Editing Charles IV of France (section)

==Personality and marriage==
By virtue of the birthright of his mother, [[Joan I of Navarre]], Charles claimed the title Charles I, King of Navarre. From 1314 to his accession to the throne, he held the title of [[Count of La Marche]] and was crowned King of France in 1322 at the cathedral in [[Reims]]. Unlike [[Philip IV of France|Philip IV]] and [[Philip V of France|Philip V]], Charles is reputed to have been a relatively conservative, "strait-laced" king<ref>Sumption, p.101.</ref> – he was "inclined to forms and stiff-necked in defence of his prerogatives",<ref name="Sumption">Sumption, p.97.</ref> while disinclined either to manipulate them to his own ends or achieve wider reform.<ref name="Sumption" />

[[File:Mariage de Charles IV le Bel et de Marie de Luxembourg.jpg|thumb|left|Marriage of Charles IV and Marie of Luxembourg, by [[Jean Fouquet]].]]
[[File:Blason comte fr Touraine.svg|thumb|right|Charles's [[coat-of-arms]] from when he was Count of La Marche.]]

Charles married his first wife, [[Blanche of Burgundy]], the daughter of [[Otto IV, Count of Burgundy]], in 1308, but Blanche was caught up in the ''[[Tour de Nesle affair|Tour de Nesle]]'' scandals of 1314 and imprisoned.<ref name="Williams">Echols and Williams, p.87.</ref> After Charles assumed the throne he refused to release Blanche, their marriage was annulled, and Blanche retreated to a nunnery.<ref name="Williams" /> His second wife, [[Marie of Luxembourg, Queen of France|Marie of Luxembourg]], the daughter of [[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VII]], the Holy Roman Emperor, died following a premature birth.<ref>Echols and Williams, p.328.</ref>

Charles married again in 1325, this time to [[Jeanne d'Évreux]]: she was his first cousin, and the marriage required approval from [[Pope John XXII]]. Jeanne was crowned queen in 1326, in one of the better recorded French coronation ceremonies.<ref name="Lord2">Lord, p.47.</ref> The ceremony represented a combination of a political statement, social event, and an "expensive fashion statement";<ref name="Lord">Lord, p.48.</ref> the cost of food, furs, velvets, and jewellery for the event was so expensive that negotiations over the cost were still ongoing in 1329.<ref name="Lord" /> The coronation was also the first appearance of the latterly famous medieval cook, [[Guillaume Tirel]], then only a junior servant.<ref name="Lord" />

During the first half of his reign Charles relied heavily on his uncle, [[Charles, Count of Valois|Charles of Valois]], for advice and to undertake key military tasks.<ref name="Kibler1" /> Charles of Valois was a powerful magnate in his own right, a key advisor to [[Louis X of France|Louis X]],<ref>Kibler, p.210.</ref> and he had made a bid for the regency in 1316, initially championing Louis X's daughter [[Joan II of Navarre|Joan]], before finally switching sides and backing Philip V.<ref name="Wagner">Wagner, p.250.</ref> Charles of Valois would have been aware that if Charles died without male heirs, he and his [[House of Valois|male heirs]] would have a good claim to the crown.<ref name="Kibler1" />