Charles VII.

Charles VII., the third son and successor of Charles VI. of France, was born 22d February 1403. On his father's death (1422) his army held possession of the southern provinces; Paris and the north being in the hands of the English, who proclaimed Henry VI. of England king of France, and appointed the Duke of Bedford regent. For some time the events of war were unfavourable to Charles, who was compelled to evacuate in succession Champagne and Maine. In 1426 the Count Dunois gained the first victory over the English at Montargis; but in the year following the latter laid siege to Orleans, a place of great importance to the French, as securing a connection with the north. At this time also, Joan of Arc, the famous Maid of Orleans, by her wonderful courage and confidence of a heavenly mission, roused the fervour both of nobles and people. The siege of Orleans was raised in May 1429; the English retired disheartened, and gradually lost all they had gained in France, while their cause finally became hopeless after the treaty concluded at Arras (1435), between the French king and the Duke of Burgundy. Bayonne, the last stronghold in the south, fell in 1451, and with the death of Talbot under the walls of Castillon in 1453, the whole south finally passed to France, and the Hundred Years' War came to an end. Nothing now remained to the English across the channel but Calais, with Havre and Guines Castle. In 1436 Charles entered Paris. He next devoted himself to the reorganisation of the government, in which everything had fallen into confusion, and under his rule France recovered in some measure from the effects of the terrible calamities which it had endured. His last years were embittered by the conduct of his son, the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. He died at Melun on 22d July 1461. See the great work by De Beaucourt (6 vols. 1881-92).