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| 1388 |
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| The death (1384) of the duke of Anjou had left the duke of Burgundy in a position of great power, and Charles, angered at Philip of Burgundy's policies, began his personal rule by replacing the duke with his own brother Louis, duke of Orléans, and by restoring (1389) his father's old advisers, men of humble birth (whence their nickname, the Marmousets). Louis of Orléans was a refined, talented spendthrift, unpopular in Paris, and Philip of Burgundy (supported by Queen Isabelle) was able to pose as a reformer and lead the opposition, bringing the rivalry of Burgundy and Orléans into the open. | 1 |
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| 1396 |
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| Twenty-year truce with England; annihilation of the French knights on a crusade to free Hungary from the Turks (Nicopolis, (See 1396). | 2 |
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| 1404 |
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| John (the Fearless), an able, ambitious man, became duke of Burgundy. After the sudden transfer of Isabelle's support to Louis of Orléans, John's orders led to the assassination of Louis, duke of Orléans (1407). John became the hero of Paris, but caused the emergence of two great factions in France and began the civil war of the Armagnacs against the Burgundians. The Armagnacs, named for their head, the count of Armagnac (father-in-law of Charles, the new duke of Orléans), were strong among the great nobles, drew their power from the south and southeast, and were a reactionary, anti-English war party. The Burgundians, supported by the people, the University of Paris, and the Wittelsbachs, were strong in the north and northeast, favored peace, were pro-English, and supported Pope Clement VII and his papal successors. | 3 |
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| 1415, Oct. 25 |
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| The Battle of Agincourt. Henry V, with 10,000 men, defeated three times that number of French; the duke of Orléans was taken prisoner; Normandy was reconquered by the English, undoing for the time the work of Philip Augustus; the dauphin (later Charles VII) fled to the south of France (1418); the Burgundians returned to power, and there was a massacre of Armagnacs in Paris (1418). | 4 |
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| 1419 |
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| Rouen fell; the Burgundians, alarmed at the English advance, began negotiating with the Armagnacs; John of Burgundy was assassinated at a conference with the dauphin at the bridge of Montereau, and the Burgundians returned to the English alliance. | 5 |
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| 1420 |
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| Charles, under Burgundian influence, and supported by his wife, Isabelle, accepted the Treaty of Troyes (which repudiated the dauphin as illegitimate), adopted Henry V of England as his heir and immediate regent (with the approval of the University of Paris and the Estates General, 1421). Charles's daughter, Catherine, was married to Henry V and, also under the treaty, the English were allowed to retain all their conquests as far as the Loire. King Henry V drove the forces of the dauphin across the Loire and began the steady conquest of France that continued uninterrupted until his death (1422). The dauphin remained at Bourges (whence his nickname, the Roi de Bourges). | 6 |
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| 1422–61 |
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| CHARLES VII (the Roi de Bourges, not crowned until 1429). Physically weak, bowed, and lethargic from misfortune; the puppet of unscrupulous advisers until the advent of a better group. Regency of the duke of Bedford (1422–28) for the infant Henry VI of England, who was recognized as king of France in the north, supported by the Burgundians, and crowned in Paris (1436). | 7 |
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| 1424 |
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| Bedford's decisive victory at Verneuil was followed by the defeat of the Armagnacs and the Scots at Verneuil. | 8 |
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| 1428 |
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| The English began the siege of Orléans. Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans), born in 1412 at Domrémy, was from a comfortable village family, illiterate, but a good seamstress. A devout mystic, she began to have visions at the age of 13. | 9 |
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| 1429 |
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| Jeanne presented herself to the king at Chinon, and was allowed to lead an army (with the empty title of chef de guerre) to relieve Orléans. The relief of the city, followed by Charles's coronation (1429) at Reims, was the turning point of the war and marked a decisive change in the spirit of the king and the nation. Jealous ministers (e.g., La Trémoille) of Charles soon undermined Jeanne's position, despite the progress of the royal cause. | 10 |
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| 1430 |
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| Jeanne was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundians, ransomed by the English. Without intervention by Charles in her behalf, she was tried for witchcraft. Joan's wearing of men's clothes appeared not only aberrant but indicative of contact with the devil. | 11 |
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| 1431 |
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| An ecclesiastical court condemned her as a heretic: her claim of direct inspiration from God and the saints, thereby denying the authority of church officials, constituted heresy. After her confession and its repudiation, she was burned by the English at Rouen. Death came from suffocation, not burning. A new trial (1456) rehabilitated her; canonized in 1920, she is today revered as the second patron saint of France (after St. Louis) and as the symbol of the vitality and strength of the French peasant classes. | 12 |
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