Editing Charles V of France (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Charles was born at the [[Château de Vincennes]] outside of Paris, the son of [[John II of France|Prince John]] and [[Bonne of Luxembourg|Princess Bonne]] of France.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Henneman |first=John Bell Jr. |title=Charles V the Wise |date=2006 |encyclopedia=Key Figures in Medieval Europe:An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-97385-4 |editor-last=Emmerson |editor-first=Richard Kenneth |page=127 |ol=17240682M}}</ref> He was educated at court with other boys of his age with whom he would remain close throughout his life: his uncle [[Philip, Duke of Orléans]] (only two years older than himself), his three brothers [[Louis I, Duke of Anjou|Louis]], [[John, Duke of Berry|John]], and [[Philip the Bold|Philip]], [[Louis II, Duke of Bourbon|Louis of Bourbon]], [[Edward II, Count of Bar|Edward]] and [[Robert, Duke of Bar|Robert]] of [[Duchy of Bar|Bar]], Godfrey of Brabant, [[Louis I, Count of Étampes]], [[Louis, Duke of Durazzo|Louis of Évreux]], brother of [[Charles II of Navarre|Charles the Bad]], [[John of Artois, Count of Eu|John]] and [[Charles of Artois, Count of Pézenas|Charles]] of [[County of Artois|Artois]], [[Charles III, Count of Alençon|Charles of Alençon]], and [[Philip I, Duke of Burgundy|Philip of Rouvres]].

The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. This made a sharp contrast to his father, who was tall, strong and sandy-haired.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perroy |first=Édouard |title=The Hundred Years War |date=1959 |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode |location=London |page=146 |translator-last=Wells |translator-first=W. B. |author-link=Édouard Perroy}}</ref>

===First Dauphin of the French Royal House===
[[Humbert II of Viennois|Humbert II, Dauphin of Viennois]], ruined due to his inability to raise taxes after a crusade in the Middle East, and childless after the death of his only son, decided to sell the Dauphiné, which was a fief of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Neither the pope nor the emperor wanted to buy and the transaction was concluded with Charles' grandfather, the reigning King [[Philip VI of France|Philip VI]].

Under the [[Treaty of Romans]], the Dauphiné of Viennois was to be held by a son of the future king [[John II of France|John the Good]]. So it was Charles, the eldest son of the latter, who became the first Dauphin. At the age of twelve, he was suddenly vested power while in [[Grenoble]] (10 December 1349 to March 1350). A few days after his arrival, the people of Grenoble were invited to the Place Notre-Dame, where a platform was erected. Young Charles took his place next to Bishop John of Chissé and received the oath of allegiance of the people. In exchange, he publicly promised to respect the community charter and confirmed the liberties and franchises of Humbert II, which were summed up in a solemn statute before he signed his abdication and granted a last amnesty to all prisoners, except those facing the penalty of death.

On 8 April 1350 at [[Tain-l'Hermitage]], the Dauphin married his cousin [[Joanna of Bourbon]] at the age of 12. The prior approval of the pope was obtained for this [[Consanguinity|consanguineous]] marriage (both were descended from [[Charles, Count of Valois|Charles of Valois]]). The marriage was delayed by the death of his mother [[Bonne of Luxembourg]] and his grandmother [[Joan the Lame of Burgundy|Joan the Lame]], swept away by the plague (he no longer saw them after he left for the Dauphiné). The dauphin himself had been seriously ill from August to December 1349. Gatherings were limited to slow the spread of the plague then raging in Europe, so the marriage took place in private.

The control of Dauphiné was valuable to the [[Kingdom of France]], because it occupied the [[Rhône]] Valley, a major trade route between the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] and [[northern Europe]] since ancient times, putting them in direct contact with [[Avignon]], a papal territory and diplomatic center of [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]]. Despite his young age, the dauphin applied to be recognized by his subjects, interceding to stop a war raging between two vassal families, and gaining experience that was very useful to him.

