoods. Charles next brother, John was born in June of 1399. Charles and John may not have been as close as Charles and Philip, but they were close. All three brothers would spend a great deal of their lives apart, sadly. As should be obvious from these dates, Louis visited his family regularly. Valentina would give birth to her first daughter, Marie, in 1401, sadly Marie didn’t live long. Her last child, Margaret, was born in December 1406. Between the birth of her first daughter and her second daughter Valentina welcomed her favourite child, Jean de Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, Louis’ illegitimate son. Yes, he was her favourite, she actually regretted that he wasn’t her child. Enid McLeod even share that she was quoted ‘I have been robbed of him.’ Honestly, with all the poor treatment illegitimate children have gotten throughout history it’s good seeing this family sort it all out. As you may remember, Jean de Dunois was a brilliant military commander and would do all he could to protect his older brother’s rights and properties in later years. I will also be calling him The Bastard throughout his brother’s episodes. Not because I don’t like him, I actually really do, he’s amazing, but because that’s how he signed all his letters, even after he was, spoilers, made a count. I do want you all to notice that Charles names two of his son John, or Jean, it’s kind of funny when you notice he didn’t name any of his surviving sons Louis. In fairness his first son to survive birth had been named Louis and had died at four. 

In addition to the massive payments her husband was sending her and the regular shipments of clothing and supplies, Louis also made sure that Valentina could easily care for the education of her children. One of her companions was the poet Eustache Deschamps, probably one of most influential poets of his day, even if he only influenced one person it was that influential. His governess was Jeanne d’hervelle and his school master was Nicolas Garbet. Valentina oversaw the education of all of her children, and she didn’t take this role lightly. You may remember my description of the Burgundian court as being one of luxury. The Orleanist court will, one day soon, be a court of learning and knowledge. Valentina was a lover of books and saw to it that her library was well appointed. This less-than grand upbringing, which would have been very different from being raised in Paris, may have led to some of Charle’s humbleness in later life. He also would end up lacking political guile, so it wasn’t all good. 

Charles’ father had struggled to make a marriage match for, Louis actually had two cancelled marriage negotiations before marrying Valentina. Charles would go through something similar. His parents’ first attempt was for a daughter of Wenceslas of Bohemia, not the Wenceslas of song fame. Nothing came of this attempt. Instead, just like is parents, he was married to his own cousin. There was a lovely, young French princess who was also a widow in need of a husband. Isabella of Valois, dowager Queen of England, the oldest daughter of Charles VI was available and would tie Orleans closer to the crown. There were just a few problems, they were related, just like everyone else. Oh, and Charles VI was Charles’ godfather, which makes the consanguinity a bit extra touchy, but the pope was persuaded to grant dispensation. Isabella was the one person seemingly not convinced by the match. By the time arrangements were being made she was almost 15 and had actually really loved being queen of England. She had loved the title and pomp that came with it, being the wife of the son of a duke just wasn’t a huge deal for her. 

This match though made a lot of sense not just for the Orleans faction, but for the French crown as well. Due to the strength that the new Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless wield, he had been able to arrange for his daughter to marry Charles VI’s oldest son and heir and for his oldest son to marry Charles VI’s fourth daughter, Michelle. Due to Charles VI’s ongoing health issues Louis was acting as his regent, but John the Fearless wanted any amount of power he could get. Louis had been spending more time around his sister-in-law, again, you’ll remember the accusations that they were having an affair (there are even further accusations that Louis of Orleans is the father of her seven younger children). Isabeau’s support was crucial for Louis, it allowed him to raise taxes on the people of France and these taxes were harsh. This will come into play soon. But back to Charles for just a moment.

On the 29th of June 1406 he and Isabella married. He was 11, and was probably happy to be doing his duty. Though, due to his age the couple would need to wait at least two and a half years before consummating their union. His wife on the other hand was 16 and was only doing her duty, she actually wept openly at the alter. Remember, she’s marrying down in her mind, from a king to the son of a duke and her cousin to boot (I have a few comics about this level of consanguinity coming up). She couldn’t have known how history would turn out, that her great-nephew, Charles VIII, would fail to produce male issue (or any surviving legitimate issue) and that the child of her husband would actually become king. You’ll notice I worded that sentence very carefully, that wasn’t an accident, but I’ll get there after the biggest scandal in France since…well, okay the Hundred Years’ War had seen a bit of exuberant in the scandal section, so prior to that probably the biggest scandal since the Tour de Nesle Affair. 

This scandal occurred a little more than a year after the young couple married. The day before Charles’ 13th birthday, the 23rd of November 1407, his father was in Paris, having dinner with Isabeau. This day actually happened to be the Bastard of Orleans’ fifth birthday. You’ll remember Isabeau had just given birth to her final child (who may or may not have been Louis’ child). This child didn’t live long after birth. Isabeau and Charles VI lived in different palaces in Paris, one can hardly blame her, when he was unwell he would throw plates at her. That evening one of the king’s servants, a man Louis should have been able to trust came into the room to inform the duke that his brother had called for him. Louis was nothing if not loyal to his brother, honestly, they were close in spite of Charles VI’s illness. Louis rushed towards his brother’s residence. On his way, as you may remember, he was viscously attacked by men in the pay of John the Fearless. He and his esquire were both killed, and Louis didn’t travel alone, he had a rather large retinue and these murders got to him anyway. This was a well-planned assassination. 

Actually the planning of the assassination isn’t the most egregious thing about it. It’s what the planner did after. John the Fearless knew which day his plans would be carried out, he had invite Louis to join him the following Sunday for dinner, yes, a Sunday he knew his cousin would not be alive to experience. John the Fearless upon being told of his cousin’s murder joined his fellow princes: his uncles John of Berry and Louis of Bourbon and his cousin Louis of Anjou at Hotel d’Anjou to sort out what had happened with Guillaume de Tignonville, the Provost of Paris. They ordered him to seal the city gates and then to gather evidence and report back to them. Yes, John the Fearless acted as though he had no clue what had happened to his cousin. Further, the next day he even helped carry the body to burial along with the other princes. Charles VI was so unwell he was unable to attend his brother’s funeral. John the Fearless was vocal with his laminations about the murder of Louis. The next day though the jig was up. Tignonville had investigated the scene of the crime and interview witnesses, in an investigation that wouldn’t look unfamiliar to modern minds, and he was confident he knew who ordered the crime. When council met that day Tignonville requested the princes allow him to search their residences. Berry, Anjou, and Bourbon accepted this, John the Fearless though got up and asked Berry and Anjou to join him in the next room. Had Tignonville searched John’s residence he likely wouldn’t have made it out alive, since the assassins were hiding there. Once John the Fearless’ uncle and cousin had joined him in the next room he informed them that he had planned the killing of Louis. He expressed no remorse. The two senior princes were so shocked that they allowed John to leave and return to his residence and this was their great mistake. They informed Council that they would meet the next day. John showed up for this meeting, did I mentioned he was audacious? His uncle refused him entry, since they were chatting about his crime. John, seeing that this might go poorly for him fled Paris, with his assassins. He went to his property of Amiens to secure his holdings. While securing his holdings he took legal and spiritual advice, and as we know, he was able to avoid legal blame for this murder. 

What was Charles doing during this two day period, you know, during his birthday? Well, he had no idea what had happened until at least the afternoon of his 13th birthday. It would have taken that long for a horse to reach him if it had been dispatch immediately. His mother, practical woman that she was, didn’t just wait for things to happen. She sent Charles, his brother Philip, his sister Margaret, and likely the Bastard of Orleans to Blois for their protection. It was a well fortified city and would be Charles’ favourite in later life. She on the other hand kept her youngest son, John, who was only seven, and her daughter-in-law with her at Chateau Thierry. Keeping her daughter-in-law with her was a brilliant stroke, she was now the princess’ protector and no one would risk hurting Isabella. While Valentina was planing her next move the money men in Paris were appropriating her son’s property. Yes, not even days after Louis’ death they had taken back a property that he had given to his daughter-in-law, you know, the king’s oldest daughter, and a property he had given Valentina. They seemed to have forgotten to read his will and decided that since the king needed funds they could just take them from his dead brother. 

Valentina would need to risk returning to Paris to present her case to Council and to ask for justice. She arrived in the city on the 10th of December. Thankfully, at the time of her arrival Charles VI was in a fit state and able to meet with her. He ordered that Council would meet on the 15th to discuss this case. 

The king asked his uncles Berry and Bourbon to visit John at Amiens to ask the Duke to request forgiveness. Bourbon declined this mission, remember, he has no relation to John the Fearless, and he never wanted to see his nephew’s killer again. Instead, Anjou joined Berry. John the Fearless told them to take a hike. As I mentioned, John the Fearless had sought legal advice for his crime and these knowledgable scholars had helped him devise the defence I mentioned in an earlier episode, tyrannicide, the lawful killing of a tyrant. John was claiming that Louis had been acting as such and that John should be thanked. Unlike a certain group of Roman senators who used the same argument in 44 BC this argument would end up working for John, at least for a time. He told his uncle and cousin that he would return to Paris to plead his legal case, even though they informed him he was not to return. 

When Berry and Anjou returned to inform the king and Valentina of what John had shared with them Valentina did the only rational thing and fled the city. She was deeply aware of the risk that John posed to her family. She wasn’t running scared though, she was planning. She returned to Orleans to strengthen its defences. She sold her own jewellery and plate to pay off her husband’s debts, she renewed her family’s alliance with Brittany, and she brought young Charles into these preparations. She wasn’t going to leave her son defenceless, and in this Charles was lucky. His mother had seen to his education and upbringing and now she was seeing to his life. 

As expected, on the 28th of February 1408 John the Fearless returned to Paris, with his rather large retinue, really a mini-army. Charles VI was unwell and Isabeau was in charge, well, as in charge as she could be. She couldn’t stop John from entering the city without an all out war, and it wasn’t the right time for a civil war (foreshadowing). Isabeau would be battling with the people of Paris if she had tried. John the Fearless was popular with the people of Paris because he had framed himself as the saviour of the people, protecting them from the harsh taxes Louis of Orleans had put them under. Now, I should mention that John was receiving a huge pension from the French crown, so while Louis may have been overtaxing them John had been benefiting from this. 

John the Fearless was, of course, there to defend himself against the charge of murdering Louis of Orleans. Burgundy’s case would be presented before the Parliament, various members of the university, and the leading noblemen. Bourbon, who had promised he would never set eyes on John the Fearless again skipped the event, along with his son. I have forgotten to make this clear but Bourbon is the maternal uncle of Louis of Orleans and the great-uncle of Charles. Interestingly his son had been been close to John when he was younger, but had solidly moved into the Orleanist camp since. John the Fearless came in and sat next to Brittany, whom you’ll remember had just signed a treaty with Charles, his distain for John was obvious. At this meeting, held on the 8th of March 1408, John’s fearless advocate (see what I did there) presented his defence to Council. Instead of admitting any wrongdoing John’s advocate used his four hour long speech to accuse Louis of a few things, including trying to poison his own brother, you know, the king, idolatry, sorcery, and being lustful. We are pretty confident the final one is true, but the others were just mean and the first was untrue. After this presentation the case was discussed and despite many Orleanist supporters being present John was well, not charged with anything. Queen Isabeau actually fled Paris for Melun after hearing the full defence, she took the dauphin and dauphine with her. Berry, Anjou, Brittany, Louis of Bavaria (Isabeau’s brother), and Charles d’Albret, the Constable of France joined her. Charles Orleans probably would have gone too, if he hadn’t already been in his own holdings. 

While Isabeau was running for the hills John the Fearless managed to gain an audience with the king. He then convinced the king that Louis had been planning on killing him. While Charles was having a lucid moment he wasn’t well, he had been having mental health episodes for more than ten years at this point. John then begged for forgiveness and then managed to score a signed and sealed letter from the king reinstating him into the royal fold. Isabeau, learning this, reached out to Valentina, because, well, John had shown himself to be their common enemy. She invited Valentina to return to Paris when she went back. Isabeau arrived back in Paris on the 26th of August and Valentina arrived on the 28th, she brought Isabella with her and she had plans for Charles to follow soon after. 

With Isabeau and Valentina back in Paris and in control of Charles VI a hearing for John the Fearless was set for the 11th of September. Once this hearing date had been set Valentina called for Charles, he arrived on the 9th. While John had been making his case young Charles had been helping his mother fortify their holdings. When Charles arrived he met with the queen and his cousin, the dauphin. Bourbon also returned to Paris at this time since John the Fearless had left around the time the royal ladies arrived. 

On the 11th of September, as scheduled, Valentina’s response was presented by Cerisy the Abbot of Saint-Fiacre. His response was met with resounding approval. He emphasised that justice had not been served. Next, Guillaume Cousinet, the Chancellor of Orleans, who will be a life-long supporter of Charles spoke to what Valentina and her family’s demands for punishment. This list of demands includes John returning to Paris and admitting fault while begging for a pardon, kissing the earth at the site of the crime, erecting a cross there, building a religious house at the property the murders had stayed in, building further chapels in Rome and Jerusalem, a public confession, oh, and while this was going on he needed to stay in prison while these were done and then be banished once everything was complete. Valentina wasn’t a stupid woman, she didn’t expect all this to happen. She was hoping that John would be forced to follow through on a few of these demands, she knew there was no way he’d have to suffer them all. 

The king did revoke the letter of reinstatement that he had given John. But that’s where he stopped for the moment. While Charles was in Paris he paid homage to his uncle/godfather/father-in-law, as should be expected now that he was almost 14 (14 being of age). After this he and his wife and mother returned to Blois. Charles VI sent ambassadors to recall John the Fearless. While Charles and his mother had been fighting their ‘battle’ in Paris John had been fighting his own battle in Burgundy. He had been dealing with local uprisings and winning. These wins made him scary to the Parisian magnates. Those that supported Charles previously were starting to think they should keep their mouths shut. John marched on Paris with a proper army. Isabeau requested that the princes of the blood stay to face him, but they decided they were not up for meeting John. Instead the queen, along with the rest of the royal family, Anjou, Berry, Brittany, Bourbon, his son Clermont, and Alencon left for Tours in November. 

Charles’ mother had been devastated with the death of her husband and the lack of justice for him further broke her heart. Valentina died on the 4th of December 1408, continuing a string of Orleans dying on their children’s birthday the day she died was her youngest child’s second birthday. Valentine herself was only 37. There isn’t a recorded cause of death, but as Enid McLeod expresses ‘her contemporaries who said that the bitterness of her grief and her despair had brought on an incurable languor from which she died’. In short, her supporters thought she died of a broken heart. John the Fearless was overjoyed at her death, because he wasn’t a nice guy. Charles was just barely 14 at the time of his mother’s death. Things could have gone horribly wrong for him at this point. He was now the leader of his faction. 

Now, since Charles had turned 14 he and his wife did their um, duty, and consummated their marriage. Isabelle was 17, so thankfully not a shockingly young bride. Based on what happened about ten months later they fell pregnant not long after. 

King Charles wanted there to be peace in his kingdom, and his method will sound familiar to those who listened to Richard 3rd Duke of York’s episodes. His grandson, Henry VI would become a regular practitioner of said method. Charles VI decided a meeting needed to happen, he scheduled in for the 9th of March 1409, those invited included Charles and his brothers, Charles d’Albret, and John the Fearless. Charles VI brought this group together to make peace, to make this happen he was going to tell his nephews that they were at peace with John. Yes, all guests showed, John brought along 600 attendants to the Orleanist 50. When John the Fearless’ advocate spoke John showed no remorse, no guilt, instead his advocate assured the king that he just wanted peace and for the king not to be upset. The king agreed, since peace was the thing he wanted. Charles VI then ordered Charles, Philip, and John, Louis of Orleans’ sons to approach, let me remind you that Charles was only 14, Philip was 13, and John wasn’t even ten. At first John’s spokesman asked the boys if they could be friends again with their cousin, the boys stood there silent, then John himself asked the boys if they could be friends. Again, the boys just stared. Finally the king spoke, quick note, it’s not a mistake that he refers to Charles as his son, he was his godson, ‘my very dear son and you my very dear nephews, approve and accept what we have done and what has been put before you, and forgive him everything.’ Just in case you forgot, John the Fearless arranged the murder of the king’s own beloved brother! Charles somehow managed to respond with ‘My very dear lord, I obey your order, I consent, I approve all that you have done and I forgive him everything.’ All swore on a cross to be loyal. Now, much like the later ‘Peace Day Parade’ under Henry VI of England, this was a farce. No one there, save the king and John, show any signs of thinking this oath was real, at least when you look at their actions in the coming years. John even offered one of his daughters to Philip, Charles’ younger brother, as Enid McLeod put it ‘a promise that, as the boy grew older, he managed to evade.’ 

With this ‘peace’ Charles VI and his court returned to Paris. He did get to say goodbye to his daughter, who had come with her husband and brother-in-laws. It’s likely the king and queen were pleased that their oldest daughter was pregnant, and it’s lucky they got to say goodbye. Charles, Isabella, Philip, and John returned to Blois. On the 13th of September 1409 Isabelle gave birth to her’s and John’s only child, a daughter named Joan. Sadly, as was all too common in this time Isabelle died not long after the birth of her daughter, she was only 19. Yet again I’m forever grateful to live in the time of modern medicine where my chance of death in childbirth isn’t greater than 4% throughout my life, versus the current rate in the US of .019% (which is a pretty poor number compared to the rest of the OECD, Australia’s is less than a third of that). While Isabelle had cried on her wedding day things had changed since then and the couple had grown to care for each other. Charles was heartbroken by his wife’s death.

