Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/232

 22o THE LATER MIDDLE AGES But Henry died just before Charles, and the English triumph was short-lived. The French king's eldest surviving son claimed his father's crown. For some time the English held their own, under Henry's brother Bedford acting as regent Joan of Arc. J & °. for the young Henry vi. But the Burgundian alliance cooled. The French resistance received an extraordinary impulse from the appearance on the scene of the famous Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans. After some astonishing successes, as a result of which Charles vn. was crowned king at Rheims, she was captured by the Burgundians who were still in alliance with the English, was tried for witchcraft before a court of The English French ecclesiastics, and was handed over to the expelled, English to be burnt at the stake. But her work 1453# was accomplished. The Duke of Burgundy very shortly afterwards broke off his alliance with the English, who again became to a great extent absorbed in civil broils ; and after 1453, the English had no foothold left in France except Paris. During the latter part of his reign, which closed in 146 1, Charles vn. was occupied in reorganising the government of the country which had gone to pieces during the long wars. A mr _ „. military system was organised, which enabled the The French ' 3 B. Crown king to call out local levies instead of being strength- dependent on the forces of the feudal nobility, ened The cost was met by a permanent tax which freed the Crown from the necessity of making frequent appeals for money with the risk of refusal, such as the kings of England had to submit to. A strong government meant concentration of power in the hands of the king, and to this end Charles's successor, Louis xi., devoted himself. By intrigue and by diplomacy, by making promises and breaking them when convenient, occasionally by Louis XL, force of arms though not if he could manage to 1461-1483. avoid it, Louis deprived the nobles of their power, and finally achieved the overthrow of his most dangerous rival, Charles the Bold or the Rash, of Burgundy. The outcome of this contest was that nearly the whole of the southern part of the old Burgundian kingdom actually passed to France, though not