===Mission in Normandy===
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2023}}
Charles was recalled to [[Paris]] at the death of his grandfather Philip VI and participated in the coronation of his father John the Good on 26 September 1350 in [[Reims]]. The legitimacy of John the Good, and that of the Valois in general, was not unanimous. His father, Philip VI, had lost all credibility with the disasters of [[Battle of Crécy|Crécy]], [[Siege of Calais (1346)|Calais]], the ravages of [[Black Death|the plague]], and the monetary changes needed to support the royal finances. The royal clan had to cope with opposition from all sides in the kingdom.

The first of these was led by [[Charles II of Navarre]], called "the Bad", whose mother [[Joan II of Navarre]] had renounced the crown of France for that of Navarre in 1328. Charles II of Navarre was the eldest of a powerful lineage. Ambitious of attaining the crown of France, he managed to gather around him the malcontents. He was supported by his relatives and allies: the House of [[County of Boulogne|Boulogne]] (and their kin in [[Auvergne]]), the barons of [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] loyal to Joan II of Navarre (heir of [[Count of Champagne|Champagne]], had it not merged into the [[Crown lands of France|crown of France]]), and by the followers of [[Robert III of Artois|Robert of Artois]], driven from the kingdom by Philip VI. He also had the support of the [[University of Paris]] and the northwestern merchants where the cross-[[English Channel|Channel]] trade was vital.

A brilliant orator, and accustomed to a monarchy controlled by the [[Fueros of Navarre|Cortes of Navarre]] (the equivalent of the States General), Charles the Bad championed the reform of a state considered too arbitrary, leaving no voice to the nobility or the cities (John the Good governed with a circle of favorites and officers sometimes of humble extraction). Unlike his father, Charles V thought that a king must have the approval of his subjects and must listen to their advice. This view allowed him to approach the Norman nobles and the reformists, and thus Charles of Navarre.

The power of Navarre was such that, on 8 January 1354, he murdered with impunity his rival [[Charles de la Cerda]] (the king's favourite), and openly avowed this crime. He even obtained, through the [[Treaty of Mantes]], territorial concessions and sovereignty by threatening to make an alliance with the English. But in Avignon, the English and French were negotiating a peace that would prevent Charles of Navarre from counting on the support of Edward III. He therefore concluded a treaty with the English in which the Kingdom of France would be partitioned between them. An English landing was planned for the end of the truce, which would expire on 24 June 1355.

King John ordered the Dauphin in March 1355 to organize the defense of [[Normandy]], which required raising the necessary taxes. The task was difficult because of the growing influence of Charles the Bad, who had acquired a status similar to that of a "Duke" under the Treaty of Mantes. He was likely to ally with Edward III and could at any time open the gateway to Normandy to the English. The Dauphin avoided war by reconciling Navarre with the king, which was sealed with a ceremony at the court on 24 September 1355. Edward III was offended at the latest betrayal of Charles of Navarre, and the promised landing did not occur.

===Regency and the uprising of the Third Estate===
[[File:Karel5 BNF.jpg|thumb|Miniature, not contemporary]]
King John was considered by many as a rash ruler, much in the same style as the feudal kings who came before which by then was becoming outdated, who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and elevated associates that were sometimes considered questionable. After a three-year break, the [[Hundred Years' War]] with England resumed in 1355, with [[Edward, The Black Prince]], leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into [[Normandy]], John led an army of about 16,000 men to the south, crossing the [[Loire|Loire river]] in September 1356 with the goal of outflanking the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at [[Poitiers]]. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince, a tactic Edward feared, John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequent [[Battle of Poitiers]] (19 September 1356), English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured.<ref>David Nicolle, ''Poitiers 1356: The Capture of a King'', (Osprey Publishing, 2004), 28.</ref> Charles led a battalion at Poitiers that withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed), or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal, is unclear.<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War: Trial by Fire'', (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 241.</ref>

The outcome of the battle left many embittered with the nobility. Popular opinion accused the nobles of betraying the king, while Charles and his brothers escaped blame – he was received with honor upon his return to Paris. The [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] summoned the [[Estates General (France)|Estates-General]] in October to seek money for the defense of the country. Furious at what they saw as poor management, many of those assembled organized into a body led by [[Étienne Marcel]], the [[Provost (civil)|Provost]] of Merchants (a title roughly equivalent to [[Mayor of Paris]] today). Marcel demanded the dismissal of seven royal ministers, their replacement by a Council of 28 made up of [[Nobility|nobles]], [[clergy]] and [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]], and the release of Charles the Bad, who had been imprisoned by John for the murder of his constable. The Dauphin refused the demands, dismissed the Estates-General, and left Paris.