Since his mother’s death he and Isabelle had been looking after his three younger brothers (this includes his half brother) and his infant sister. With his wife’s death he was now a single teen parent to five children. Thankfully he was a wealthy single parent, sadly, he was also a single teen parent who needed to literally protect his family. Despite not being please with the outcome of his meeting with John the Fearless and the king Charles stayed calm for the time being. He knew he had publicly sworn to not go after John, and he needed to look after his large family. And for now that’s all he did. 

A few years earlier, not long after he had weaselled his way out of a murder charge John the Fearless had Guillaume de Tignonville replaced as the Provost of Paris by his own man, Pierre des Essarts. If you’re curious Provost of Paris is an appointed role that would feel most similar to a senior court justice come detective. Someone who could investigate crime, present evidence, and then call for justice. He could also collect taxes, it was a lucrative and powerful role. This of course meant that John the Fearless was in control of this powerful role since des Essarts was his man. Des Essarts, in this role, arrested Jean de Montague, Charles VI’s Grand Master of the Household, in October 1409. Montague’s role really was as fancy as it sounds. He was the guy in charge of the king’s household. Montague was tortured and ‘confessed’, to what you ask? Aiding Louis of Orleans in exerting evil influence over the king. Oh, why didn’t the king step in? Because he was having a mental incident. Less than two weeks after his arrest, on the 17th of October 1409, Montague was executed. Let me emphasise that everyone knew this arrest and execution was John the Fearless’ doing. 

Charles had done nothing since the meeting in March that year, but this act of blatant aggression slapped some sense into him. John the Fearless had been forgiven and still had power and was not happy, it wasn’t enough. If Charles didn’t do something soon John would come after him. Charles, along with his brothers, began gather troops and sent messages to his allies. He also let the queen know what he was doing. As part of his preparations he signed a military alliance with Count Bernard of Armagnac, he promised, in language expected in the day, that he would serve Armagnac against all save the king, queen, and dauphine. You may have caught that name, Armagnac, this is the foundation of the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War. 

With that exciting note I will pause until next week. This will be a huge series, as I mentioned at the start. 

Charles of Orleans, Part Two:

Welcome back, a quick review, before we start this episode. Were left at the autumn of 1409. Charles is a teen single father of five who had just signed a treat with the Count of Armagnac. This is part of his long-term goal of gaining justice for his father, Louis of Orleans, who had been murdered under the planning of John the Fearless Duke of Burgundy. And never forget, thought out this period Charles VI, the king of France, is having regular mental episodes which left him incapable of ruling. In fact, he was just coming out of one following John the Fearless overseeing the execution of on of his favourites. 

Yes, Charles VI had recovered from his most recent breakdown to find his favourite executed, he was none too pleased. He invited the princes of the blood and other nobility to Paris at Christmastime, he included John the Fearless in the invitation, if this doesn’t point to Charles VI’s lack of mental wellbeing in general I don’t know what does. Bourbon, of course, declined, he really would never look upon John’s face again. In addition Charles, Brittany, and Armagnac declined. I can’t find out if Anjou declined, but I can’t imagine him choosing to spend time around John. For John the Fearless this was great! He got the king all to himself, he took full advantage of it. He was able to convince the king that Montague was really a bad guy, oh and that he, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, would be the best person to take custody of the dauphin! I mean, the dauphin’s wife was his daughter, so he would do everything to protect them and educate the future king well. 

Those who had excused themselves from the Christmas ‘festivities’ quickly found out what had happened. They decided they needed to start getting active on this John problem. On the 15th of April 1410 Charles, Berry, Brittany, Clermont (who is Bourbon’s son), Alencon, and Armagnac signed an alliance against Burgundy. You may notice that Bourbon was not on this list, he had pretty much retired from public life at this point and his son, Clermont was the public face of their cause. Their goal was the convince the king to bring justice to John the Fearless, they weren’t originally out to make war with John. In addition to this treaty Charles agreed to marry Bonne, Armagnac’s daughter. She was only 11 at the time, so it would be a while before things would be made official, but the couple was married on the 15th of August that year. There was a further family link, Armagnac was Berry’s son-in-law, yes, this means that Bonne and Charles were both descendants of John II and his first wife, yes, everyone’s related. While getting his own marriage arranged he arranged a marriage for his eight month old daughter. This was, of course, not going to happen any time soon, but it was planned that Joan would marry, John, the son of Alencon, yes, if you listened to the Joan of Arc special episodes this is that John of Alencon. I do like that these men were making sure that everyone would be related in the next generation. 

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Days after Charles’ second wedding his always supportive great uncle, Bourbon died. Thankfully for his cause, Clermont, continued to support him. Clermont, whom I’ll start calling Bourbon now, but I’ll remind you that he was Clermont, had early in life been a supporter of John the Fearless due to be betrothed to one of his daughters. This supports obviously, hadn’t lasted long, and Clermont would be loyal to the Orleanist cause for the rest of his life. Bourbon had been the Great Chamberlain of France and his son should have been appointed next, it was a semi-hereditary role. Instead, John the Fearless had his own brother appointed to the role. This was a further insult to Clermont, now Bourbon, and the other Orleanist supports and showed that John could still pull strings.

On the 2nd of September Charles and his allies sent a letter to the king. They outlined that their goal was for the king to be restored to his dignity, not to be led around by John. They wanted good government and justice. The group sent a second document to the cities of France that outlined their cause. They sent a final letter to the Estates General outlining the problems John the Fearless was causing, including how him being in power had led to the king living in poverty without any power. With these letters sent the men called their armies together and began to march towards the capital, with about 20,000 men. I love the note in McLeod’s book that the group didn’t appreciate the Armagnac label, and throughout the book she calls them the Orleanist. 

Charles VI, as expected, ordered the men to disband, can’t have private armies running around his kingdom. They reached Paris in October. As they were marching John the Fearless became a little fearful, realising his enemies were not going to let him walk all over them, he called his brothers to his side along with their supporters. The people of Paris, rightly terrified, raised their own funds to pay for an army to protect themselves. Burgundy, realising he could lose decided terms were the way to go. He renounced his royal pension, des Essarts would resign as provost and be replaced by the king’s choice, John would return territory that he had appropriated from the Orleanist, and Berry would be his equal on council, Berry had been feeling a bit overlooked as the last remaining uncle. The agreement was signed on the 2nd of November 1410. The two sides, along with the king, agreed to keep the peace until Easter 1412. With that, the armies disbanded.

Charles and his brothers didn’t sit idly by. Instead they focused on improving the defences of his castles. He began to sell off his movable goods to raise funds for a future army. It appears that he knew that John wouldn’t keep to his side of the bargain and Charles decided he wanted justice. In the spring of 1411 Charles sent and ambassador to ask his uncle/former father-in-law/godfather, you know the king, for justice. He pointed out that all those around the king were Burgundians, meaning John hadn’t followed through on his treaty obligations from six months earlier. Charles VI, following his own special system, asked John to make things better (can you feel my eye roll through the recording). John let the king know it wasn’t his fault, he was following all his oaths. Really it was Charles who needed to forgive and forget, John was doing that already. 

After his embassy failed Charles followed up with a letter, written in his own hand, he asked the king for an audience. He told his uncle he wanted to discuss these problems and that John the Fearless was the biggest problem. The king, obviously not in the right headspace, sent a copy of the letter to John. My note for this passage is a simple ‘did the king want his nephew dead?’. With this information John the Fearless began assembling his forces. Realising his uncle wasn’t going to give him justice Charles sent a second letter, this one outlined all his arguments and explains why he was gathering forces. He also reminded the king of the promise he had made to Valentina following the death of Louis of Orleans. This letter just didn’t go to the king, it went to all the major towns and the members of Council. It was huge, three feet square, his brothers were involved in drafting it. It’s a good moment to point out that this type of letter is important. Charles needed justification to act against his cousin, it’s important to never be seen as the aggressor, without cause. This is a military strategy dating back over a thousand years. 

John the Fearless, as a member of Council, received a copy. His only response was that he stood by the agreement made at Chartres. I can’t emphasise enough that Charles VI’s behaviour during this time shows how unwell he was. He wasn’t doing anything to protect his nephews, and he even sent a letter back that his nephew needed to follow his pledge from Chartres. The king made his displeasure at his nephew clear. This letter to Charles was sent on the 20th, he may not have received it before he sent a letter directly to John. This letter was explicit, Charles and his supporters were coming for John. John was properly fearless and poked the bear. He waited a month to respond and had the letter written by a minor underling. This letter said that he had been forced to have Louis killed due to Louis’ foul treason. He also accused Charles and his brothers of following in their father’s treacherous footsteps. Charles was apparently kind to the messenger who brought this horrible letter. With this Charles knew what he had to do. He had to really make t clear to the king that he needed justice. So, Charles and his forces marched towards Paris. 

Entertainingly John the Fearless still didn’t think Charles was serious. Honestly, what does it take to make him realise this plan won’t work? An invite to a meeting on a bridge? Just to show how little he cared he had des Essarts reappointed as Provost of Paris in September 1411. When he did realise things were serious he asked Henry IV, yes, the king of England, for help. That same month Charles VI had a severe mental health attack, John the Fearless was not in Paris at this point. Within the city of Paris the Orleanist were not popular, they were accused of trying to usurp the throne. 

Once the Orleanist reached Saint-Denis, a suburb just north of Paris, their supporters took some of the queen’s jewels to melt down to pay for troops. The monks immediately filed papers with the office of excommunication. While the act of stripping the crown of some of its jewels was shocking the Orleanist stopped at that. They stayed outside of Paris and didn’t force their way in. In addition they didn’t move to attack any of John the Fearless’ holdings. They really were trying to emphasise that they were aiming for royal justice, not personal vengeance, at least for the moment. 

John the Fearless arrived in late October and his forces defeated the Orleanist forces at Saint-Cloud, to the west of Paris. With this defeat Charles retreated back to Orleans. He and his entire army were excommunicated on the 13th of November 1411. This means anyone who died at Saint-Cloud couldn’t be buried in consecrated ground. The king, unwell and being led around by John released an edict expropriating five of his nephew’s properties and one of Bourbon’s properties (for fun, in the latter’s case he actually expropriated Clermont, remember, Clermont was now Bourbon). These cities, and others, turned against Charles quickly. The loss of these cities hemmed Charles and his supporters into the Loire, this also meant he could only raise funds in those areas. This was rather limiting to his long-term goal of achieving some rehabilitation for his father and justice for his family. 

There was someone Charles could reach out to for help, but it would cost him. Remember, we’re still at the point where nationalism isn’t all that it will be. Charles was French and he owed allegiance to his vassal lord, the king, but he didn’t owe allegiance because he was French. So, the person he reached out to was his distant cousin, Henry IV. Henry usurpation had given Charles his first wife, right, how bad could it be to ask the king for help. He wasn’t asking for aid from a foreign power against his liege lord, but against his peer. Henry IV’s wants were easy, he wanted Aquitaine and Charles would need to support him at court in gaining this. Charles would hold Angouleme and Perigord as a vassal to Henry, this would make him the vassal of both Henry IV and Charles VI. While these negotiations were happening Charles VI had one of his many recoveries. These actually seem to all occur in winter, which is interesting from a medical point of view, but not relevant to our story. The treaty was agreed in theory on the 25th of January 1412. Henry would be sending his second son, Thomas of Lancaster (soon to be Duke of Clarence, which is what I’ll call him), to continue negotiations. The final treaty was signed by Charles, Berry, Clermont (Bourbon), and Alencon on the 18th of May 1412. English troops were to set sail on the 8th of June. Somehow letter of these negotiations reach Charles VI, and they were read to council on the 16th of April, a month before the final treaty was signed. John the Fearless used these to convince Charles VI that he should start a military campaign against Charles. The leaders of council and Paris along with the university agrees. 

John the Fearless and Charles VI’s plan was to head south, attacking the lands of Berry, Armagnac, and Albret, while moving towards Gascony. On the 4th of May to Oriflamme was brought to the king from Saint-Denis. You may remember this flag had been famously brought out in the last French charge at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Charles VI, in a well thought out move, would not be leading the troops, he would allow his son, Louis the Dauphin to do so. Louis had just turned 14. John the Fearless would, of course, accompany the young prince. Henry IV, worried for his various holdings in France, actually sent letters to Burgundian town leaders asking is his lands would be attacked. 

Berry’s lands were his first, the target was Bourges, the capital city of Berry’s holdings. This city was and still is beautiful, I really hope to visit it one day. Berry was a lover of art and architecture and had spent his life collecting beautiful things. He had never been a fighter. He had no surviving sons and had recently willed the city to his great-nephew, Louis, the dauphin. Berry was willing to yield the city to either the king or Louis, but not John. John the Fearless was ready to bombard the city to the ground, but he wasn’t allowed to use his heavy artillery because of Louis. Both sides had started battle, but once the dauphin had seen the city, which would one day be his, he couldn’t stand to see it destroyed. He declared that this disagreement had gone on for far too long and that it wasn’t healthy for the king or the kingdom. As you’ll remember from my episode about him Louis wasn’t usually seen as a level-headed young man, he was often easily lead and a bit of a party prince, but in this moment I think we should be a little impressed. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s good to say again, John the Fearless was his father-in-law, and a man who often had control of him. John had no choice but to agree, Louis was Charles VI’s representative, to go against him was treason. On the 15th of July the two sides met at the city gate and Berry, crying, gave the keys to the city to his great-nephew. Berry, showing that while he might not be a fighter he wasn’t scare of John comment that had John’s father been alive there would have been no need for protection for the negotiating sides. John, showing a complete lack of any thoughtfulness simple said he wasn’t to blame. Honestly, this will continue to be his line until the end, he feels justified in all that he does. For Charles though this temporary peace was a letdown. His allies had crumpled at an early attack and he was now to be forced to make peace, again, with John. Peace talks were set for mid-August 1412 in Auxerre. Less than a week after his surrender Berry was sent documents from the king telling him to renounce the treaty with England and Henry IV, he did. Berry met with Charles and his brothers just days later and gave them the bad news. Charles’ other allies followed through on this peace. While all of this is going on the English were still on their way. On the 22nd of August Charles signed a document renouncing his English treaty (the English weren’t here yet, so they had no input). He and his supporters also had to renounce their pact against Burgundy.

Charles and his supporters did gain one important thing out of the peace, their excommunications were lifted. They received the return of some of their estates as a minor concession. Now, remember how I said that Henry VI will take Charles VI’s playbook to heart? During meeting to sign the treaty at Auxerre Charles was forced to ride a horse with John the Fearless, yes, not holding hands on Love Day, but bad enough. With the treaty signed many in France thought things would go on peacefully. Montague, killed due to John’s machinations, was finally buried and his execution was condemned in Council. 

Clarence finally showed up in France, well after he was needed. He was none too pleased to not be getting to fight. Letters had been sent to him letting him know that he shouldn’t come, but he wrote back that, basically, he was coming. Since they had a treaty Charles and his supporters would need to pay to break it. It’s not as though they could support the English taking Gascony now. The negotiations lasted six weeks and the cost of this peace was financially painful. The total amount was 210,000 ecus, so 1/5 of the ransom negotiated for John II after Poitier. This is an honestly mean sum of money and was seen as excessive at the time. Jewels and 7 hostages were to be given in surety. Berry, as the wealthiest did provide the majority of the jewels needed. Charles though, had to provide the hostages. Choosing a hostage is important, the person needs to actually matter, so a random minor servant would never do. No, Charles would have known who he needed to give early. His youngest brother, John, along with six of his senior servants would be sent to England with Clarence until Charles had paid the required sum. John was only 12. I’m sure Charles never thought his little brother would be in prison for long, he was likely hoping to have him released before the boy reached 21. Sadly, John will spend almost as much of his 67 year life in England as he does in France. Charles was also going to have to pay for the upkeep of his hostages while they were in English control, this also wouldn’t be cheap. While his father was accused (rightly) of taking royal income for fund his lavish lifestyle, Charles was a much less flashy man than his father. His love really was books and his country of the Loire. It wasn’t wearing fancy clothes, collecting art, or going to tournaments. So, unlike his father, he hadn’t been pillaging to royal treasury. Thankfully his uncle, Charles VI, did still have some affection for his nephew. He allowed Charles to raise taxes within his duchy. Sadly for Charles (and John) it turns out that a few of those towns were empty because everyone had been killed by the English. Even though the peace at Auxerre had in theory given Charles most of his towns back he still struggled to take control of a few due to court politics. And, John the Fearless was still controlling the king. 

