Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/594

* CHARLES VII. 514 CHARLES X. vas the most important city lielil l>y tlio party of Charles, and on February 12, 142'.t. the French met with a disastrous defeat at Harengs. At this critical moment Joan of Arc (q.v.) came to the Kinj);'s aid. and the siege of Orleans was raised on jfay 8, 1420. Charles was consecrat- ed Kin.i; at Kheinis. July 17, 1420. The English gradually lost their possessions in France, and the Duke of Burgundy, their ally, went over to Charles. The latter entered Paris in 14.'i(i, and in the following years the Knglish lost all their French possessions except Calais. The last hat- tic, a disastrous defeat for the English, wa.s at Castillon, July 17, 1453. After he was estab- lished on the throne, Charles devoted himself to the reorganization of the Government, to the re- form of the finances, and to the fonnation of a powerful and well-disciplined army. He strove l>v every means to increase his own power, but his government was not despotic, and France recovered from the efTects of the terrible calami- ties of the long war. Charles encouraged com- merce and literature, and had the pro,sperity of his subjects at heart: but he was timid and ir- resolute, afraid of plots against himself, and almost continuously under the control of some woman. He made "no effort to save the JIaid of Orleans from her fate. For many years he Yielded in almost, everything to the wishes of his mistress, Agnes Sorel, who, however, exer- cised a beneficent influence over him. See Agnes Sobel. CHARLES VIII. (1470-98). King of France from 1485 to 14!)8. He was born at Araboise, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Louis XL, in 148.3. For some time the Government was carried on under the re- gency of his sister, Anne of Beaujeu. who displayed fine political statesmanship in defend- ing the rights of the Crown against the en- croachments of the States-General, in the repression of the feudal princes, and in the an- nexation to France of Brittany through the marriage of its Duchess. Anne, to the young King. When Charles attained his twenty-first year^ he took the royal power into his own hands. He was a high-spirited, generous youth, and a good king: but his fame rests less on his rule in France than on the part he played in the history of Italy. Solicited, in 1494. by Ludovieo i"l Hloro. Duke of Milan, to help him against Alfonso of Naples, Charles revived the ancient claims of the House of . jou to the Kingdom of Naples and achieved its conquest the following year. The Italian princes were alarmed at his success, and the I^eague of Venice was formed against him, by the Pope, the Em- peror, ;Maximilian I., Ferdinand of Aragon, Venice, and IMilan. An attempt was made to bar his exit from Italy: but at Fomovo, near Pia- cenza, Charles broke through a powerful army and safely effected his retreat. It was with dif- ficulty that he was deterred by his councilors from" resuming his warlike designs on Italy. Charles's incursion into that country marks an epot'h in the history of the peninsula. Left to itself. Italv might have attained u;itional unity, as Si)ain did. or France. 'ith the incoming of Charles began the intrusion of the northern na- tions into Italian affairs, and that play of policy which went on for 400 years in the distracted country, and did not end till Victor Emnuinuel drove the last foreigner from Italian soil in 1870. Consult: Memoirs uf Philip dc Comiitcs, trans- lated (London, 1855): Delaborde, Vliarles Vlll. en Italic (Paris, 1884): Segur, Uistoire de CharUs VIII. (Paris, 1884). CHARLES IX. (15.10-74). King of Frame from 1500 to 1574. He was born at Saint-(Jer- main-en-Laye, June 27. 15.50. Charles sucieeded his elder brother. Francis II., at the age of ten, under the regency of his mother. CathariiU' de' jMedici (q.v.). He was declared of age three years later, but his mother conlintied to rule "in his name, though he bore the responsibility for her violent deeds. Intrigues and civil wars marked the whole course of his imluippy reign. The Huguenots were driven to tjike up arms in 1502. The barbarities and excesses practiced both by the followers of Guise and by the i)artisans of CondC (outrages in which Catholics and Hugue- nots were alike involved ) would have bcni sulli- cient to cliaracterize this reign as one of the most miserable in French history. But the dia- bolical massacre of Saint Bartholomew (q.v.), which was deliberately planned and executed by Catharine solely for political i)urposes. eclipsed all the other brutalities of the epoch. There has been much dispute as to the responsibility of Charles IX. for the various atrocities of his reign: but it is certain that throughout his life he was too weak to resist his strong minded mother. Charles died at the Chateau de Vin- cennes. May 30. 1574. Consult Merinu'e. Chro- nique (III r'rflne dc Charles IX. (Paris, 1889). CHARLES X. (1757-1836). King of France from 1.S24 to 1S30, the last sovereign of the elder line of the House of Bourbon. He was born in Versailles. October 0. 1757. He was the yimnger brother of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIIL. bore the title of Count of Artois. and in 1773 married the Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy. After the out- break of the Kevolution in 1789, he became the leader of the cmifiri's. In 1795 he sailed with an English expedition to Brittany to arouse the French Royalists against the Revolutionary Gov- ernment. Although the 'endeeans were ready to rally around his standard in great force, his courage failed, anil he returned to England, abandoning his deluded supporters in France to their fate. With the Restoration he reai)peared in France, and became the head of the bigoted ultra-Rovalist faction. (See Chamhre iNTRor- v.viil.E.) " In the circle of Jesuits, priests, and nobles of the old school that surrounded him originated most of those extreme ineasiires against which the l)etler-minded Louis XVllI. (q.v.) ineffectually protested at times. The death of Louis. September 10, 1824. brought Charles to the throne. He took the oath of ad- herence to the charter, but soon displayed his intention of restoring the absolutism of the old French monarchy. Popular discoiitent rap- idly increased during the succeeding five years. The King sought in vain to allay it by embarking the nation in a military enterprise, the expedi- • tion against Algiers, undertaken in 1830. In March. 1830. Charles adjourned the chambers on account of an address of renumst ranee in re- ply to a royal s])eech. In ilay the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved and new elections were ordered. The deputies who sigiu'd the address were reelected. On July 25 the c<'lebrated ordi- nances were signed putting an end to the free-