A contest of wills ensued. In an attempt to raise money, Charles tried to devalue the currency; Marcel ordered strikes, and the Dauphin was forced to cancel his plans and recall the Estates in February 1357. The [[Estates of the realm#Third Estate|Third Estate]] presented the Dauphin with a [[Great Ordinance of 1357|Grand Ordinance]], a list of 61 articles that would have given the Estates-General the right to approve all future taxes, assemble at their own volition, and elect a Council of 36 (with 12 members from each Estate) to advise the king.<ref>Thomas Ertman, ''Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe'', (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 85–86.</ref> Charles eventually signed the ordinance, but his dismissed councillors took news of the document to King John, imprisoned in [[Bordeaux]]. The King renounced the ordinance before being taken to [[England]] by Prince Edward.

Charles made a royal progress through the country that summer, winning support from the provinces, and winning [[Paris]] back. Marcel, meanwhile, enlisted Charles the Bad, who asserted that his claim to the throne of France was at least as good as that of King [[Edward III of England]], who had used [[English claims to the French throne|his claim]] as the pretext for initiating the [[Hundred Years' War]].

Marcel used the murder of a citizen seeking sanctuary in Paris to make an attack close to the Dauphin. Summoning a group of tradesmen, the Provost marched at the head of an army of 3,000, entered the royal palace, and had the crowd murder two of the Dauphin's marshals before his eyes. Charles, horrified, momentarily pacified the crowd, but sent his family away and left the capital as quickly as he could. Marcel's action destroyed support for the Third Estate among the nobles, and the Provost's subsequent backing of the [[Jacquerie]] undermined his support from the towns. He was murdered by a mob on 31 July 1358. Charles was able to recover Paris the following month and later issued a general amnesty for all, except close associates of Marcel.

===Treaty of Brétigny===
John's capture gave the English the edge in peace negotiations following the [[Battle of Poitiers]]. The King signed the [[Treaty of London (1359)|Treaty of London]] in 1359 that ceded most of western France to England and imposed a ruinous ransom of 4&nbsp;million [[Écu|''écus'']] on the country. The Dauphin (backed by his councillors and the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]]) rejected the treaty, and English King Edward invaded France later that year. Edward reached [[Reims]] in December and Paris in March, but Charles forbade his soldiers from direct confrontation with the English, relying on improved municipal fortifications made to Paris by Marcel. He would later rebuild the wall on the Left Bank (''Rive gauche''), and he built a new wall on the Right Bank (''Rive droite'') that extended to a new fortification called the [[Bastille]]. Edward pillaged and raided the countryside but could not bring the French to a decisive battle, so he eventually agreed to reduce his terms. This [[Fabian strategy|non-confrontational strategy]] would prove extremely beneficial to France during Charles' reign.

The [[Treaty of Brétigny]], signed on 8 May 1360, ceded a third of western France (mostly in [[Aquitaine]] and [[Gascony]]) to the English and lowered [[Ransom of King John II of France|the King's ransom]] to 3&nbsp;million ''écus''. King John was released the following October. His second son, [[Louis I, Duke of Anjou|Louis of Anjou]], took his place as a hostage.

Though his father had regained his freedom, Charles suffered a great personal tragedy at nearly the same time. His three-year-old daughter Joan and infant daughter Bonne died within two months of each other late in 1360; at their double funeral, the Dauphin was said to be "so sorrowful as never before he had been." Charles himself had been severely ill, with his hair and nails falling out; some suggest the symptoms are those of [[arsenic]] poisoning.<ref>Jean-Sébastien Laurentie, ''Histoire de France, divisée par époques depuis les origines gauloises jusqu'aux temps présents'', Tome IV, Deuxième époque, (Lagny Frères, Libraires, Paris, 1841), p. 61</ref>

John proved as ineffective at ruling upon his return to France as he had before his capture. When Louis of Anjou escaped from English custody, John announced he had no choice but to return to captivity himself. He arrived in London in January 1364, became ill, and died in April.