Charles would sadly have to sit out this next bit. His cousin, Louis, now stepping into his own, called the Estates General in January 1413. France was, well, a mess. There was obvious internal division and there were occasional English raids on the French coast which were not being dealt with. The timing of this meeting seems great, France should have had a chance to get themselves together, but they had no idea what was coming. If you know anything about this time period or Henry V you know that this year will see the end of Henry IV’s reign and the rise of Henry V. The French actually weren’t all that worried about Henry, if you’ve listened to my patron episode, you’ll know that in his youth he was a bit of a party prince. Or at least he was less serious than he was once he became king. The French had no reason to expect Henry V to change once he was appointed king and they were in for a painful surprise. Throughout the start of 1413 the Estates General discussed the problems in France. They blamed this on offices being held by young men #theyouthoftoday. While these discussions were taking place things in Paris got worse! Remember back when the Armagnac/Orleanist faction had first marched on Paris in 1410? During that time the city had paid the butchers to protect the inhabitants. This had given them a bit more power than they’d held previously. They had stepped down once that event was over, but now they stepped up again. Led by, Caboche, the butchers and a few city leaders took control of the ‘protection’ of the city. Yes, I puts quotes around protection, it was likely more like the bully being in charge of the playground. Oh, and John the Fearless did everything he could to let them know that the Orleanist were the cause of the civil strife. They demanded the Provost of Paris be turned over to them, and even after hiding in the Bastille he couldn’t escape them. They broke into the dauphin’s palace and arrested his uncle, Louis of Bavaria and the Duke of Bar (a cousin of Louis in the female line). Of course the dauphin was enraged. He told John the Fearless off and John just told him to calm down. For our subject though this abuse of power worked out in his favour. The Parisians were finally shown that John wasn’t their hero, but just a villain in a different form. The Ordonnance Cabochienne was issued on the 26th of May. This was and ordinance meant to return control to the capital, but people had realised that John wasn’t going to help them. They asked Berry for help. I do, of course, need to leave France for a moment. On the 20th of March 1413 Henry IV died, in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey. Because England doesn’t have interregnums Henry V became king on the 21st of March. 

Throughout this period Charles had been receiving intelligence from his surgeon and his brother, Philip. Both had managed to sneak into the city and send him word of events. He had been preparing for the potential of battle. You may have noticed by now that each of the peaces made between Charles and his faction and the Burgundians feels more hollow than the last and well, that’s an understatement. In a funny note John was upset when he eventually found out that Philip had been in Paris. Had he been able to find the young man he, likely, would have forced him to follow through on their earlier marriage agreement. In July Charles and Alencon along with their other minor allies met to discuss their next move. They sent an embassy to the king offering their help. Interestingly at this moment the Count of Eu, who was a brother-in-law of Philip of Nevers, John’s younger brother, signed a pact with Charles. Troops sent from Charles and his expanding list of allies left for Paris on the 31st of July to assist the king and dauphin. 

With this assistance Charles VI and the dauphin were able to make peace with the butchers and John the Fearless quickly figured out that he might become persona non grata. The leaders of this movement fled with John to Flanders. The Parisians were happy with this change. The dauphin was pleased to have his cousin’s support and it looked like Charles might finally have a chance at justice. His man, Tanguy du Chatel was appointed Provost. Despite this victory Charles was a little unwell, so he returned to Blois temporarily. He returned later in August. Upon his return the dauphin began convincing his cousin to dress in way expected by a prince of the blood. Louis of Orleans had always been a fancy dresser and a bit of a spend thrift. Charles though didn’t have a need to be fancy. He needed his books. But, with his cousin, and theoretical future king’s encouragement Charles started dressing better. It would be a short-lived experience for him, but while he was at court he needed to present himself as a prince, fancy clothes and matching retainers. This was despite the fact that he’d probably rather sneak into the library and read a book. 

On the 1st of September Charles, Anjou, Bourbon (who was Clermont), Alencon, and other Orleanist had a state entry into Paris. They were greeted by Berry and Bavaria, and Armagnac and Albret came a few days later. On the 5th all princes of the blood, except a certain Burgundian named John, attended a council meeting. They had all the remaining Cabochiens imprisoned, except of course the leaders who had escaped to Flanders. The princes, as should surprise no one, promised to keep peace. After going through multiple conflicts and promises I find these to be hollow. Charles would remain in Paris through April 1414, he took part in a royal Christmas with his extended family. 

While Charles was in Paris the doctors at the University of Paris began reviewing John the Fearless’ defence. The man who gave it, Jean Petit, had died three years earlier, and therefor wasn’t around to stand up for his argument. John, possibly hearing about this had been writing the king. On the 8th of February he began the march back to Paris. The dauphin asked Charles and his Orleanist allies to assist in the defence of Paris. The city gates were closed and the Burgundian messengers were refused. The allies publicly declared him a murder and a traitor and while he was stuck outside of the city his defence was voided. The doctors at the University of Paris even burnt a copy of it, yes, like an effigy. This was finally Charles’ justice, his cause had been publicly acknowledged, his father’s name had been cleared, and the work that his mother died trying to complete was done. Plus, he was fully back in the royal fold, his uncle, the king was listening to him and his cousin, the dauphin, was showing favouritism towards him. Of course, no punishments were made against John, at least not yet. 

John the Fearless wasn’t going to give up though, since he couldn’t get into Paris he and his troops moved to Compiegne. This city was a royal town, under Charles control. On the 2nd of March 1414 the king declared war on John and his Burgundian forces. Things seemed to start well for the joint royal-Orleanist forces. John had moved to Arras and while waiting for the royal forces the Burgundian forces were able to prepare the area outside of the walls by cutting down the local forest. This meant there was minimal cover for the royal artillery. The royal forces reached Arras at the end of July 1414. 

Quick segue, in spring 1414 Henry V had begun secretly negotiating with John the Fearless. They had signed an agreement in June that year, while the fighting was ongoing in Arras. I’m sorry if it’s clear I have a bias against John the Fearless, but he’s just so annoying. While everyone, save Berry, was in Arras Henry sent ambassadors to Paris to negotiate with the French for Catherine of Valois, or at least that’s what everyone thought he was negotiating for. He, in theory, did want Catherine, but he also wanted a bit more, like the concessions outline in the Treaty of Bretigny. The French who were around literally couldn’t negotiate on this, there was no way without the dauphin or king around to do this and they were a bit busy. Henry was of course ‘angered’ by this, it’s enlightening looking at Henry’s casus belli from a French prospective. 

The French and Burgundian forces launched cannon balls against each other throughout August, but made little headway. John the Fearless, realising that, well, winter was coming and the royal forces could starve him out decided that peace was the way to go. The Peace of Arras (not the Treat of Arras, that’s later) was agreed on the 5th of September. John would give back all towns he’d taken from the Orleanist and Royalist. He had to promise not to make any further alliances with English (patrons who have listened to my Henry V episode will know that he just ignored this provision). If he was good John would be forgiven everything he had done wrong since the last peace. Charles did try to stand up and not forgive John, despite the dauphin insisting it took the Archbishop of Rheims to convince him. Bourbon, following in his father’s footsteps, also tried to avoid this. Bourbon, like his late father, Bourbon, did not want to have anything to do with John. 

Despite his disagreement with his cousin Charles and the dauphin were still on friendly terms. In January of 1415 Charles VI even gave Louis of Orleans a proper burial, with funeral rights and everything and Notre Dame. Louis was praised as a great governor. Yeah, I think the pendulum might have swung a bit too far towards exonerating Louis, he really hadn’t been an outstanding leader, he was better than his brother who thought he was made of glass and attacked people randomly, but he wasn’t an ideal statesman. Throughout all this Charles still needed to raise funds to pay for the ransoms of his brother and men. The biggest problem was that he had to maintain a princely presence at court as well and that was expensive. It meant paying for a fancy clothing not only for himself but for his retinue. 

Now, it seemed like things were going well in France. There was peace (if we ignore the little fact that John the Fearless was negotiating with Henry V, of course), and all save one prince of the blood was supporting the royal family. But, well, things were about to change. Despite the current king’s struggles France had managed to push English forces back from the extent they reach under Edward III to just Calais and a tiny strip of coastal Gascony. There was peace in general, Richard II hadn’t been a warrior king by any stretch of the imagination. He had signed a long-term truce upon his marriage to Isabella of France (you know, Charles’ first wife). But, Richard, due to, among other things, his appropriation of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke’s inheritance had been overthrown by said Henry. This Henry, a born soldier and honestly a brilliant military mind, had been stuck dealing with uprisings instead of having a chance at fighting in France. His son, Henry of Monmouth, now Henry V though, will have almost no internal uprisings during his reign. Instead, he will focus on one thing, becoming king of France. And France had no idea this was going to happen. Henry V, as patrons know, had been a bit of a fun prince, but he became, like a switch, a serious king. Henry mark five for my Rex Factor fans. The big mistake is that both sides of the French civil issue had let Henry IV know all the problems going on. Henry V of course heard these things and was briefed by his father. They even had a disagreement with which side to support. France had shown their whole hand to the English and Charles is as fully guilty as John the Fearless of this. France got lucky at first, Henry V agreed to prolong the truce with France until February 1415. Henry even let the French king know that he really wanted to marry the king’s youngest daughter, Catherine, like he really, really needed to marry her. He even promised not to make any other marriage negotiations until he could negotiate for Catherine. He might have had his fingers crossed behind his back because he was totally going to negotiate further with John the Fearless. With this set up I hope you all have guessed where we’re going. While peace had been agreed to February 1415 Henry wanted to be ready at that moment for war. So, after his embassy to France had been told ‘no, we won’t honour this rather old treaty that really only happened because your great grandfather had our king, who’s the current king’s grandfather, hostage’, Henry asked the November 1414 parliament for funding for war. 

Charles, the royal family, and their various supporters spent Christmas at court again. Looks, two family Christmases in a row and no poisonings! Things are going so well. In February 1415 Henry V sent a second embassy to France to extend the truce until May. Now, I know plenty of you watch the Tudors, that TV show with Johnathan Reese Myers miscasted as Henry VIII. In that show a bit of vice and show is great, and Henry VIII was obsessed with Henry V. What’s interesting is that the French court in February 1415 was one that Henry VIII would have loved and one that Henry V was appalled at. When he received reports of the jousting and parties that the court hosted he was convinced that France was falling to decadence. To be fair, his ambassadors struggled to get audiences with the king and dauphin because everyone at court was spending too much time having fun. Henry V, at the end of the day, was a deeply pious king. When his negotiators were finally able to discuss things the French wouldn’t agree to their terms. The French did offer a rather large dowery for Catherine, but no Treaty of Bretigny level. Henry had sent over 600 people over to basically watch the French party and then not agree to his demands. The French seemingly had no idea that Henry would be using this as a cause for war. They casually promised to send an embassy to him, but gave no firm dates or plans were put in place.

And with that bit of foreshadowing I’ll pause for this week. I think you all know what’s coming, and the next episode will not be nice to Charles. I hope you’ll join me next week.

Charles of Orleans, Part Three:

The French, including Charles though finally agreed to a full peace with each other, well almost, I’ll get there soon, on the 24th of February 1415. A very special man, at least to the future of France, assisted with the talks. Philip, Count of Charolais, who will become known, rightly (as long as you aren’t his wife) as Philip the Good, participated with his father, John the Fearless in these talks. This Philip will play a large role in Charles’ story towards the end, and unlike his father he was less inclined to just claim nothing was his fault. In 1415 he was only 18, a little less than two years younger than Charles, and he really hadn’t had the chance to prove himself. At the time of these negotiations he was married to one of the royal princesses, Michelle. Spoiler, when she dies without issue he will marry his uncle’s widow, yes, pulling a page from Thomas of Clarence’s book, further spoiler, that marriage doesn’t last long. Now, I mentioned this peace was mostly agreed, but John the Fearless didn’t want to sign because he wanted Caboche (ka bosh) and his fellow butcher/terrorist pardoned. The dauphin, who was leading negotiations told his father-in-law to jog on, John made it clear this was non-negotiable. Within this disagreement John promised that until these men were pardoned he would not come to France’s defence if England attacked, yup, foreshadowing. 

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In April all the princes of the blood had been dismissed from Paris. This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just a polite way of telling them the king didn’t need them right this second and they could return to their own holdings. It makes sense if you think that planting and harvesting is the right time to visit one’s holdings. 

On the 7th of April 1415 Henry V sent king Charles a letter basically asking ‘where is your embassy? I want to negotiate.’ Before this letter could have been answered he sent a second letter to the same effect. This is the letter series that Shakespeare added tennis balls to. Note, the tennis balls may or may not have happened, but the French were a bit silly to tease Henry V. While Henry had a reputation as a less than serious prince he had never been anything other than impressive in battle. Really, he’d been shot in the face with an arrow bolt and continued fighting, he then let his surgeon remove it with no painkillers, it involved digging into the flesh around the arrowhead to extract it. With the sending of the second letter Henry began preparing for war. England was preparing for war when the French finally sent their embassy in mid-June. The negotiations lasted four weeks and Henry did appear to be ready to sign a treaty, but in the end claimed that the French were not truly looking for peace. The French ambassadors, being in country, had seen Henry’s war plans, they did inform the French court of this of course. Some in court had also learned of Henry’s private agreement with John the Fearless. 

The Siege of Harfluer began on the 15th of August, the French hadn’t even begun to assemble their forces until after the siege started. Since Harfluer doesn’t involve Charles I suggest joining us on Patreon to listen my Henry V special episode if you want to hear more. The French really weren’t going much, Charles even had visitors well after the siege had started. These visitors were Louis of Anjou and Yolande of Aragon, they were joined by their children and their son-in-law, Charles, the future Charles VII. For now that Charles was a 12 year old boy who was about to be grateful for his fierce mother-in-law. The French finally realised they needed to do something, Henry had been besieging Harfluer for almost a month. Word came from Paris, and Charles was of ready to join the fight, but the king ordered both him and John the Fearless not to come in person. He did tell them to send 500 men at arms. Charles ignored the order not to come, while making sure he met the requirement to supply men. John ignored the entire order, he ordered his vassals not to send men, thankfully, or not so much, they ignored him. John did say he would go, but then changed his mind. 

Charles rode to Rouen to meet King Charles and the dauphin, remember, neither of them will be directly involved with any fighting. Charles was forgiven for ignoring the king’s orders. He was joined by Berry, Alencon, Bourbon, and Anjou, along with the counts of Eu, Vendome, and Richmont, and Albret. The Marshall of France, Boucicout (Busico) was also present. Now, at this point Berry is 74 years old and will not be personally taking part, though he supplied men and arms. Anjou, who wasn’t old was unwell with a bladder infection. That pretty much prevented him from riding and meant that he would also miss the fight. 

Henry began marching towards Calais from Harfluer during the 1st week of October. Boucicout and Albret led the advanced party to try to stop Henry from crossing the Somme. The main army was led by Bourbon. They headed towards Amiens. You may know this, but the English managed to sneak further east past the French advanced party and cross the Somme. The French were then able to shadow the English as they marched towards Calais. At this point the English were hungry, tired, many of them were suffering from dysentery, they just wanted to get on ships and go home. The French sent word to Henry, basically saying that they would fight him now. He told them that they knew where he was and they could come and fight him where he was marching, he wouldn’t be stopping otherwise. The French of course chose a location that we call Agincourt for battle. A little note to show the character of Philip, John the Fearless’ son. He badly wanted to join the French forces. John actually had to lock him in one of the Burgundian palaces to prevent Philip from joining the battle. For the rest of his life Philip was distressed that he had not been there. Brittany was late to the battle, which worked out well for him in the end, as was the Duke a Brabant, one of John the Fearless’ brothers, sadly it didn’t work out well for him. The Count of Armagnac, Charles’ current father-in-law was just missing.

Patrons have heard a bit of the Battle of Agincourt from the English side. From the French side it’s a bit different. They outnumbered the English so much they likely thought they couldn’t lose. In addition they were better rested and hadn’t already fought a siege. The night before battle the French drank a bit too much and didn’t get enough rest, plus, they seemed to have no leadership plan. Part of the problem was that no one had been put in charge in a proper way. Bourbon had been leading the army earlier, but he wasn’t the most senior man there. Instead, on the 25th of October 1415 the leaders basically put themselves into the front line and remained mounted. This means, much like Crecy, when they charged their horses were hit by English arrows and created a barrier the protected the English and made the French easy targets since they were in heavy armour. Charles was, of course, in this first charge. He was next to Alencon when Alencon made an attack on Humphry the Duke of Gloucester, Henry V’s youngest brother. Gloucester was lucky, Henry was standing right there and defended him. Alencon, realising who he was up against and with no way to get back to the French line attempted to surrender only to have his head cut off by a random soldier. Charles, though was lucky, he was able to surrender and was taken hostage. In addition to Alencon and a large number of common soldiers the French lost Brabant and his brother, Philip Count of Nevers (yes, that’s both of John the Fearless’ brothers), Bar and his brother John, and Albret. The only senior Englishman to die was the Duke of York (which will of course lead to Richard 3rd Duke of York succeeding to that title). The English managed to capture Charles, of course, Bourbon, Eu, Vendome (van dome), Richmont (who was Henry V’s step-brother), and Boucicaut. Yes, this level of loss and capture is as destructive as it sounds. 

