Editing Charles II of Navarre (section)

===Versus the Dauphin (1356–1358)===
After John was captured by the English following his defeat at the [[Battle of Poitiers (1356)|Battle of Poitiers]], Charles remained in prison. However, many of his partisans were active in the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]], which endeavoured to govern and reform France in the power vacuum created by the imprisonment of the king, while much of the country degenerated into anarchy. They continually pressed the Dauphin to release him. Meanwhile his brother Philip of Navarre threw in his lot with the invading English army of the Duke of Lancaster, and made war on the Dauphin's forces throughout Normandy. Eventually, on 9 November 1357, Charles was sprung from his prison in the castle of [[Arleux]] by a band of 30 men from [[Amiens]] led by [[Jean de Picquigny]].{{sfn|Sumption|1999|pp=294–295}} Greeted as a hero when he entered Amiens, he was invited to Paris by the Estates General. He entered Paris with a large retinue, and was 'received like a newly-crowned monarch'.{{sfn|Sumption|1999|pp=295–296}}

He addressed the populace on 30 November, listing his grievances against those who had imprisoned him. [[Étienne Marcel]] led a 'demand for justice for the King of Navarre' which the Dauphin was unable to resist. Charles demanded an indemnity for all damage done to his territories while he had been imprisoned, free pardon for all his crimes and those of his supporters, and honourable burial for his associates executed by John II at Rouen. He also demanded the Dauphin's own Duchy of Normandy and the [[County of Champagne]], which would have made him the effective ruler of northern France.

The Dauphin was virtually powerless, but he and Charles were still in negotiations when news reached them that Edward and John were reaching a peace agreement. Knowing this could only be to his disadvantage, Charles had all the prisons in Paris opened to create anarchy, and left Paris to build up his strength in Normandy.{{sfn|Sumption|1999|p=302}} In his absence the Dauphin tried to assemble a military force of his own. Charles meanwhile gave his executed followers a solemn state funeral in [[Rouen Cathedral]] on 10 January 1358 and effectively declared civil war, leading a combined Anglo-Navarrese force against the Dauphin's garrisons.