Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/293

 CHARLES (FRANCE) 285 rivers, burning and plundering the villages and the cities. Paris itself had to suffer by their ravages, Charles being unable to afford pro- tection against them. On the death of his nephew, the emperor Louis II., in 875, Charles seized upon the imperial crown ; but his power seems to have been rather diminished by this assumption of a new title. A few months later he was compelled to sign a decree by which the tenure of the counties was declared hered- itary, which decree was the foundation of the feudal system in France. This was the last im- portant act of his otherwise inglorious reign. CHARLES THE FAT. See CHARLES THE FAT, Germany. CHARLES III., the Simple, the eighth king of the Carlo vingian dynasty, born Sept. 17, 879, died at Pe>onne, Oct. 7, 929. A posthumous son of Louis the Stammerer, he was excluded from the throne first by his brothers, then by Charles the Fat of Germany, and finally by the election of Eudes. As soon, however, as he became of age, he asserted his claim to the crown, sought for the protection of the Car- lovingian princes of Germany, and was in 898 recognized as king by the majority of the French nation. Being unable to resist the in- cessant aggressions of the Normans, he con- cluded a treaty with their chief Rollo, at St. Clair-sur-Epte, in 911, by which he bestowed upon him as a duchy the whole N". W. part of Neustria, also giving him his sister in marriage. For a few years France enjoyed comparative quiet, but in 922 the barons revolted against the narrow-minded Charles, and elected as king Robert, the brother of Eudes. Charles defeat- ed his rival, and, killed him with his own hand ; but he was in his turn defeated by the son of Robert, Hugh the Great, count of Paris ; and having sought a refuge with Herbert, count of Vermandois, he was detained by him as prisoner until his death. The party which opposed the Carlovingians then reigned para- mount, and it was not till 936 that Louis IV. d'Outremer, the son of Charles, became king. CHARLES IV., the Fair, the last king of the direct line of the Capetian dynasty, born in 1294, died at Vincennes, Jan. 31, 1328. The third son of Philip IV., the Fair, he succeeded his brother Philip V., the Tall, in 1322, and visited with severe punishment the Lombard money-changers for their many extortions, the judges for their prevarications, and the barons for their unlawful encroachments upon private property. He secretly aided his sister Isabella in her revolt against her husband, Edward II. of England, made a futile attempt to be elected emperor of Germany, and died leaving his third wife, Jeanne d'Evreux, pregnant. On her being delivered of a daughter, the crown went to Philip of Valois, the cousin of Charles, and the grandson of Philip III., the Bold. The Capetian direct line ended by three brothers succeeding each other: Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV. ; so did the collateral branches of Valois and Bourbon. CHARLES V., the Wise, the third king of the family of Valois, son of John II., born Jan. 21, 1337, died at Vincennes, Sept. 16, 1380. He was a prince of very little military genius, but with much taste for learning. Being in com- mand of a body of the French army at the bat- tle of Poitiers, he deserted the field at an early period, while his father and younger brother fought bravely. On the captivity of the for- mer (1356), he was appointed his lieutenant, and had to contend against a formidable popu- lar rebellion, headed by Stephen Marcel, pro- vost of the merchants of Paris, and Robert Le- cocq, bishop of Laon. At length, after having succeeded in getting rid of the principal leader, who was murdered by one of his adherents, he assumed the title of regent, and concluded in 1360, with the English, the treaty of Br6tigny for the liberation of the king. By this treaty, Edward III. was to remain in independent possession of all the provinces of the Loire, comprised under the general name of Aqui- taine, with Ponthieu and the country around Calais; but he was to renounce his claims to the crown of France, as well as those to Nor- mandy, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, Brittany, and Flanders; the ransom of John was fixed at 3,000,000 gold crowns, while two of his sons and several great lords of the kingdom were to be given as hostages. John was liberated ; but the terms of his liberation not having been complied with, he returned to England, leav- ing for the second time the regency in the hands of Charles, who succeeded him on his death in 1364. Charles was now at full liberty to display the shrewdness of his policy, and soon worsted Edward III., who had defeated both his father and grandfather. Being great- ly assisted by the valor and prudence of his great constable Du Guesclin, he destroyed sev- eral armies of the English, and wrested from them the French provinces which they had held for years. On the death of Edward, the only places still left in their hands were Bordeaux, Bayonne, Cherbourg, Calais, and a few other fortresses. By timely assistance to Henry of Trastamare against Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, Charles had secured for himself an ally who was of great service in his naval contests, and consequently instrumental in his final suc- cess over England. Meanwhile, tranquillity, order, and prosperity had been restored to France ; and several important learned institu- tions were founded, among the number the king's library, now the great national library in Paris. In his reign the Bastile was also erected, mainly with a view to hold the Paris- ians in submission. Charles V. was, if not one of the greatest, at least one of the most useful of French kings. CHARLES VI., the Mad, or the Beloved, the fourth king of the family of Valois, born in Paris, Dec. 3, 1368, died Oct. 21, 1422. The son of Charles the Wise, he was but 11 years old when his father died ; and his uncles, the dukes of Anjou, Berry, Burgundy, and Bour-