Charles, as the most senior of the French prisoners was treated well, Henry was an honourable man, in most cases. Henry though, was a bit overexcited, he noticed that Charles wasn’t eating or drinking on the march towards Calais. He told his captor that he was fasting. Henry told Charles he should be in good cheer because God had given the English victory to punish the French. Henry will not be known to history for his thoughtfulness. Henry mark five as you might recall.

 As a noble prisoner Charles wasn’t just placed with the common soldier or even chained. He was treated as a prince and family member of the king, just one who had chosen the wrong side to fight on. He was allowed to request his secretary, since someone would need to communicate with his council in Orleans. Yes, even though the English were hoping to take over France they didn’t want to take over a barren country, they wanted things to still be working well when they moved in. Due to his capture Charles all but disappears from the French chronicles for the next, spoilers, 25 years. His lands are mentioned, his brothers, and son-in-law are mentioned, but not him. His servants were sent for to bring him his personal property, the other royal prisoner, Bourbon had the same allowances. Bourbon sent for four of his falconers, no I’m not kidding. In his defence he had always been a bit of a sportsman. Bourbon would struggle throughout his imprisonment, in a way that Charles didn’t seem to. Charles will have struggles, and I’ll get to those soon. 

An interesting point that McLeod brings up is that Bourbon’s lands were managed by his wife, and she did an excellent job. Charles’ wife, Bonne, on the other hand hadn’t been present in his lands prior to his capture. She was actually only 16 when he was captured, we don’t even know if their marriage was consummated. His lands would, instead, be governed by his remaining brother, Philip and then the Bastard. His officers, whom he had appointed and was used to working with remained in their posts. The most important, outside of his brothers was Guillaume Cousinot, his Chancellor, who was the guardian of Jane, Charles’ only child. Cousinot had been a part of Charles’ household for most of his career and was a writer as well as a statesman. He had written a French history book for Charles’ brother John, during the boy’s captivity. One of the more interesting things that Charles needed to worry about while he was in England was the city of Asti in the Duchy of Milan. This city had been part of Valentina’s dowery, and had gone to Charles on her death. The city had been under the protection of Valentina’s brother, Filippo Maria Visconti, who was the Duke of Milan. Filippo Maria appointed a man named Francesco Sforza (sfartsa) to govern the city, and had Sforza marry his only child, his illegitimate daughter, Bianca Maria, the couple were betrothed in 1430. Despite Charles being in prison the citizens of Asti were still concerned for him. He was actually a rather popular city leader despite being French. They made Sforza promise to return the city when Charles was released, and he did, but there will be more on this soon.

Despite being in the same country for the first time in three years Charles and his younger brother weren’t held together. They in fact may not have seen each other until very late in their stay. They, of course, wrote regularly. Charles’ ransom won’t be discussed for, well, years, at this point, so Charles main focus was continuing to raise funds for the ransom of his brother and his men still being held in England. Despite this cost he still made sure his brothers, sister, and daughter were cared for. In addition, despite knowing how dire the financial situation was his servants all seemed to remain, he could inspire loyalty even when held prisoner. 

Both Charles and John appear to have become more religious while being held in England, John possibly more so than Charles. You may remember from his episode, but the Dauphin Louis died on the 18th of December 1415 and was succeeded by his brother John. He won’t be in this role long, sorry John. John was, of course, married to John the Fearless’ niece, which just like his late brother put him in the Burgundian sphere of influence. 

In 1416 both France and England had an illustrious visitor in the person of Holy Roman Emperor Elect Sigismund. He first visited France in March and his original goal was to bring peace to Catholic Europe so they could fight hearsay with him. His visit to both countries of course gave the French prisoners hope that they may get to go home, but no. Henry V even suggested taking the prisoners to Calais so he and Charles VI and Sigismund could negotiate together, this never happened, oddly, it was claimed because the prisoners wouldn’t agree to Henry’s unnamed conditions. The French didn’t help matters, or at least Charles’ father-in-law, Bernard of Armagnac didn’t. He began to besiege Harfleur during negotiations. He further dissuaded Charles VI and council from accepting a three year truce. This lack of cooperation and an obviously divided court is part of what drove Sigismund into the arms of Henry. Patrons in the heir apparent and usurped tiers will already know what happens, but just quickly for the rest of you. Henry and Sigismund sign a treaty that recognises Henry as the king of England and France and promises to help him gain France, so no peace treaty to help fight the heretics and nothing good for France. This year also brought bad news from France, John, Duke of Berry, died in June at the age of 75. While John’s son had predeceased him he had two daughters, Bonne and Marie. Marie is actually the wife of Bourbon and obviously was busy managing his estates, and now has a few more of her own to manage. Bonne is actually Charles’ mother-in-law, and the wife of Bernard. Did I mention everyone is related?

Negotiations for the freedom of the prisoners began, with a lack of urgency in January of 1417. Bourbon, really struggling with captivity, offered to betray France for his freedom. Henry didn’t think he’d actually do it. Bourbon promised to pay homage to Henry if he could keep his French possessions and he’d pay a ransom of 240,000 ecus (so 1/4 the ransom that had never been paid for John II). Oh, and he’d hand over his own sons as surety. Plus, he lied that the other prisoners agreed with this. Yes, he was truly desperate to get out of jail. 

An interesting note in my source tells us that the biographer for John, Charles’ little brother, claims that Charles didn’t worry about his brother’s ransom for Charles first five years or so in English captivity. Thankfully, in the sense that Charles seems like a truly kind man who loves his family, this isn’t true according to her reading of his accounts. It appears that throughout his imprisonment his main focus was getting his brother out. This makes sense from a practical perspective, no one was negotiating for his release, Henry V wasn’t giving him up. And it makes sense because Charles wanted his brother freed, as I mentioned multiple times, he was a family man, and his brothers had been his family since their parents had died when they were so young. 

This year, 1417, had a few important deaths. In April that year John, the Dauphin, died, and was of course replaced by his youngest brother, Charles. This Charles will become Charles VII, who probably gets a little too much credit for everything that happens next. That same month though Anjou died, he was only 39, and that bladder infection that kept him out of Agincourt may have been to blame. His son and heir was all of 13, so in almost no position to lead. This severely limited the Armagnac supporters remaining and made getting John’s ransom slightly more difficult. John though did help his brother in this. He reminded Charles that their father had loaned a large amount of money to Berry and that the amount had never been repaid. Charles wrote to Berry’s executors and a portion of the funds were returned. In general Charles appeared to do everything he could to get his brother released. 

Charles, since he was brought to England, had been moved around throughout various palaces in London. He was, obviously, kept away from the coasts. And he lived as Henry V’s expense during this time. In preparation for Henry’s second invasion of France in 1417 he had Charles moved to Pontefract Castle, under the supervision of Robert Waterton. This castle would not have been a place Charles wanted to go. A few of you may be connecting some dots. Pontefract is that castle Richard II had been held in prior to his death, to make it even worse, Waterton had been his keeper as well. It’s highly unlikely Isabella, Charles’ first wife, hadn’t told him about these things. Waterton though, despite his potential reputation was kind to Charles and it appears that Charles was comfortable in his care. Charles even gave gifts to the wife and children of his jailer. 

In France though thing were going, well, it was a mess. John the Fearless had marched on Paris and help Isabeau declare herself regent. Charles VI was not in a place mentally to do anything. Plus, John and Isabeau declared that the dauphin Charles wasn’t allowed to have any say in government. This all made it super easy for Henry V, he wasn’t looking behind him. On the night of the 28th of May 1417 things went from bad to worse. The Burgundians faction seized Charles VI that night and then massacred every single member of the Armagnac faction they could find, including Bernard of Armagnac. The dauphin Charles was helped by Tanguy du Chatel, the Provost of Paris to escape to Melun. The Bastard was also able to flee. It’s at this time as well that Philip, Charles and John’s brother begins to fight for the dauphin/Armagnac/Orleanist cause. I’ll be referring to it as the dauphin’s or eventually Charles VII’s cause from now on. 

Philip, only 21, had paid attention to everything Charles had shown him. He began preparing to defend against English attacks. He was joined by John II of Alencon, Charles’ future son-in-law. you’ll remember Jane’s earlier betrothal. For patrons, yes, this is that Alencon. An important little note I should mention Alencon’s father, also John, had been made a Duke in 1414 mainly because he was so beautiful. No, I am not joking with you at all. He of course was the man who died right after attacking Henry V and Humphrey of Gloucester at Agincourt. Apparently the younger Alencon was just a pretty. They were further joined by Louis III of Anjou, still only 13, Bourbon’s son Clermont, and eventually the dauphin Charles (whom I’ll just call the Dauphin until his father dies). 

The first discussion of Charles’ ransom occurred more than a year after this massacre and formation of an opposition. In October of 1418, it comes up in negotiations with the Dauphin. Just a month later John the Fearless had the overturn of his verdict of tyrannicide…umm, overturned. The Dauphin, trying to save France from its enemies, sent and embassy to John the Fearless to meet to discuss uniting against the English in early 1419. John, who was not actually Fearless, really, look at all his past actions, was nervous. Negotiations took months and involved the Dauphin’s agents convincing John’s mistress that it would be safe, no I’m not joking even a little. He finally agreed to meet and the date of the 10th of September was set. That day on a bridge at Montereau John and the Dauphin set down for a nice, bludgeoning to death of John. Usually I don’t like having to kill someone for the second or third time, since there’s a lot of overlap, but I do not regret getting to mention John the Fearless’ death again. Sorry, pure bias here, but man it’s great. In my notes I even wrote ‘and John dies by murder’. Bye John.

Oddly, despite probably not missing John the Fearless at all the murder did distress Charles. He felt it left France in a dangerous position. No one knew how the new duke of Burgundy, Philip, would act. Philip, much like Valentina had done decades earlier, swore vengeance on the Dauphin. Philip, who will become Philip the Good, then joined the English forces. This also put his against releasing the French prisoners from England. I should remind you that Henry V hadn’t been keen on releasing his prisoners either. Charles was, after all, next in line after the dauphin, and followed by Charles’ brother Philip, and then John. So Henry holds two of the first four in line to the throne of France. With the death of John the Fearless Henry actually ordered an increase on the guard for Charles. He wasn’t allowed any outside recreation, which would have been uncomfortable for him, but was devastating for Bourbon, who was held with him. Henry was also worried that Waterton was being too friendly to both his prisoners. He had them split, Bourbon was moved into the care of one retainer, and Charles was moved to Fotheringhay, under the care of sir Thomas Burton. He was placed with Arthur of Richemont, Eu, and Boucicaut. 

Throughout this period Charles was feeling a bit abandoned by his servants back in Orleans. To be fair to them, there was a bit of a war going on and they needed to focus on those preparations. But his letters show some despair. He wouldn’t have been happy to learn of the Treaty of Troyes being signed on 21st of May 1420. This would have been heartbreaking for all the prisoners. In addition, hearing that Henry V had married Catherine Valois, the youngest daughter of Charles VI would have been just piling the pain higher. 

On the 8th of June Charles and Bourbon were moved to London for a meeting with the king’s council. And on the 20th of July Bourbon was given permission to go to Dieppe (dee ep) to try to negotiate for the funds needed to pay his ransom. This will not go well, in fact, nothing goes well for Bourbon in England if I’m being honest. Henry also allowed Arthur of Richemont, you know, his step-brother, to go. His hope was the Richemont could persuade Brittany to join Henry’s side. For the moment Brittany says no. At this point Charles still hasn’t been offered even the chance to raise a ransom, because no one had named a price. Charles was able to send a letter to his wife through Bourbon. He joked that if Bourbon didn’t know the look of Bonne he should just look for the most accomplished lady. Through his poetry in the future Charles and Bonne’s close relationship becomes clear. Even if Charles had been offered his freedom for a ransom paying it would have been difficult. Due to the fighting that was occurring near his lands his brother, Philip, was struggling to even send funds for John’s ransom, so Charles’ was something no one could even worry about. The fighting also meant that even meeting French needs was difficult because peasants couldn’t risk producing food. It actually sounds a bit like a shorter-term version of the Anarchy. 

Sometime between either late July or early September 1420 Charles and John received news that would devastate them. Philip had died. There isn’t a recorded cause of death and it appears that he died suddenly of an illness. He was only 24. The Orleans’ household was caught completely off guard, it was unexpected and might have thrown the entire cause for a loop. But, the Orleanist were lucky, they still had Valentina’s favourite son, the one that wasn’t her’s, the Bastard of Orleans. He was only 16, he had lost his father as an infant, his adoptive mother not much later, he had watched one older brother be sent to England as a hostage, heard of his guardian and beloved oldest brother taken after Agincourt and had now lost yet another person he loved. And now he was in charge of his family and cause. Oh, and he wasn’t even free when he received news of his brother’s death. Yes, he had been taken hostage sometime after the massacre in 1418 and his ransom had just been paid by Philip prior to his death. He wasn’t even released until August of 1420. Thankfully for the Orleanist cause he would prove himself a more than capable leader. 

In March 1421 things should have gotten easier for Charles and John, but especially for John. The Duke of Clarence was killed in an ill-planned attack that year. Remember, Clarence is the man who’s holding John. His steps-sons John and Thomas were taken hostage. In case you’re curious that John is the father to previous Passed subject Margaret Beaufort. John, Charles’ younger brother that is, was transferred into the dowager duchess’ custody. She was, apparently, rather cruel to him, to the point where Charles sent him extra funds for food. Charles though was hoping to trade her sons for his brother. Charles even wrote to the dowager Duchess of Clarence asking for this to happen, but it sadly didn’t work out. 

This death set up a bad period for Henry V, and might have made things harder for the prisoners in England. I’ve mentioned the Brittany rejected his brother’s overtures and to this effect signed a treaty with the Daphinist faction. This treaty included the marriage of Charles’ sister, Margaret to Brittany and Richemont’s youngest brother, this will eventually make her the grandmother of Anne of Brittany (yes, that means that Louis XII and Anne of Brittany were first cousins once removed, but everyone’s related). There’s a note that Charles wasn’t happy, but no explanation as to why, my best guess is he felt he should have some say in who his sister married. And he actually should have been happy, this would further secure the Bretons to his cause….well, for the moment. He did send his sister a book of hours as a wedding gift. Of course, he missed another big event, his daughter’s formal betrothal. There is a further sad moment for Charles and the other prisoners. In June Boucicaut, the Marshall of France dies in custody at 54.

The Dauphinist cause had a few high points through the first bit of 1422 until the Dauphin got discouraged and gave up in spring of 1422. You’ll probably notice throughout this subject and if you’ve listened to Joan of Arc, that this Dauphin could never be described as a man with fortitude. He could keep going, but he needed to be convinced or else he’d just give up. It was during this period that Brittany decided maybe he wanted to go hang out with the English again, at least for the moment. And then, the wheels come off for England. On the 31st of August Henry V dies, of something that caused a lot of wasting, but probably wasn’t dysentery. While expressing his last wishes he’s  supposedly quoted as saying, ‘And take care that you not from prison my fair cousin the Duke of Orleans, the Count of Eu, and the lord Gaucourt…until my fair son Henry reaches years of discretion, and for the other do as it seems good to you.’ Now this may be apocryphal, but it makes a nice story. Even if he hadn’t said it he had written something to the effect in his last will. And now England has a nine month old as king. Of course, on the 21st of October France gets itself an 11 month old as king, because that’s when Charles VI died. This means that Henry VI is also meant to be Henri II. This also means I’ll be calling the Dauphin Charles VII from now on. Of course, this kingship is disputed, but regardless of who was king, Charles wasn’t going anywhere for a long time. 

Charles wouldn’t find out how long he’d be stuck in England until around Christmas 1422. His men brought more money for John’s ransom and told him the bad news. In May the next year they brought even more bad news. Philip the soon-to-be-Good had signed the treaty of Amiens and recognised Henry VI as king of France. The English regent in France, Henry V’s brother John Duke of Bedford, had married Philip’s sister. Oh, and Arthur of Richemont had married another Burgundian sister, who happened to be the widow of the Dauphin Louis, she was unimpressed with this marriage step down. And Bedford was now in control of the military campaign in France. The English council as well seemed uninterested in Charles’ (and the other prisoner’s) wellbeing. They were now forced to finance their own imprisonment. Charles had a little victory when he was able to arrange to have his wine shipped directly from Orleans to England duty-free, yes, for avoiding some taxes, boo for still being in prison. 

Bourbon had, over this period, failed in his attempts to raise funds and had been brought back to England. And there was general bad news from France. The Dauphinist cause was not going well. Charles’ son-in-law had been taken prisoner in August 1424 and would remain so for three years. But this moment is where things actually started to go okay. There was the start of a four year stalemate, mainly due to events in England. This was the first period that Humphrey started making trouble for his older brother Bedford. Now, I’m of a split mind about Humphrey, in some ways he really is trying to uphold Henry V’s wishes, but in other’s he’s trying to get power for himself. I feel he would have done really well under Henry V’s leadership, but since Henry had died there was no chance for that. Humphrey had married the dauphin John’s widow, Jacqueline of Hainaut in 1422. The problem with this, well, Jacquline was still kind of sort of married to John, Duke of Brabant, who was one of Philip the Good’s cousins. She had received an annulment, in England, that wasn’t recognised anywhere else. You can see how Humphrey could be a bit difficult, remember, his second marriage actually goes even worse than this one. Bedford actually left France in January of 1426 and stayed in England until April of 1428 just to sort his brother out.  

