Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/1052

CHA a league against his suzerain with Francis, duke of Bretagne, and Edward IV. of England. With the view of detaching him from this confederacy, Louis, who despised the intellect of Charles, and had an overweening confidence in his own powers of persuasion, determined to risk a personal conference with his rival, and paid him a memorable visit at Peronne, a fortified town of Picardy, belonging to the duke. Unluckily for this crafty schemer, the inhabitants of Liege, among whom he had secretly fomented disturbances, broke out into open rebellion against Charles at this critical moment, and massacred many of his adherents. The duke, transported with rage at this treachery, commanded the gates of the castle in which Louis had taken up his residence to be shut and strictly guarded, and vowed the severest vengeance on the perfidious instigator of the revolt and massacre. It was only by the distribution of large sums of money among the counsellors of the duke, and by making great promises and concessions, that Louis regained his liberty, on condition that he should be present at the assault of Liege, and witness the savage punishment which, for the second time, Charles inflicted upon that turbulent city. As might have been expected, the peace concluded at Peronne was not of long duration. No promises or treaties could bind Louis, and as Charles was rash and impetuous, and not much more scrupulous than his rival, grounds of quarrel were never wanting. The French king employed all his art to overreach the duke, and lost no opportunity of fomenting disturbances among his Flemish subjects, and embroiling him with his neighbours; while Charles, on the other hand, organized several successive confederacies against the French king, which that cunning and politic prince contrived, by one means or other, to dissolve. Charles was for a time, however, successful in almost all his projects. He suppressed and punished with great severity the insurrections of Ghent, Liege, and other Flemish cities; invaded France, captured several important cities, and wasted the country with fire and sword, with the landgraviate of Alsace and the duchy of Lorraine. He was compelled, however, to raise the siege of Nuz, the possession of which would have made him nearly master of the whole course of the Rhine, and he was deeply mortified by the failure of his attempt to obtain the dignity of king, when apparently on the eve of being successful. His violence and rashness soon after involved him in a war with the Swiss, by whom he was ignominiously routed in 1476, at Granson in the Pays de Vaud, with the loss of his military chest and baggage, and of his plate and jewels. This mortifying defeat threw him into a severe sickness, but after his recovery he resumed his insane project of conquering Switzerland, and having collected a numerous army, attacked the combined Swiss and German forces at Morat, near Friburg. After an obstinate struggle he was again defeated, with the loss of eighteen thousand men. This second disaster was followed by the defection of most of his allies, with the loss of the city of Nancy, and the greater part of Lorraine, which was now recovered by the dispossessed duke. Charles was completely overwhelmed with this defeat, and for a time was sunk in silent and sullen despair; but at length he roused himself from his inactivity, and, in opposition to the earnest advice of his best officers, laid siege to Nancy. The duke of Lorraine advanced to the relief of the city at the head of a powerful force, while the besieging army was small and dispirited. Charles, however, desperately set his life upon the cast, and giving battle, was defeated and killed. There is every reason to believe that the unfortunate prince was murdered in the tumult by certain emissaries of Count Campobasso, who basely deserted his standard at the commencement of the action, but left behind him twelve or fifteen of his followers, for the purpose of assassinating the master whom he had betrayed. Charles was possessed of several good qualities; he was intrepid beyond most men, generous, liberal, and easy of access to his servants and subjects; but his ambition, together with his pride and arrogance, and violent and headstrong disposition, involved him in perpetual quarrels, and ultimately led to his ruin. After the death of the duke. Burgundy was seized by Louis, who alleged it was a male-fief which reverted to the crown, as Charles left no son. His Flemish possessions were united to Austria by the marriage of his daughter Anne with the Emperor Maximilian.—(Cominès; Froissart. For a masterly character of Charles see Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein, by Sir Walter Scott.)