While Bedford was gone Arthur Richemont switched sides again, in case you’ve lost track that means he is now on the Dauphinist’s side, with Charles. In not so shocking news the other leaders were not trusting of him at first, but Charles VII gave him the Constableship. 

And with this growing Dauphinist party I’ll stop for the week. Before I go I would like to welcome my newest Patrons, Courtney and Ann. Ann has her own podcast, Vulgar History, which some of you may already listen to. Please give her a listen if you’re interested in the scandalous stories of women in history. At the time of writing she has just finished a series of Mary Queen of Scots. I’ll be back next week, do make sure to download This Too Shall Passed on Wednesday where I’ll be discussing Books of Hours. 

Charles of Orleans, Part Four:

Welcome back, when we left things were starting to look up for Charles’ supporters back in France, for Charles though things are going to seem a bit sad. 

In England Charles arranged the sell of many of his treasured possession from Blois, his favourite residence. He basically stripped most movable goods, including his tapestries and jewels. Sadly, he also had to sell his library. He was lucky though, his captors in England, various friends back in France, and just people who knew him would send him books. He will actually return with over 100 volumes. These books were less lighthearted than his books in France. There were medical books, psalters, bibles, books of hours, the works of St. Augustine and St. Gregory, and a prayer book that he had made that contained both French and English prayers. 

And this gets us to his poetry. And if you hear my voice crack in this next bit it’s because yes, I’m fighting back tears. His words are beautiful, even read today. A great deal of his work related to missing his wife, Bonne of Armagnac. I can only imagine how horrible her life had been with him gone, loosing her father and not being able to see her husband. And it’s clear from his words that even though they hadn’t known each other for long he cared deeply for her. An interesting note, unlike almost all his contemporaries he had no illegitimate children. Charles writes to Bonne that he will keep a brave face until he sees her again.

This poem deal with his feelings of loneliness and despair that he’ll never see Bonne or his home again. That he can make it through knowing she is there for him. How he feels that his loss of freedom is punishment from God for France’s decadence and decay. He thinks that France needs to find its ancient virtue. Yes, some parts feel a bit ‘the kids these day’, but he’s thinking about how things can get better. And his love poems may read as formulaic to us, but that’s because they are the formula. 

While Charles was writing some of the most touching poetry of his age his home was about to be attacked. It is considered a violation of the rules of chivalry to attack an imprisoned persons land, but Bedford decided to ignore this guideline and allowed his forces, led, momentarily, by the Thomas Mantague, the 4th Earl of Salisbury to attack the city of Orlean. This of course would actually be the beginning of the end for English hold on France, but not for Charles’ stay in England. The city of Orleans was besieged for just under seven months until the siege was lifted by a French peasant girl, Joan of Arc. Now, if you want my special episode about her, you’ll need to join Patreon, but it has a proper account of this. Salisbury dies in the opening days and is replaced by William de la Pole, the Earl of Suffolk (he’ll become the duke of Suffolk in a few years before having the shortest banishment ever). You should remember Suffolk from Richard 3rd Duke of York’s episodes, or when I mentioned him in the first episode. And everything that makes him one of the ‘villains’ to Richard 3rd Duke of York makes him a hero to Charles of Orleans. 

After the siege was lifted and the Bastard could leave the city he and Alencon, joined Joan on her divine mission to free France of the English and see Charles VII crowned. On this mission the Bastard actually captured Suffolk, and then released him on what most would consider rathe easy terms. Apparently the two got along well, and the Bastard seemed to realise Suffolk would be able to help him. Part of this does include helping pay for part of John’s ransom. Of course, the English, seeing that Charles VII had been crowned, realised it might be time to get young Henry VI crowned and Henri II. First, he had to be crowned in England. This happened on the 6th of November 1429.

Not long after Henry VI’s crowning Charles was moved again. This time he was given to John Cornwall, who had been a retainer of Clarence’s. Cornwall actually held the rights to a minor, but substantial portion of John’s ransom. With this new housing situation Charles and the Bastard were hoping to get John out of England. A rather complicated plan was hatched that partially involved calling in the favour of Suffolk and trying to raise a huge sum to pay the Provost of Paris for one of the Beaufort heirs, and then to trade that all for John. It didn’t work out of course, as you’ll find, things don’t go well for John for a long time. 

As you can probably tell, Charles time in captivity was just spent reading, writing, waiting for news, maybe some exercise, but it really was nothing exciting. I have no doubt he would have loved to have been fighting in France and in 1432 he would have given anything to be in France. That year his daughter died at only 22. She and Alencon hadn’t had any children, but their marriage was, by all accounts happy, and he was saddened by her death. It would be five years before he married again, and unlike his father-in-law he was free to do so. It appears that months later, based on his letters, his wife Bonne died as well. This death almost broke Charles. His poems from this time show despair in a way I can’t imagine feeling. It’s made even worse because he had received word that she was ill, only the then get word that she was recovering, before being crushed by the news that she was gone. And yes, even though I don’t speak French fluently I cried reading these. Now, I have a bit of a treat for you, my friend, Emmanuel from Lafayette We Are here, will be reading one Charles’ poems for you. Emmanuel’s podcast is an English language podcast about French history from a Frenchman. It is really great to hear parts of history from a French prospective (if Manu can’t help I’ll just read the English translations). I will be reading the English translation. It’s important to note that Charles was writing in late-old French and early-middle French, and Emmanuel, as most modern French-people, speaks modern French. To keep the flow of the poem he will be using modern French. Just wanted to make sure if you find this poem it won’t be a huge change, but it’s enough. I will be leaving a link to Lafayette We Are Here in the show notes.   

Alas! Death, who made you so bold

To take the noble Princess

Who was my comfort, my life,

or good, my pleasure, my wealth!

Since you have taken my mistress,

Take me also her servant,

For I would sooner rather

mourn than languish in torment,

In grief, care and pain!

Alas! of all goods was furnished

And in the right flower of youth!

I pray to God that he curses you,

False Death, full of harshness!

If taken in old age,

It would not have been so severe;

I took it hastily,

And left me miserably

In grief, care and pain!

Alas! I am alone, without company!

Farewell my Lady, my jubilation!

But our love is gone,

No, however, I promise you

That many prayers, with generosity,

orte will serve as your heart,

Without forgetting in any way;

And you will often regret

In sorrow, worry and pain.

God, on all sovereign Lord,

Order, by grace and sweetness,

Of the soul of her, so

That she is not long

In trouble, care and pain!

While Charles was going through a great deal of sadness his living arrangements were changed, again. This time he was moved to the care of William de la Pole, then Earl of Suffolk. This was probably his nicest move, at least until he had freedom. De la Pole was an educated man who we would probably call a man of letters. He loved reading in general and had a vast library. He was even married to Alice Chaucer, the granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote ballads. And most importantly for Charles, he was in favour of peace with France, even if it meant losing France. Yes, this may not have been a popular stance with Humphrey of Gloucester or other English leaders, but is was about to be popular with the king, who was only 10 at this point. And it was always popular with the French, well, except the Burgundian French. While Suffolk wasn’t going to break Charles out of jail he did make his stay more comfortable. Charles basically became his companion and he was treated almost as though he were a member of the family, well, if having a few guards was part of being the family. Suffolk would also do what he could throughout Charles’ stay to get him back to France. 

Charles’ cause received a boost in a sad way in November 1432, when Anne of Burgundy died. Anne was the sister of Philip the Good, and had been married to John, Duke of Bedford since 1423. The couple had no children, but had a happy marriage. Her death would lead to the deterioration of the relationship between Bedford and Philip. Bedford remarried less than a year later, to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, without consulting his former brother-in-law. Philip, as someone who was well, more than mildly self-important, was not pleased with this lack of consultation. Around the time of his sister’s death Philip the Good had signed a temporary truce with Charles VII. And Bedford will do little to help bring Philip back to his side.

The English, French, and Burgundians actually had peace talks in Auxerra that broke down, at least temporarily, due to Charles VII’s demands. The meeting, which had started in December 1432 was postponed until March, and moved to Calais. If you’re curious, Charles VII’s had demanded that the surviving French prisoners from Agincourt be allowed to participate. Suffolk was actually in favour of this and wrote to Henry VI to try to make it happen. Charles even wrote to Henry VI to ask for permission to go. Henry agreed to this. Charles would remain in Dover, with Bourbon, where they were brought in March 1433, while the English embassy waited for the French and Burgundians in Calais. Charles and Bourbon hadn’t seen each other in almost 18 years at this point. While Bourbon had been well cared for he was mentally and emotionally broken. Throughout his imprisonment Bourbon had written to Henry VI regularly asking for his freedom. And even though he had been cared for his health was beginning to fail. Charles wrote a Ballad for France and Emmanuel will be reading it for you now:

From Dover Castle, beyond the sea,

I recalled the delights fair chance

Had brought me in that dear country.

Heart-sighs the memory drew from me,

Thinking how sweet if I might but go

And visit that France, that I love so.

I knew the folly of such a stance,

Twas unwise to sigh, in such degree,

Within my heart, for I saw, perchance,

The road to peace opening, presently;

Thus solace came to set thought free.

My heart still longed to voyage, though,

And visit that France, that I love so.

Thus with my yearnings, at a glance,

I loaded Hope’s vessel, with the plea

That over the waters they might dance,

And commend me to France speedily.

May God bring peace and not tardily!

For, if it come, I the same might know,

And visit that France, that I love so.

Peace is a treasure praised endlessly.

I hate war; and prize it not, you see,

For, rightly or wrongly, I cannot go,

And visit that France, that I love so.

Charles and Bourbon would be waiting for something that would never come. Their compatriots and the supporters of Charles VII didn’t show up. For Bourbon this would pretty much be the end. he died on the 15th of January 1434. Seeing everything that had been going on, Charles VII’s military wins, and the English crown not showing him the respect he wanted, Philip the Good started to realise he might need to change sides and make peace with the man who killed his father. Charles VII realised that he should probably start making peace with Philip as well. 

(If you hear this you are listening to an AI stolen copy of this Passed episode. Please visit passedpod.com for links to this show by it’s creator, Veronica Fortune)

Philip, prior to making this peace, sent an embassy to England in July of 1434. He wanted to learn how the English, felt about the war in general, he wanted his ambassador to meet with Charles, and to find out Charles’ take on the war. At this point Henry VI is almost 13 at this point and starting to take more control of his government. Charles has been a prisoner for almost 19. One thing I want to make clear here, until he started having mental health issues, and even most of the time after, Henry VI was a kind man. In fact, every single historian I have referenced who has written anything about Henry VI makes this clear. While his means of trying to get peace were, well, poor, his goal was always true, he was a lover of peace. When he met with Philip’s ambassador he expressed that he was saddened when Charles VII hadn’t come to the earlier conference in March. And Henry shared that he knew Charles was ready to work for peace. Henry even let the ambassador know that the war was costly for the English. 

Further, the ambassador found that the English in general weren’t keen on the Burgundians. But, the king, Cardinal Beaufort, and even the Earl of Warwick (not the kingmaker) trusted that Philip the Good could help make peace. Suffolk was also disposed to Philip and met with his ambassador regularly. Suffolk, likely with Henry VI’s permission was able to set-up a meeting for Charles with the ambassador. He arranged their first meeting as a ‘chance’ meeting, yes, a theatrical production. He had the ambassador show up when Charles was about to leave the room. Their conversation made it clear that Charles and Philip wanted peace and that both wanted Charles to act as part of the peace talks. Charles also wanted to make it clear that regardless of rumours to the contrary Charles loved Philip and didn’t hold him responsible in any way for his father’s death. In case I sound sarcastic let me assure I am not and neither was Charles. After the ambassador left he was approached by one of Charles’ guards. This guard had been chosen since he spoke French, and he happened to be a Burgundian. The guard wanted to second much of what Charles had said and the ambassador told the guard to assure Charles of Philip’s support on getting him released. 

Charles, at a later meeting with the ambassador, asked Suffolk if he could write to Philip. He made the mistake of asking in front of the ambassador. Suffolk, thinking quickly, told him he should think on it until the next day, hint, hint, maybe not the best idea Charles, Henry VI might not like this. At this meeting though, Charles was assured that Philip didn’t hold Charles’ brother responsible for fighting against him, because they were supporting their sovereign. 

As part of this peace process Charles submitted a document to English Parliament in August of 1434. It was written in legal Latin, which Charles had a grasp of, because he says he wrote it himself. He wanted to help arrange a peace conference in October of 1434 in Normandy or Calais. He would see to it that the party supporting Charles VII came. Some of these would only come to Normandy including, Yolanda of Aragon, Brittany, and Armagnac (his brother-in-law). He could get Arthur of Richemont, Richemont’s younger brother, Alencon (his son-in-law) and Clermont (who was now Bourbon) to meet in Calais or Normandy. His peace plan was rather different than what will actually happen, he felt Charles VII could be persuaded to renounce his title if he were materially cared for. He even agreed to stay in England after the peace was made for a year or longer as a way to maintain peace. Oh, and he was still willing to pay a ransom for his freedom. This offer to convince Charles VII to renounce his throne would actually lead to some condemn Charles, just to point out, this is the Burgundian stance and has been for a rather long time. 

Henry VI, being aware of this letter, referenced it the following day. He had safe conduct letters to those listed. And again, the French failed to come. This might be partially Charles’ fault, his invitations were a bit vague, just inviting his mates to meet him in Calais without being specific. While this is a good excuse for most of those invited Philip the Good had been personally invited by Henry VI, which was probably a bad sign since, in theory, Henry was Philip’s king. There is a better reason though, that might have even tempted Philip to forsake Henry. In June 1434, remember the meeting was meant to take place in October, Charles VII’s evil councillors (yes, I will always love that phrase) was removed from his service. The councillor wasn’t actually evil, just incompetent. He was replaced by Charles VII’s brother-in-law. I know I haven’t talked about him a lot as a king-in-battle, but, well, Charles VII is rather unimpressive in his own decisions, he often gives up when met with minimal resistance, he needs to be carefully watched when traveling to meetings, because he is known to run away back to one of his comfortable palaces, he in general a reluctant king. His brother-in-law, along with Yolanda, convinced Charles VII to hold his own council in July. 

During the period that the mix-up or just ignoring of Charles’ invite Bedford had returned to France to, well, try to deal with the victories Charles VII’s party was having. With his return, in July 1434, Philip actually returned to the English cause after having almost joined the French cause. This switch in allegiance would be short lived though. In January 1435, at a meeting with Clermont, Philip referred to Charles VII as his king. He set up a meeting in Arras for August of 1435. He had informed the English council in Paris that the French would not submit to an English king, not so much to scare the English, but to prepare them. The English, French, and Burgundians agreed to come to Arras. I won’t go through the full list of those who attended but just a smattering, for the English: Henry Beaufort, William de la Pole Suffolk, and John Holland, Earl of Huntington, Henry VI’s cousin. The Archbishop of York also attended, and the English brought two others, Charles and the count of Eu (who apparently were kept in Calais, and not brought to Arras). For the French there was Clermont, again, now Bourbon, Richemont, and the Archbishop of Reims. And finally, the Burgundians were led by Philip the Good. The papal legate, Niccolo Albergati, would be acting as the mediator. Charles was, of course, hopeful that he’d get to go into France, sadly, this didn’t happen. 

The English simply wouldn’t agree to the French proposal or really give any of their own other than ‘Henry VI is king of France and England’. Now, before you think they were just being stubborn the French had offered Gascony, Guienne, and Picardy, so Aquitaine, plus Normandy, and a few other SW French towns near Gascony. Oh, and they would give Henry VI one of Charles VII’s daughters in marriage (the oldest was at the most). They also wanted to give him a huge dowery. Honestly, it was a good deal, and all Henry VII had to do was renounce the French crown and make peace. Their last request that the most important, at least for Charles, it was for his freedom, purchased with a reasonable ransom. The English though had been told by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester though that he really wanted the war to continue. Now, Humphrey wasn’t being mean, he really was under the impression that he was supporting Henry V’s goals and life’s work. And had Henry V not died when he did I could totally understand what he was doing, but Henry VI was not his father and would never be a warrior king. The English, unwilling to compromise in any way left the congress on the 6th of September. One week after they left, the 11th of September Philip the Good received dispensation, from the papal legate, Albergati, for the Treaty of Arras. With this Philip the good made peace with Charles VII. While Charles VII and Philip were hammering out their treaty, the Treaty of Arras, Bedford, on the 14th of September died. One rather interesting provision of the treaty was, due to Charles VII’s involvement in John the Fearless’ death Philip the Good never had to pay the king homage, give him fealty, or answer a call to arms. His son, Charles, was required to do all of this once Philip died and Philip was required to do all this for Charles VII heir (likely and factually the dauphin Louis). Philip and Charles VII signed their treaty on the 20th or 21st of September 1435. I can’t really emphasise how important this treaty was to France’s future. Remember, in earlier episodes that I discussed how Henry V wouldn’t have had nearly as much of a chance if the royal and Burgundian party had been in peace before he attacked. Now they were together and they weren’t facing the warrior king of Henry V, but the peaceful king of Henry VI.