—J. T.  CHARLES. See.  CHARLES, or , Duke of Bretagne, son of Marguerite, sister of Phillip of Valois, married in 1337 Jeanne de Penthievre, daughter of Gui de Bretagne. The conditions of the marriage were, that Charles should assume the name and the arms of his bride's family, and that he should succeed to the duchy on the death of Duke John III. When this event happened in 1341, a formidable rival in the person of Jean de Montfort, brother of the late duke, arose to dispute the title of Charles to the duchy; and between these two princes a bloody war was waged in which England and France took part, and which was only terminated by the death of Charles de Blois who was killed at the battle of Auray in 1364. The struggle of Charles and his rival for the possession of Bretagne was rendered memorable by the heroic conduct of the countess de Montfort, and by the exploits of such famous warriors as Duguesclin, Beaumanoir, and Sir John Chandos.—J. S., G.  CHARLES I., called, Count of Flanders, son of Canute IV., called le Saint, succeeded Baldwin of Flanders in 1119. The throne of Jerusalem, vacant in 1124 by the imprisonment of Baldwin II. by the Turks, and the crown of Germany on the death of the Emperor Henry V., were offered to Charles; but his Flemish subjects, by whom he was revered for his talents and his virtues, prevailed on him to decline both of these dignities. He was assassinated in one of the churches of Bruges in 1127.—J. S., G.  CHARLES, called of, Count of Eu, son of Phillip of Artois count of Eu, and of Marie de Berry, afterwards married to John duke of Bourbon, was born in 1393, and died in 1472. Allied during the reign of Charles VI. with the Orleans faction, he took part in the battle of Agincourt, was made prisoner, carried to London, and confined in the Tower twenty-three years. On his return to France he was taken into confidence by Charles VII., and bore arms in most of the campaigns undertaken by that monarch. Louis XI. also distinguished him by honourable appointments, both civil and military.—J. S., G.  CHARLES, Count of Maine and Anjou, third son of Phillip the Hardy, king of France, was born in 1270. His title and estates he derived from his marriage with Marguerite, daughter of Charles II. of Anjou, king of Naples. Pope Martin IV. had conferred on him the title of king of Arragon, but this his father-in-law obliged him to renounce. He took a prominent part in the wars which the pope and the house of Anjou waged with the republics in Italy, and in those which his nephew, Phillip le Bel, commenced against Edward II. of England in Flanders and Guienne. He died in 1325, leaving by the first of his three wives a son, who, under the title of Phillip VI., succeeded to the throne of France, and commenced the dynasty of the Valois.—J. S., G.  CHARLES I. and II., Counts of Maine and Anjou. See.  CHARLES III., Count of Maine, third son of Louis II. of Anjou, king of Naples, born in 1414; died in 1473. He was a marked favourite of Charles VII., who, along with various grants of land, gave him the government of Languedoc. Under Louis XI. he held high military command; but his conduct at the battle of Montlehery, which was dastardly in the extreme, lost him the favour of the king. He died in 1472.—J. S., G. <section end="1052H" /> <section begin="1052I" />CHARLES D'ANJOU or CHARLES IV., Count of Maine and Anjou and King of Sicily, born in 1436; died in 1481. Inheriting from his uncle René le Bon, who died in 1480, besides the realm of Sicily, the counties of Anjou and Provence, he had the misfortune to fall under the power of Louis XI., who deprived him of the former county, and by artfully repulsing in his behalf the attempts of the grandson of René to establish himself in Provence, gained over the chief minister of Charles, and then the prince himself, to the execution of a deed by which, on the death of Charles, Anjou was to be permanently united to the realm of France.—J. S., G. <section end="1052I" /> <section begin="1052J" /> <section end="1052J" /> <section begin="1052K" />CHARLES I. See. <section end="1052K" /> <section begin="1052Zcontin" />CHARLES II., surnamed the, King of Navarre and Count of Evreux, was born in 1332. He was the great-grandson of Philip the Hardy, king of France, and grandson by the mother's side of Louis the Boisterous. He succeeded to the throne of Navarre in his seventeenth year, and in 1353 married Joanna, elder daughter of King John of France. He was remarkable for the graces of his person, and for his courage, eloquence, liberality, and address; but he was no less detested for his crimes. In 1353 he caused Charles de la Carda, <section end="1052Zcontin" />