Following Bedford’s death Humphrey was able to convince the commons to keep the war going. In April of 1436 the Bastard and Richemont made Paris a little less friendly for the English. That month they scaled the walls of the city. They were kind enough to let the English leave peacefully. Of course, without this peace Charles was still stuck in England. It appears that during this time he may have fallen in love. During this period he wrote more lighthearted poetry. Her name was possibly Anne Molins, there were women with that name, including Alice Chaucer’s cousin who visited their property. After all he’d been through I think it’s lovely to think of him finding a bit of happiness. His poems during this time, at least his love ones, are in English, which gives us the clue that the woman was English. And this poem may be his, I’m going to read it for you. As with his French poems his English poem is written in middle English, so I may use modern English where it makes the meaning clear without ruining the poem:

Alas mercy, where shall mine heart you find?

Never had he with you full acquaintances

Now come to him and put his grievous 

Or the be unto your friend unkind

Mercy, he hath ever you in his mind

Once let him have some comfort of pleasance 

Alas mercy

Let him not die, but make at once amends

In all his woo an right heavy penance 

Naught is the help that while not his trust

Sloth his to me and ever come behind 

Alas mercy

This, and other poems written for this unknown English woman may have been written after they were separated. And it’s not as though the English would want him to marry, because this is part of being a prisoner. The reason the couple may have been separated is that Charles was moved in early 1436. The castle he was moved to was much smaller that Suffolks, but it appears he was still treated well. He would have felt left out of any peace negotiations going on. But, things were going to start getting better for him soon. 

In 1436 Henry VI gave Charles a great offer. If he were able to raise 20,000 ecu as a guarantee he could go to France as part of peace negotiations. He did his best to raise it, his brother was on it immediately, selling properties that his brother had given him. Even Brittany offered to cover half of this amount. During this he of course had to keep raising funds for his brother John, because, yes, John was still stuck in England. The pope had been writing to Henry VI asking him to make peace, and in addition to being a kind man Henry was a religious man who wanted to please the pope. The money though hadn’t arrived in July of 1437, the plan was changed for it to come in January 1438. During this period Charles dated his poems, which is something he hadn’t done previously. Due to this plan Charles was about to have a meeting he must have wished for from the first moment he arrived in England. Yes, he got to see his brother John in November of 1437. Now, imagine, John had been 12 when Charles had last seen him and Charles had only been 17, now, 25 years later John was 38 and Charles was 42 or 43. The meeting was as emotional as you could imagine. 

Sadly for Charles, the money hadn’t arrived by January. The English council also offered to put up the funds for Charles. For some reason though, he decided not to go. He may have been nervous that Brittany wouldn’t have been the best negotiator, and since he was sending a lot of money he would be expected to be a part of any negotiations. Charles though was able to meet with Henry VI not long after this negotiation fell apart. While being moved to a new residence he was given an audience that was recording. Charles expressed that he would like to go at a later date to help and he thought Henry should ask for a truce. Henry agreed that Charles could go if funds were received by October 1438. Charles would get to leave on the 15th of February 1439 if this happened. An interesting thing happened during these negotiations. John Beaufort, the Earl of Somerset, was released after his ransom was paid off to the Eu. When this John returned to England he was given John of Orleans, Charles’ younger brother. This meant that any further ransom payments received for John would go to him. 

While Henry VI was trying to get a truce the Bastard made it clear that Charles VII would only offer it when his ambassadors had a chance to talk the Charles. What’s interesting about these negotiations is that Philip the Good was allowing his wife to manage his portion of these negotiations. His wife, if you’re curious was Isabella of Portugal. Her mother was Philippa of Lancaster, meaning Isabella was a cousin of Henry VI. There’s a strong chance she spoke English and she wanted peace. The meeting was finally set for the 6th of July 1439. Charles was finally sent to Dover in May and then only Calais on the 26th of June. When he arrived he had his second meeting with one of his brothers, this time the Bastard. This brother had only been 11 when Charles was captured and had truly stepped up. 

Charles was meant to be able to leave Calais and meet on French soil. Sadly a rumour had started that Fleming and Picardy agents were going to rescue Charles, so he was kept in Calais. Thankfully the French delegates were given safe conduct letters to enter Calais, so they could converse with Charles during various points during the conference. The meeting sadly started out badly, Humphrey had kind of poisoned the well before the ambassadors even left. The English started off by calling Charles VII Charles of Valois, which the French didn’t take kindly to. The English then acted as though they were confused by two of the aims of the negotiations, the release of Charles and peace. And again the English would not give up the French throne. They offered a joke of concessions. On the 12th of July Charles met his most surprising supporter, Isabella of Portugal, the wife of Philip the Good. She deeply wanted his freedom and would do much to make it happen. 

Isabella’s suggestion for peace was actually pretty good, especially when considering the last 100 years of war. A temporary peace would be offered for 15-30 years, depending on negotiations. During this time Henry VI couldn’t use the title ‘king of France’. Once this peace had ended either side needed one years notice before restarting war. Sadly, the written contract said that Henry VI needed to give up his French possessions during this time. Charles was actually unimpressed by this underhanded tactic. The conference adjourned on the 29th of July and would resume on the 11th of September. Charles, of course, remained under strict guard in Calais. Charles VII did announce that he couldn’t agree to anything until his next council meeting which would happen on the 25th of September. While the French were away the English ambassadors went home, and returned with a letter saying peace wouldn’t work, they had Humphrey to thank for that. The second meeting didn’t happen, but Isabella was allowed to meet Charles one more time. She promised to keep working for his freedom. Through her he was also finally able to communicate with Philip the Good. And she proposed dates for a second conference.

Upon his return to England Charles was given an audience with Henry VI, and learned he would be freed. Henry had learned of the failures of the peace talks and was unhappy. He wrote to Isabella of Portugal and agreed to her proposed later dates. He informed Charles that once his financial affairs and ransom had been paid he would be freed. Charles immediately contacted Philip the good and asked for financial assistance. He also wrote to his brother, the Bastard, Charles VII, his queen, and the dauphin, the future Louis XI for help. And then he just has to wait, oh and deal with Humphrey. Humphrey, again wanting to uphold Henry V’s will and wishes, tried to convince Henry VI to not let Charles go. Humphrey also wrote a scathing attack of Cardinal Beaufort, whom you may remember is his uncle. He further suggested that Charles would become king of France because Charles VII and the dauphin couldn’t get along. There is a possibility that Henry VI didn’t send ambassadors back to Calais in 1440. 

During all of this Charles VII was dealing with his son, and Philip the Good, and Alencon, and other in the Praguerie uprising. Thankfully Charles VII won, but it was a bit messy for a moment. Richemont helped crush this rebellion. Through all of this though all of these men were trying to raise funds for Charles, yes, it is a bit odd. And, on the 2nd of July 1440 Charles and Henry VII traded letters of freedom. Charles VII ratified the treaty of liberation on the 16th of August, and finally the payment was made in the end of October. And with that, on the 3rd of November Charles was declared free. As part of his release, in addition to his huge ransom, he had also been asked to bring peace between England and France within a year of his release. 

Charles, obviously, didn’t just hop on a ship back to Orleans, that’s not really possible. Instead he sailed, to Gravelines. He was greeted by the Archbishop of Reims and his brother. He also saw Philip the Good for the first time in 25 years. To Philip he said ‘By my faith, fair brother and cousin, I ought to love you above all other princes of this realm, my fair cousin your wife, for if you and she had not existed I should have remained for ever in danger from my enemies, and I have found no better friend than you.’ These kind words would probably upset at least one of Charles’ supporters, like a specific one in Paris, the king. Philip did express that he felt so bad that it had taken so long. With that return to France and a heartfelt apology, I’m going to stop here. I promise not to leave you hanging. Next week I’ll be going through, well, the things that happen once Charles gets back to France. 

Charles of Orleans, Part Five:

Welcome back, last week I finished with Charles’ return to France after 25 years in England. He was greeted in Gravelines (gra-vleen) by Philip the Good on the 11th of November 1440. Their meeting was emotional, and would include Charles’ brother, the Bastard, and Philip’s wife, Isabelle, as well as Charles’ future wife, more on her in a moment. This meeting may have been wanted by all, but it made Philip a bit nervous.

Philip the Good, like his father, John the Fearless, was the Duke of Burgundy. As such he was a powerful man, and while, legally he was the ninth man in the kingdom, if I’ve gotten my dukes right, he had much more power than would be expected for someone of his low precedence. With Charles back Philip would no longer be the second most powerful person in the kingdom. He was lucky though, Charles wasn’t power-hungry. Instead Charles really did want to embrace the role of peacemaker, both between France and England and within France itself. Plus, Charles, lacked a bit of political awareness. While he was in Gravelines he swore to the Treaty of Arras, with a single reservation. His reservation was in regards to the murder of John the Fearless, he wanted to make it very clear that he had taken no part in the event. He ordered his brother to swear as well, the Bastard, not John, who was of course still in England as a prisoner. 

Even though Philip the Good quickly realised that Charles was not going to try to outmanoeuvre him he still wasn’t going to complain if Charles was on his side. The easiest way to do this was, of course, to get Charles to marry one of his many nieces, Marie of Cleves. Now, this wasn’t a surprise wedding, papal dispensation, which requires both parties to apply for, had been applied for in July 1440 in preparation for Charles’ return. Oh, of course they were related, everyone is related. The chosen bride, Marie, was, well, 14, to Charles 46, she was also apparently beautiful. Throughout her marriage to Charles she will travel a lot and this travelling seems to not agree with her health. She’ll be unwell upon their return from most of their trips. Philip’s older nieces were all married already. She was with her uncle and aunt at Gravines and the couple apparently got along well. Charles also couldn’t complain about her dowery either, it was 100,000 ecus. Philip the Good also planned and paid for the whole wedding which happened on the 26th of November. You may have noticed one rather important person hasn’t been mentioned yet, this king, Charles VII. Yeah, he was in Paris, and Charles hadn’t gone right there to greet his cousin and lord. 

Instead of heading to Paris right after his wedding Charles was instead inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece. The order was Philip the Good’s new order of chivalry that he had created in 1430. Charles, showing his lack of political acumen inducted Philip into the Order of the Camail immediately after, like pulled to porcupine insignia out of his jacket and put it on Philip. In case you’re curious the English name for this order is the Order of the Porcupine, and it was founded in 1394. Philip the Good had, likely, been hoping that having Charles join his order would have bound Charles to him in a slightly subservient way, he wasn’t planning on wearing a porcupine that day. While Charles was with Philip the Good some of the leaders of the city of Bruges came to visit Charles to ask him to intercede with Philip on their behalf. The city had rebelled against Philip years earlier and he had promised to never visit again. The city leaders wanted Charles to convince Philip to visit, which Charles managed easily. They, along with their wives and retinues, headed to Bruges on the 11th of December. So, now Charles has been in France for over a month and still hadn’t visited the king. While they were there Philip decided to needed to do one more thing to keep Charles close to him, a treaty! In this document neither prince could make further treaties without the other’s approval, that they should aim to restore peace within France. Charles and his new wife spent Christmas with her family before beginning their trip to Orleans. 

This trip home would include a stop in Paris. Throughout their stops they were greeted and celebrated in each city. The couple were given gifts regularly at towns they passed through and people expressed that they were hoping Charles would bring peace to France. As they went their retinue also grew, ballooning to hundreds of followers. Charles VII was a bit annoyed that Charles hadn’t come to see him immediately, he was also not impressed by large number of followers his cousin had brought with him. Charles VII had also been informed of everything that had been going on between Charles and Philip. Charles may not have been aware of how difficult Philip and Charles VII’s own son the Dauphin Louis, had been for the king over the last few years. When Charles arrived on the 14th of January 1441 he was asked to come alone to meet with the king. This is an odd request for one of Charles’ stature. Even if he were meeting the king in private a man of his rank never travelled alone. Remember, even when he was in England his servants were with him regularly and his guards would keep him company. Being alone wasn’t something Charles would even be used to. Normally one would enter the palace with their retinue and then go on into a private room to discuss things. Charles seems to have realised he had made a mistake, and decided not to see the king. He only stayed in Paris for a week, but while he was there the citizens voiced to him that they were happy for his return and hoped this would bring peace. 

After leaving Paris Charles and Marie continued their trip to Orleans. Their reception there was grand. They reached the city on the 24th of January. There were 12 days of parties to celebrate his return. The couple were also showered with gifts and money. Once these celebrations were over the couple finally headed to Blois, which was were Charles had decided to make their home. Upon his return he found that his book collection, the one he’d ordered sold while he was in England, was mostly intact. Only a few items had been sold before the servant who was in charge of it put a stop to it. Charles would spend a great deal of his time and money on acquiring new books, this is a man who would have loved modern book stores. The couple wouldn’t stay in the city long. They left to visit Brittany and Alencon, the later being Charles’ son-in-law, though of course Jane had died years earlier. Alencon had remarried, but apparently Charles still saw Alencon as a son, and the two would remain close throughout their lives. This visit led to an alliance between Charles, Brittany, and Alencon, they were joined by Bourbon (who is the third Duke of Bourbon in this series, so this is the son of the Bourbon who was taken captive at Agincourt). Charles kept in contact with Philip the Good, of course, they would actually remain in regular contact throughout the rest of Charles’ life. Charles also, while with Brittany and Alencon, contacted Henry VI to try to arrange another peace conference. This one they were trying to schedule for May of 1441. Henry was in favour of this and selected his ambassadors on the 10th of April. 

While Charles was meeting with his friends Isabella of Portugal, Philip the Good’s wife, went to Laon where Charles VII was staying. She went there to, well, tell him off for both not meeting with Charles when he had come through Paris and for not helping Charles as much as he should have while he was in England. She also clued Charles VII in that the princes were working on a peace conference with Henry VI. Charles VII then decided that the princes couldn’t take part in this peace conference. Now, he had earlier suggested they would be able to go. Charles VII did claim that he had sent ambassadors to meet the English, but that the English had only sent a clerk. You may have noticed in earlier parts of this series that every time there’s a peace conference arranged it feels like each side can’t communicate with the other, and yes, that does seem to be the case. With communication being slow and each side wanting to protect their dignity the actual purpose, peace, would sometimes get lost in the mix. It’s likely that England had heard that the princes of the blood weren’t coming and therefore weren’t sure if the conference was going ahead. They sent a clerk to check and report back before the ambassadors left for France. 

Charles was, of course, disappointed that this conference didn’t happen, I imagine he would have been even more disappointed had it happened and he not be there. Henry VI agreed to another conference, and yet again, this didn’t happen. In France’s defence the English were actually fighting them while this conference was meant to be starting, Richard, 3rd Duke of York had orders to march into France. There had been hope that the Duke of York would be helping with peace talks, as you should all know, this did not happen. And when the king found out that a few of his princes had been negotiating with the Duke of York he was upset, since he had been left out. It actually caused him to want to go to war in Normandy. French forces actually took Pontoise in September of 1441. With this Charles would not be able to meet the peace condition of his release. It appears that he was so popular with Henry VI and most of the English court (save Gloucester) that they were understanding of this struggle and didn’t hold it against him. Despite what he would have felt a failure he continued trying to bring peace between France and England. 

At this point he had been back home in France for almost a year and still hadn’t seen the king. Charles was invited to joint Philip in October of 1441. After two weeks they were joined by the Bastard. The goal in this meeting was to set up a conference between the princes of the blood to discuss peace with England. They wanted to meet in Nevers as soon as possible. Philip did realise during these meetings that they should probably include, oh, I don’t know, the king. Philip proposed that the king should be consulted and they should seek his approval before setting up a meeting. This probably would have been a good idea a few conference attempts earlier. Philip, likely, after his wife suggested it, decided this was also a good chance to help Charles and Charles get back onto good terms. To this end Philip had Charles write up the proposal for the king’s approval. Charles wrote to Charles VII as soon as he retuned to Blois. The Bastard personally carried his letter and proposal to the king. Charles VII was seemingly happy for this contact and responded immediately in both writing and through the Bastard (who you’ll remember had been winning back France for him while Charles had been imprisoned in England). The king approved of a meeting as soon as possible in Bourges. He did make note that he would have to look after the war effort if the meeting started too late. Charles proposed the 28th of January 1442 and shared this with Philip. He also asked Charles VII to invite Brittany. They had invited him to join them in Nevers, but he had declined. It does appear that his health was failing. 

This meeting did happen. The king didn’t really attend, but he approved of the proceedings, and he made it clear he wanted peace with England and wanted talks held in May. It was also important to the king that these talks not take place in Calais, mainly because Charles VII was sick of talks in Calais. If May couldn’t happen, he would meet in October and somewhere near Calais. He wanted the king of Scotland and Spain to attend. The princes should also send emissaries to England to convince them to send proper ambassadors, yes, don’t want a single clerk coming again. The princes asked, on Charles’ behalf, that the king return any property he had seize from Charles while he was imprisoned in England. The king denied he had taken anything, but promised to fund Charles regardless and told the other princes they should too. 

After this conference Charles and Charles finally met at Limoges on the 18th of May 1442. They were finally on good terms. Charles also got to meet the Dauphin Louis, which would have been, well, it would have happened. Charles VII also gave Charles 14,500 ecus that had been collected in taxes from his lands while he was gone. He also granted Charles 168,000 ecus. With this he was finally able to finish paying his ransom. He was also able to help pay some of his retainers for their long service. The one thing I did notice is there’s no mention of him paying anything towards John’s ransom with this. Yes, it seems that for the first time since his little brother was made a hostage Charles wasn’t thinking of him and this will lead to a little loss of love between the brothers in a few years time. The king did, during this time, ban Charles from contacting the English. Somehow Charles seemingly ignored this rule and wrote to England anyway. 

So what happened with this conference that all the princes and the king agreed on? Well, it didn’t happen, despite the English again selecting ambassadors. Henry VI even expressed his wants for a truce, and yup, yet again, nothing happened. The good thing is though that Charles VII started allowing Charles to act as is agent when dealing with the English. In addition Charles got to know the kings brothers-in-law Rene and Charles of Anjou. Rene in particular enjoyed poetry and would write to Charles regularly. 

So, finally, in 1444 France and England got together for negotiations. You’ll remember how in the start of this subject I discussed that we’d be looking at this period of history through French eyes, so Agincourt was devastating, and now we get to Suffolk’s negotiations for a bride of Henry VI from a French point of view. For the French these negotiations were great! Suffolk, who will soon have the shortest exile did take steps to protect himself from any fallout of these negotiations. He had asked that the king would not hold him responsible for any failures the embassy faced. This promise was even published, not that it will help him in a few years. Suffolk was a great choice and he and Charles would be able to negotiated directly with each other. Charles VII issued papers of credential for Charles and his other ambassadors in March of 1444. Charles VII sent his other ambassadors to bring Suffolk from Calais to Compiegne to meet with Charles. Of course, like every single example of game of telephone that diplomatic proceedings were in this age things changed. Instead of landing in Calais Suffolk landed in Harfleur and was going through Rouen to Le Mans. Suffolk managed to reach La Mans all on his own (with his English retainers).

All sides agreed that throughout these negotiations fighting should be stopped in the neighbouring territories. Suffolk, having been met by a French escort headed towards Blois to meet Charles. McLoud does suggest that this meeting would have been emotional, which based on Charles’ writings in general would not be surprising (he was aware and comfortable with his emotions). Charles time with Suffolk in England hadn’t been bad, and he saw Suffolk as a friend. Charles had been joined in Blois earlier by Rene of Anjou, they had been writing poetry while waiting. With Suffolk they set off for Tours, which the reached on the 16th of April. They were met there by Charles VII and Marie of Anjou, the queen, whose name I may not have mentioned yet. That isn’t intentional. In case you haven’t guest Rene of Anjou was her brother. Louis, the Dauphin was also at this meeting, he apparently was unimpressed and you know, just wanted to do something cool. Suffolk’s first proposal was for the marriage between Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, Rene’s youngest daughter, who was 15. Remember, there had been earlier suggestions of a higher ranking French princess, but they would have been Henry’s first cousins. I will say that almost every source I’ve read throughout the Hundred Years’ War episodes says either the English wanted Margaret of Anjou or the French wouldn’t hand over one of Charles VII’s daughters, I honestly don’t think we’ll ever know exactly why Margaret was chosen, and really it doesn’t matter, she was. Oh, and the House of Anjou was broke, so they couldn’t really offer a dowery, but they would like Maine. Which, as you know, Suffolk agreed to on the king’s behalf. Charles VII and Marie along with Margaret’s parents approved of the match immediately. She and her mother went to their properties to begin preparing for her long voyage. Now, this was still a peace conference, not just a wedding proposal. The French offered the English Guienne, Quercy (care c), Pergola, and Calais, all with homage. In exchange Suffolk offered a long truce. This truce was only meant to last from May 1444 to April 1445, but it ended up lasting five years! Once the negotiations were complete Charles was the first to sign the Treaty of Tours. 

Now with the treaty sorted out maybe Charles should, I don’t know, maybe get his brother John out of England? Yes, Charles had been back in France for three and a half years and hadn’t done anything during this time to get his brother home. Luckily for John though his current keeper, John Beaufort was apparently a kind jailer. In addition Beaufort was close to Suffolk. During the negotiations for the Treaty of Tours  John was actually in France! He had come over with Beaufort when Beaufort came to France to act as lieutenant-general of the army. While he was in France John was more easily able to write to his French friends and supporters. His first letter went to his brothers, Charles and the Bastard. In this letter he thanked Charles for some wine he had sent him, and then he asked for money, mainly some of the funding Burgundy had given to Charles. He was rather broke, and these funds would help greatly. This was also a bit of a round about way for John to ask his brothers to, you know, get him out of jail. Charles, of course, wrote back right away tell him he’d do his best. Charles, the Bastard, and Suffolk all met to discuss what they could do to help John. A plan was hatched.

So, what was this plan? Charles and the Bastard would need to pay 1/6th of John’s ransom upfront and the remaining 5/6th over time. Once the initial payment was made John would be released. Now, the numbers given don’t actually matter, it’s no where near the amount of Charles’ ransom, remember, even though John was the fourth man in the kingdom, he was still a younger son. While Beaufort would die prior to the full amount being paid his widow made sure every penny was collected, by him dying prior I mean he died prior to any payments being made or even negotiations being finished. Once this agreement was made Charles set about raising funds. As no one should be surprised, John was not too pleased that Charles had taken so long. Not long after he wrote the first letter he wrote a second letter that wasn’t friendly or kind, it was helpful, but mean spirited. John warned Charles that he had heard rumours while staying with the English army. The first thing he shared was that Henry VI and Margaret needed to consummate their marriage quickly, really, the level that everyone worried about a king’s sex life is disturbing. He told Charles he needed to get Charles VII to Paris and that Charles needed to stay close to the king. He also warned Charles that he needed to double check his governor of finance’s sums. This man was rather trusted, so this was a bit shocking. John also was unloving in the letter and told Charles off for taking so long to look after him. What’s even more interesting is that he wrote to the Bastard at the same time, and this letter was kind and grateful. I’d like to point out that both brothers should have been working on this earlier. I know Charles had more funding, but the Bastard should probably have been told off a little anyway. There is a chance that John was worried Charles wouldn’t take the letter seriously unless John kept the tone serious. Sadly, despite the work of Charles, the Bastard, and Suffolk John was sent back to England. That whole Beaufort dying thing came at a bad time. Thankfully for John Suffolk didn’t give up. John was finally returned to Rouen in March 1445 and freed by Suffolk. He was 46, and while it’s heartbreaking that he spent much of his life in prison John would live well into his sixties and marry four years after his return. He and his wife, Marguerite, would have two surviving children, Charles, as in Charles of Angouleme, our next subject, and Joan. John will come up a few more times, but I just wanted to remind you all of his importance in this series. 

Suffolk was in Rouen specifically for a marriage, the marriage of Margaret of Anjou and Henry VI by proxy, with Suffolk acting as that proxy. Yeah, royal weddings can be a bit odd. He did try to help Charles out after releasing John by letting John know that Charles had played a huge part in his life. With this deed done Suffolk left France to escort Margaret of Anjou to England, for what I’m sure will be a boring reign as queen consort (I’m kidding, it’s going to be busy Margaret, sorry it doesn’t work out well for you). 

After his brother’s release, Charles sent him a bunch of money. It appears the first time they saw each other was in Nancy in April 1445. Charles and his wife Marie were there visiting Charles VII and his queen at their court. Everyone was, of course, please to see John, remember he’d been gone for more than 30 years! He’d left as a child and now they were looking at a grown man. Once everyone had become reacquainted Charles, and Marie, along with John headed to Paris. They had plans to meet their sister, Margaret. This was not just a family reunion, Charles was going to finish up a bit of paperwork. Now that John was back in the country Charles needed to sort out the inheritance from both Louis of Orleans and Philip, their brother who died while Charles and John were in England. Once this was sorted he returned to Blois with Marie.

As I’ve mentioned, Blois was Charles’ favourite residence. And he spent a great deal of his wealth in the upkeep and expansion of this property. Marie was apparently happy there, she loves hunting and falconry far more than he did, and would spend her free time in the outdoors. Charles on the other hand spent his time in his library. For the next two years Charles stayed in Blois except to attend the Order of the Golden Fleece meeting. He returned immediately to Blois once this meeting was done. But, something happened in Italy, which forced him to leave his lovely favourite city. 

In Milan in August of 1447 Filippo Maria Visconti died. Do you remember him? He was the Duke of Milan and Charles’ uncle through Valentina. A quick note, Sforza had handed over the governorship of Asti to the Bastard in 1443, but the Bastard, due to his military efforts in France was an absentee governor. John even warned Charles that he needed to pay more attention to Asti in 1444 upon his return, but Charles hadn’t really done much. With Filippo Maria's death there was going to be a struggle over Milan. Filippo Maria had willed the duchy to the king of Aragon. This is going to come out to a lot of nothing for Charles, but he needed to secure his city, Asti. What was also important is that legally he should be the Duke of Milan, based on generally recognised inheritance. He was the oldest legitimate nephew of the last Duke and the Milanese didn’t practice Salic Law. Instead Sforza used in marriage to Bianca Maria, Filippo Maria’s only child, who was illegitimate, to claim Milan. So, Charles finally needed to sort things out. He didn’t have the funds or an army to go to Milan, but he did have other options. You may remember that Charles and Philip the Good had signed a treaty, this treaty happened to include a mutual assistance. So, Charles went to Milan, via Burgundy, the good news is this wouldn’t make his trip that much longer. Philip the Good didn’t give Charles troops or funds, but he did allow Charles to raise troops from Burgundian towns. While he was there he met with Olivier de la Marche, who would one day chronicle the Burgundian court. In addition to Philip’s help, Charles VII also allowed Charles to raise funds. 

With this help Charles crossed the Alps and entered Asti on the 16th of October 1447. Stores was trying to take control of the city, but it would not open the gates to him, Charles however was another story. He was greeted with joy, he actually stayed in the city until August of 1448. While he was there he sent orators to Milan to lay a formal claim to the duchy. Now, Charles will never actually hold Milan. The city of Asti though will continue to send Charles his portion of their tax annually for the rest of his life. His son, Lous XII will make good on the claim to the Duchy, but this isn’t his episode, since he did rule. On his return to France he spent a days in Orleans before he returned to Blois. He was actually ill on his return, you may not have realised this, but at this point he was almost 54. His own doctor cared for him, of course, but the Queen’s doctor was actually called to assist. He, obviously recovered, because spoilers, he lives a bit longer. 

While Charles had been in Italy the Bastard had won La Mans back from the English. This was one of the many victories that will lead to the end of the Hundred Years’ War. Upon Charles’ recovery the King and Queen paid him a state visit. They discussed helping the citizens of Asti. Charles had also brought two citizens with him on his return. These brother, wrote letters back to the people of Asti to keep the city’s morale high. And while Charles’ attempt at gaining the Duchy of Milan came to nothing it didn’t stop him from trying to help protect Asti and try to push his claim. He went to Amiens in Burgundy again to try to raise funds, he may have actually started annoying Philip, but as always the Burgundian was a gracious host. He returned to Blois in February 1449. That year Charles’ younger brother, John, got married, I did mention this would happen. After this he went to brother Philip one more time. And this time he managed to get some funding out of it. Once he had gotten back home in September os 1449 he was about to get some good news. 

In October the Bastard drove the English out of Rouen. This means that some of Charles’ towns in Normandy were returned to him! This of course means more money, because those cities will be sending their taxes to him. It also means that he can could look into restoring these towns as needed. He would visit Rouen in December 1449 through January 1450. Marie traveled with Charles.

Now, I’ve mentioned Marie’s health earlier. She had been unwell at various times throughout her travels. She even stayed in Blois while Charles was in Italy. In March 1450 she was unwell again. They needed to return to Blois for her to recover. Thankfully she did, of course. Marie, at this point 24, was still able to ride and hunt, which were her loves. Even with her illnesses it does appear that she made time for these when she was well. She had also adopted Valentina’s device ‘nothing is to me anymore is nothing to me anymore.’ I’m not going to butcher it in French, but it is just a note of how Charles influenced his wife and likely how she wanted to show her care for him. 

Charles and John’s relationship had improved since the latter’s return. They would share books from their respective vast libraries. John had also brought back a large library from England. He also kept in touch with his sister and her son, Francis. He even gave Francis a small pension, which was nice, because at the time Francis was the cousin of the Duke of Brittany who had brothers and was still young enough to have sons. Yeah, Francis was an unlikely Duke of Brittany. 

In addition to keeping in contact with his family Charles formed his own little court at his palace. This wasn’t a rival court to his cousin, Charles VII. No, this was a court of learning and poetry. In addition to regular visitors, including the princes of the blood, international negotiators, and occasionally the king and queen Charles had his own full-time guests. The most important was Pierre or Peter of Bourbon. Peter was the third son of the current Duke of Bourbon. If you’re confused as to which Bourbon this is, the fist Bourbon in this series was the great-grandfather of Peter. John, the Bourbon who was captured at Agincourt was Peter’s grandfather. I hope that helps, believe it or not there will be one more Duke of Bourbon to succeed in Charles’ lifetime. Peter lived at Blois full-time and Charles and Marie acted as his guardians. He was occasionally joined by Albret’s grandson. The other members of this court of learning were the sons and grandsons of the minor nobility and landed gentry. These men were often the higher ranked servants in each duchy and their sons and grandsons needed to be comfortable interacting with the higher nobility to be useful for the country. These young men and boys would often act as say a cup barer or meat carver. Not difficult, back-breaking work, just little jobs to justify their presence at the great houses. For those living in Charles’ Blois property they would also receive a first-class education in the art of poetry and rhetoric. Charles would hold regular poetry tournaments or debates or even games. Yes, it was not dissimilar to a poetry slam, with the older statesmen leading the younger men to stretch their rhetorical skills. It sounds like fun to me, though, being a woman, I might not have been invited. They would use philosophy and history to further strengthen their prose. Valentine’s day was a special day for poets, as it can be today. Charles would take pains to assure that the young men weren’t being too cliche with their compositions. He would also take care to write the last bit of the final poem himself, just to help the boys out. 

Further with his love of poetry his letters to friends were often written in verse, at least in part. His friend, would attempt to respond in kind. I’m not saying they weren’t talented, but they were compared to a master. Peter’s older brother, John the current Count of Clermont, was Charles’ favourite chess partners. He had one of the best nicknames, well, if you were French ‘The Scourge of the English’. Charles appears to have enjoyed playing board games almost as much as he enjoyed writing poetry. His account books show that he regularly won these games. In May of 1450 Charles would have received sad news from England. His friend, William de la Pole, who had been his kind jailer had experienced the shortest exile in history. He had been punished for the losses of parts of France with a five year exile. He left England on the 2nd of May and on the way to Calais his ship had been boarded by pirates or privateers. He was forced to go through a mock trial after which he was executed. I’ve obviously shared this death earlier, during Richard 3rd Duke of York’s episodes. And I wanted to share it in Charles’ episodes because I want to make sure we remember that there is often more than one side to many issues, not all issues, but many. It’s interesting to note that even though this event would have impacted him he didn’t write any poetry about it. And it seems that he kept politics out of most of his work. So, even though Suffolk had been a friend he had also been part of the politics of the day. 

While Charles usually avoided political poetry as the French won more of their country back from the English he did take a bit of a shot at Henry. You’ll remember back to the second episode where Henry V, after winning Agincourt, tells Charles that the English had won because God wanted to punish the French. As word of these French victories came through Charles included the line ‘It appears they are hated by god’ in one of his many poems from the period. He finishes with ‘Their great pride completely crushed, And gave you back Guyenne and Normandy’. You may remember that the Hundred Years’ War ended on the 17th of July 1453.

With the death of Suffolk, again, and the end of the Hundred Years’ War, again, I’m going to stop for the day. There will be one more episode. I know you’re probably all wondering when we’re going to find out about his son, you know, the one who will be Louis XII. Well, that will be coming towards the end of next week’s episode. Yes, Charles actually has four children, and I’ve only mentioned his oldest thus far. Next week will sadly see the end of his story. I know that this being a history podcast, each of these subjects will die at some point, but some are a bit harder than others when they go. I don’t miss a certain Burgundian, but I’m going to miss talking about Charles. I hope you will all join me next week.

Charles of Orleans, Part Six:

Welcome back to the conclusion of Charles of Orleans’ story. I’m so happy you’ve chosen to be here. Last week I covered Charles’ return to France and his work to bring about peace between France and England. I also looked at this life at Blois and is attempt at claiming the Duchy of Milan upon the death of his uncle. This week there will be some more negotiating, but we’ll see Charles slowly heading into old age. 

Charles’ help was requested by Philip the Good in September of 1454. Philip’s son, Charles the Bold was almost 21 and a widower. His first wife, Catherine of France, Charles VII’s daughter, had died in 1446, when he was only 12. Philip had set his sights on Isabella of Bourbon, the second daughter of Charles of Bourbon (Isabella was Peter of Bourbon’s older sister). As part of this betrothal Philip badly wanted a bit of Bourbon property that happened to be surrounded by Burgundian territory. Bourbon though had said no. So, Philip needed Charles. Charles, along with Marie, met with Philip, Isabella of Portugal, Charles the Bold, and the Count of Clermont along with his wife, Princess Joan and daughter of Charles VII, the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon didn’t join them, but sent ambassadors. The Duke was a bit unwell. The ambassadors would not agree to Philip’s requests, so Charles said it was time to appeal to the king, but he did it rather carefully. He asked Joan to intercede with her father. Charles, of course, also communicated with the king. Charles VII told Bourbon to just give the land to Philip and get their kids married. Yes, papal dispensation was needed, because well, everyone is related. The wedding took place at the end of October 1454. Charles and Philip’s friendship continued throughout this period. 

After helping Philip with this marital problem Charles travelled back to Blois through La Charite. Philip had sent him a letter that his chancellor would be visiting Charles there. Philip wanted to go on Crusade. You’re asking, which Crusade? Well, Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, just a year earlier. Philip wanted to go help Constantinople. Charles VII had said no already, but Philip was hoping that Charles could change his mind. At first it looked like this might happen. Charles VII was favourable to the idea when Charles approached him. Sadly for Philip when it was put to the king again he said no. Charles wasn’t seemingly bothered by the king’s decision, just sad that he couldn’t help bring Philip and the king closer together.

Patrons may know what’s coming next. In November of 1455 the University of Paris and church leaders in France began the rehabilitation trial of Joan of Arc. This should be a happy thing for all involved, but for one of Joan’s closest companions this was the beginning of the end. Alencon, Charles son-in-law (granted, not legally for decades now, but they were still close) had been struggling for more than 20 years to recover the town and castle of Fougeres. He had sold it at a cut price in 1427 to the then Duke of Brittany to help secure his own ransom. The Duke of Brittany, and the three subsequent dukes wouldn’t sell the town back to Alencon, regardless of price. Alencon had started drinking in excess in the 1440s and 50s. He had though asked the king to assist him to get Fougeres back throughout the years, but of course, since Brittany was basically independent Charles VII couldn’t help. Alencon decided the key to getting his town back would be to get the English to invade again and then take the territory and give it back to him. Yes, this sounds like a bad plan and is treason. Alencon had shared this idea with the English, and as no one should be surprised the correspondence was shared with Charles VII. The king, of course, ordered Alencon’s arrest, he ordered the Bastard to do so. You’ll remember these men had spent much of their life fighting the English together and they were friends. In what I can only imagine was the most uncomfortable moment of the Bastard’s life he waited until his friend and nephew-in-law had finished giving his testimony at Joan’s rehabilitation trial, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked Alencon to join him outside. Once he had removed him from the busy area he arrested Alencon and took him to the king. 

Alencon’s trial was well attended, as one would expect, he was one of the highest ranking princes (I might have forgotten to mention that he was a male-line descendant of Philip III). Charles, of course, spoke at this trial. He didn’t try to deny Alencon’s guilt, but, like Caesar addressing the Senate during the Caitlin Conspiracy, stressed that Alencon should be allowed to live, under guard, so that he could better his soul. Charles emphasised that Alencon’s plans would have hurt him personally, but he still wanted Alencon to live. In addition he did not want Alencon’s wife and children to be punished for his crimes. Charles VII in the end did pass the sentence of death, but delayed execution. He also didn’t attained Alencon, which protected his holdings for his family. Only the duchy of Alencon was forfeit, though Alencon’s son, Rene, would eventually gain this back. Interestingly the public thought this sentence waste harsh. Alencon would remain in the king’s custody for the next five years. Patron will know already that Alencon will be released by Louis XI upon his accession. It sadly won’t end well for him, sorry. 

Charles was called on one more time for his negotiating skills on the 18th of May 1456. The Dauphin, Louis, having realised that maybe he should try to get along with his dad. You know, after all the rebellions, and arguing, and just being a stroppy prince. He wrote to Charles asking him to try to act as the contact point between Charles VII and himself. Charles realised that this would be an impossible task and actually said no. It was one of the rare moments where Charles realised even his skill would not meet the need. In case you’re curious Charles VII and Louis will never reconcile. In fact, Louis lived in Burgundy until he became king after having fled there following one of the many fallings out between him and his father. 

We’re getting to the point of Charles being in middle to old age. For us we don’t think of our 50s as old by any stretch, most wouldn’t even think of most 60 year olds as old. In this time though 50 was the start of old age. In his 60s Charles was starting to notice that cold weather bothered him in a way that wouldn’t sound odd today. He wrote a poem accusing youth of selling him cheaply to old age and he further wrote a poem going through the maladies of old age. I won’t be reading it to you, but know it isn’t just a whinge about getting old. Despite his age he had a few more bits of excitement left for him. On the 19th of December 1457 his second daughter Marie, was born. Had her older sister been alive Joan would have been 48. Charles himself had just turned 63. Marie was actually 31, which is a bit older for a first child in the upper classes. I have mentioned how she struggled with her health while she and Charles were traveling often. It appears remaining in Blois for a few years may have helped her, both her health and her ability to conceive. It could also be that the couple chose to delay having children for some unknown reason. They had been married for 17 years, it would be almost five years before the couple had their second child. His new daughter inspired him to verse (and I do apologise for my translation):

When they haven’t slept enough.

These little children

They carry under their bonnets

Faces full of bobo

It’s a pity if the do jojo

Too early, sweethearts

As they haven’t slept enough

These little children

Better amass galore

Lie on your cushions

Because they are so pampered

Alas! che gnogno, gnogno

When you haven’t slept enough

As a parent I wish I had possessed the brain power to compose poetry when my children were babies. I’m kind of amazing I have the brain power to do this when I started and my youngest children were one and a half then.

Charles’ skills in negotiation and conflict resolution would be needed again in May 1459. That month Charles VII called a council to well, list all the problems he had with Philip the Good. This list included Philip harbouring Louis, the Dauphin. Charles struggled because he felt he owed loyalty to the king as his, you know, king, and Philip as the person who had freed him. Thankfully council, including Charles were able to persuade Charles VII to not deal with the Burgundian problem for the moment. 

Thankfully the next year brought some joy for Charles. His only surviving child, little Marie, made her public entrance into Orleans in July of 1460. This was something that girls usually didn’t do, but at this point Charles was 65 and it looked like she would be his only child. He wanted to present her as his heir. In July he also seemed finally ready to deal with Milan, but then he just didn’t. Had had written to Charles VII asking for permission for himself, his brother John, and Francis of Brittany, his nephew, to go work on the problem, but ended up not going. Part of the reason might have actually have been the king. He had been unwell throughout 1460 and 1461. On the 12th of July 1461 he died at 58. 

Charles, now re-elivated  to the third man in the kingdom (he had been displaced by Charles VII’s younger son), was responsible for the king’s funeral. Louis, now the king, didn’t even bother coming to court for his father’s funeral. He did make sure he got to Reims the month after his father died for his own coronation. The funeral service for the king took three weeks. With Louis XI accession Philip the Good took a leading role in the kingdom again. He and Louis had been close and had both butted heads with Charles VII. Philip took charge and paid for the celebrations for Louis’ coronation. Philip loved the opulence of these parties, while Louis dressed plainly and looked far less regal than the Burgundian faction. Oddly, despite Philip and Charles being on good terms Louis didn’t seem to trust his cousin. To be honest, Louis disliked most people, probably including himself. Louis knew that Charles was no threat to him (remember, he had done a really good job not taking advantage at any point in his life), but this actually made Louis worry that he needed to be more concerned about Charles. Look, I really cannot deal with Louis XI for long, he will do my head in, but Charles has a lot more patience than I will ever have. He invited Louis to Orleans after the coronation. Louis traveled there with Charles on the 30th of September. 

While the new king was visiting his territories Charles had his daughter, Marie, betrothed to Peter of Bourbon, he cousin. This betrothal was solemnised three years later, but would never happen. Instead Louis would eventually have Peter marry his own daughter, Anne. Yes, that Anne the one that Patron in the heir apparent and usurped tiers will soon be getting an episode about. Anne was all of five and a half months old at this moment in time though. 

Now, don’t think about the maths too much, but on the 27th of June 1462, almost nine months after Louis’ visit Charles and Marie welcomed their only son, Louis. He was, like Charles, named for his god father, and like Charles his god-father was the king (and oddly, his god-father would also become his father-in-law). Louis, unlike Charles VI, though was miserable throughout little Louis’ christening and hardly spoke to Marie. It is possible he was hoping Charles would never have a son and he, Louis could get Orleans back. I should note that at this point Charles brother, John, had one son, Charles of Angouleme, yes, our next subject. But Louis XI seemed to dislike Charles in general. Charles was, of course, 67 when his first son was born. Charles and Marie would have one more child, a daughter in 1464. 

Probably due to Louis’ dislike of Charles he proposed his younger daughter, Joan, as a future wife for little Louis in 1464. It’s likely when this was suggested that Joan’s physical disabilities were known within the royal family. Yet, again, let me emphasise that Joan was a brilliant well educated woman, and would have made a great queen consort, had she been able to have children. Louis had made this decision on his own and instead of reaching out to his cousin sent his bailiff to negotiate with Charles. This marriage wasn’t fully arranged before Charles’ death. Which sadly, we’re getting close to, but we’re not there yet.

At this point Charles is properly beginning to show his age. He was feeling old and unwell more often. He was also being hurt by king Louis regularly. Louis XI seemed intent on helped Sforza maintain power in Milan. Louis even encouraged Sforza to make an insulting offer to buy Asti from Charles. Charles would never give up this town, because he saw it not just as his right, but something he should protect. The town equally loved him. Sforza told Charles that once he was dead Sforza would take it anyway. It was pretty harsh, Sforza would hold Milan until his death, and his children would inherit from him, but Charles’ son Louis would eventually become Duke of Milan. Louis, oddly, seemed worried that one of Charles’ allies, Brittany, would use the excuse of Milan to cause more havoc for Louis. Brittany had written to the Duke of Modena and the Venetian to assist Charles in gaining Milan. Louis saw this all as a threat. In general Louis didn’t trust any of his princes. Plus, Brittany was close to Charles the Bold, who wasn’t close to Philip. Really, French politics is going to be a lot of family disagreements until the revolution. Just assume they’re all worried one of their cousins is going to usurp their throne. Oh, and now that Louis is king he suddenly doesn’t get along well with Philip. Yes, so Charles wasn’t the only one on the outs with the king. 

At the end of 1464 Louis decided that he needed to tell of his princes in person. He ‘invited’ them to Tours and proceeded to tell them off as though they were children. The princes, were understandably confused. They had actually all been getting along pretty well since England had been kicked out. There was Alencon’s slip up, though Louis had released him, but really, the princes were getting along. At this point Lous had only been king for three years and was yelling at his leading men because things weren’t perfect yet. He had inherited a kingdom that was traumatised by over one hundred years of war, that had started experiencing peace for the first time in three generations and he was angry that things weren’t fixed already. He thought they were working against him. 

Charles was not well at this point and probably shouldn’t be speaking. However, Rene of Anjou was ready to speak for them. He responded with confusion. The princes were deeply worried about the king’s suspicious nature. Rene protested their loyalty and told the king ‘We have been, some of us, prisoners in order to preserve the loyalty to the crown, and suffered many injuries and losses.’ Continuing Rene asked the king to not think of them with suspicion. He defended Brittany’s letters and almost mocked the king for thinking they were against him. Now, Louis behaviour, will, in years to come, lead to his princes uniting against him. After Rene was done Charles did speak. He told the king that by sowing discord among his princes he would create havoc in his kingdom. Louis, not expecting Charles, who was near 70 if not there, to tell him off lashed out. He verbally abused his elder statesman who had shown his loyalty throughout his life and had worked tirelessly to maintain Valois France. This was likely one of the only times Charles had been verbally abused. Really, he was deeply respected, both in England and France. He was still the third man in France and he was, yet again, 70! No one should be surprised that the princes eventually got tired of being treated this way. 

For Charles though this was the beginning of the end. After leaving the meeting he started traveling towards Blois, but never made it. His health, which was poor, because he was 70 in the middle ages, forced him to stop in Amboise, which isn’t that far outside of Tours. He died overnight on the 4th to the 5th of January 1465. Marie, his wife, likely didn’t make it to him. She had just given birth to their youngest child, Anne, who likely never met her father. 

With this Marie was left a widow, at only 38 with three very young children. Little Marie had just turned eight, Louis was not even three, and Anne, was of course, an infant. Marie would do much to help Louis rule his duchy, she would live until 60. In what would have been a minor scandal she remarried at the age of 53 to an unnamed gentleman of the chamber, basically a servant. Her son wasn’t king at this point, so it didn’t cause him too many issues. She would actually die before little Louis became Louis XII. While Charles would have had little direct influence on his son’s life his servants, friends, and family would have shared his story with little Louis. Louis’s uncle, John, only lived two years longer than Charles. And the Bastard lived one year longer. Both had sons who were influential to their much younger cousin. Louis XII will earn the soubriquet ‘the father of the people’. Yes his annulment was scandalous, accusing your wife of sorcery and being so horrific you couldn’t consummate your marriage is pretty harsh. But overall his kingship is well regarded, sadly, that credit can’t all go to Charles, since sadly he didn’t get to spend any time with him. I think most would like to think that Charles’ work led directly to his son’s successful rule. He was a humble, thoughtful man, who wanted peace, and who governed the territories he oversaw well. Charles was well respected in general and Louis XI’s outburst at him near the end of his life was shocking to all. 

Analysis:

So, let me answer the question, would Charles of Orleans have been a better ruler than the person who ruled in his stead? Well, unlike most earlier passed Charles wasn’t even eligible to rule until more than thirty years after he died. I think he would have been just as good of a king as his son. But, instead, let me look at those who ruled while Charles was alive. First up, his uncle, Charles VI. I think we can all agree that having a king during a time of greater state power being held by the king having a king with severe mental health issues is not a good thing. I’m not making any judgements about mental illness, just a ruler having a mental illness that prevents them from ruling. So, yes, I think Charles of Orleans would have been a much better king than his uncle, but he would have been too young for a lot of Charles VI’s rule. I don’t think Louis of Orleans, Charles’ father would have been a particularly impressive king, but I don’t think John the Fearless’ choice to kill him helped France in any way. 

To the next, Charles VII. This one I need to be careful with. Charles VII is usually a rather popular king, but I’m always unimpressed by him. He would often shirk responsibility, give up quickly, especially during battles, and just overall not very kingly. He was though, an important figurehead, and it’s doubtful Joan of Arc would have supported anyone else. But at the end of the day, his two great generals were the Bastard and Alencon, along with the other princes of the blood and Brittany. All of these men would have followed Charles. The one problem is, if Charles VII hadn’t been around then John the Fearless might have lived another 10, 15, 20 years. His son, Philip, lives to 70 and his father, Philip, lived to 62. John died at 49, and with him alive Charles would not be getting any support. So, I need Charles VII, then the Dauphin, to off John, yeah, I don’t feel even a little bad saying that. I my mind Charles versus Charles VII are two very different potential kings who would have ended up with similar results. 

Finally Louis XI, well, um, yes. Charles would have been a much better king that Louis XI. Charles didn’t seem to suffer from any paranoia and was a natural peacemaker. Louis on the other hand lashed out at his princes, didn’t trust those around him and was not even thinking about making peace. Louis XI was unpopular with most of Europe as well, oddly, the only thing that really helped him with England was the, um, change in leadership that happened the year prior to his accession (that whole Yorkist overthrow of the Lancastrians thing). Louis XI also left things worse for his son than things had been left for him. 

Before I leave Charles I thought I’d share a few things about him that Enid McLeod wrote. I also realised I forgot to share my main source, which was Charles of Orleans by Enid McLeod, I do apologise. I actually really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. It’s considered a rare book because it’s out of print, but you’ll be able to find it inexpensively from most secondhand online retailers. I grabbed mine through World of Books in Australia, but Abe Books had it as well. The first came at the very start of the book.

‘Never a ruler himself, he was to give France one of her best kings. And finally, apart from all such mundane matters, he was destined to become that rare thing in any period, a prince who was also a true poet and whose most individual voice can still evoke the pains and pleasures of his existence over 500 years ago.’ (p. 15)

I just wanted to say to all of you thank you as always for listening. I’m always grateful for the support. Please remember to check out Emmanuel’s Lafayette We Are Here. You’ll get to listen to French words pronounced correctly while hearing well written stories about some of the more fascinating subjects of French history. 

Now, I’ve realised while going through Charles’ story I have forgotten someone very important for this miniseries, Charles of Valois! He’ll probably poison my wine soon. I’ve decided to add him to the end of this miniseries because I don’t want you to miss out on him. So, once I’m finished Princess Isabella Clara Eugenia I will be covering Charles of Valois. Sorry, you’ll have to wait a while, but he’s worth it. 

https://slate.com/technology/2013/09/death-in-childbirth-doctors-increased-maternal-mortality-in-the-20th-century-are-midwives-better.html