December 6, 1421: Birth of Henry VI, King of England and Lord of Ireland

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16th Earl of Warwick, Charles VI of France, Isabeau of Bavaria, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VI of England, Lord of Ireland, Margaret of Anjou, War of the Roses

Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21, 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, and Catherine of Valois was the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria.

Henry succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father’s death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his maternal grandfather, Charles VI, shortly afterwards.

Henry inherited the long-running Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), in which his uncle Charles VII contested his claim to the French throne. He is the only English monarch to have been also crowned King of France, in 1431. His early reign, when several people were ruling for him, saw the pinnacle of English power in France, but subsequent military, diplomatic, and economic problems had seriously endangered the English cause by the time Henry was declared fit to rule in 1437.

Henry VI found his realm in a difficult position, faced with setbacks in France and divisions among the nobility at home. Unlike his father, Henry is described as timid, shy, passive, well intentioned and averse to warfare and violence; he was also at times mentally unstable. His ineffective reign saw the gradual loss of the English lands in France.

Partially in the hope of achieving peace, in 1445 Henry married Charles VII’s niece, the ambitious and strong-willed Margaret of Anjou, the second eldest daughter of René, King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

The peace policy failed, leading to the murder of one of Henry’s key advisers, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and the war recommenced, with France taking the upper hand; by 1453, Calais was Henry’s only remaining territory on the continent.

As the situation in France worsened, there was a related increase in political instability in England. With Henry effectively unfit to rule, power was exercised by quarrelsome nobles, while factions and favourites encouraged the rise of disorder in the country.

Regional magnates and soldiers returning from France formed and maintained increasing numbers of private armed retainers, with whom they fought one another, terrorised their neighbours, paralysed the courts, and dominated the government. Queen Margaret did not remain unpartisan and took advantage of the situation to make herself an effective power behind the throne.

Amidst military disasters in France and a collapse of law and order in England, the Queen and her clique came under accusations, especially from Henry VI’s increasingly popular cousin Richard, Duke of York, of misconduct of the war in France and misrule of the country. Starting in 1453, Henry had a series of mental breakdowns, and tensions mounted between Margaret and Richard of York over control of the incapacitated King’s government and over the question of succession to the English throne.

Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England

Civil war broke out in 1455, leading to a long period of dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry was deposed on 4 March 1461 by Richard’s son, who took the throne as Edward IV. Despite Margaret continuing to lead a resistance to Edward, Henry was captured by Edward’s forces in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Henry was restored to the throne in 1470 but Edward retook power in 1471, killing Henry’s only son and heir, Edward of Westminster, in battle and imprisoning Henry once again.

Having “lost his wits, his two kingdoms and his only son”, Henry died in the Tower during the night of May 21, possibly killed on the orders of King Edward. Miracles were attributed to Henry after his death and he was informally regarded as a saint and martyr until the 16th century. He left a legacy of educational institutions, having founded Eton College, King’s College, Cambridge, and (together with Henry Chichele) All Souls College, Oxford. Shakespeare wrote a trilogy of plays about his life, depicting him as weak-willed and easily influenced by his wife, Margaret.

December 3, 1368: Birth of Charles VI, King of France

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Charles VI of France, Charles VII of France, Henry V of England, Henry VI of England, House of Tudor, Isabeau of Bavaria, Philippe II the Bold of Burgundy, Pierre of Bourbon, The Dauphin, Treaty of Troyes

Charles VI (December 3, 1368 – October 21, 1422), called the Beloved and later the Mad, was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic episodes which plagued him throughout his life.

Charles was born in Paris, in the royal residence of the Hôtel Saint-Pol, on December 3, 1368, the son of King Charles V of the House of Valois and of Joanna of Bourbon. Joanna was a daughter of Pierre I, Duke of Bourbon, and Isabella of Valois, a half-sister of Philippe VI of France. The Dukes of Bourbon were direct male-line descendants of King Louis IX of France.

His elder brothers having died before he was born, Charles was heir to the French throne and held the title Dauphin of France.

King of France

Regency

At his father’s death on September 16, 1380, Charles inherited the throne of France. His coronation took place on November 4, 1380, at Reims Cathedral. Charles VI was only 11 years old when he was crowned King of France. During his minority, France was ruled by Charles’ uncles, as regents. Although the royal age of majority was 14 (the “age of accountability” under Roman Catholic canon law), Charles terminated the regency at the age of 21.

While his father left behind a favorable military situation, marked by the reconquest of most of the English possessions in France. First placed under the regency of his uncles, the Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, Berry and Bourbon, he decided in 1388, aged 20, to emancipate himself. In 1392, while leading a military expedition against the Duchy of Brittany, the king suffered a first attack of delirium, during which he attacked his own men in the forest of Le Mans. A few months later, following the Bal des ardents where he narrowly escaped death from burning, Charles was again placed under the regency of his uncles, the dukes of Berry and Burgundy.

Charles VI married Isabeau of Bavaria (ca. 1371 – September 24, 1435) on July 17, 1385.

Isabeau’s parents were Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti, who he married for a 100,000 ducat dowry. She was most likely born in Munich, where she was baptized as Elisabeth at the Church of Our Lady. She was great-granddaughter to the Wittelsbach Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV. During this period, Bavaria was counted among the most powerful German states and was divided between members of the House of Wittelsbach.

For the majority of his life and until his death, the king alternated periods of madness and lucidity. Power was held by his influential uncles but also by his wife, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. His younger brother, Louis d’Orléans, also aspired to the regency and saw his influence grow.

The enmity between the latter and Jean the Fearless, successor of Philippe II the Bold, plunged the kingdom into a civil war during which the king found himself successively controlled by one or the other of the two parties.

In 1415 his army was crushed by the English at the Battle of Agincourt, which led to Charles’ signing of the Treaty of Troyes, which entirely disinherited his son, the Dauphin and future Charles VII, in favour of his future son-in-law Henry V of England. Henry was thus made regent and heir to the throne of France, and Charles married him to his daughter Catherine de Valois. .

Charles VI died on October 21, 1422 in Paris, at the Hôtel Saint-Pol. He was interred in Saint Denis Basilica, where his wife Isabeau of Bavaria would join him after her death in September 1435.

Henry V of England died just a few weeks before him, in August 1422, leaving an infant son, who became King Henry VI of England. Therefore, according to the Treaty of Troyes, with the death of Charles VI, little Henry became King of France. His coronation as such was in Paris (held by the English since 1418) at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris on 26 December 1431.

The son disinherited by Charles VI, the Dauphin Charles, continued to fight to regain his kingdom. In 1429, Joan of Arc arrived on the scene. She led his forces to victory against the English, and took him to be crowned in Reims Cathedral as King Charles VII of France on 17 July 1429. He became known as “Charles the Victorious” and was able to restore the French line to the throne of France by defeating the English in 1450.

Among Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria’s children were the future King Charles VII of France and two Queen’s of England.

Isabella, (1389 — 1409) married (1) Richard II, King of England, in 1396. No issue. Married (2) Charles, Duke of Orléans, in 1406. Had issue.

Catherine (1401 — 1437) married (1) Henry V, King of England, in 1420. Had issue. Married (?) (2) Owen Tudor. Had issue.

Through issue Catherine had with Owen Tudor she was the mother of Edmund Tudor who married Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt (son of Edward III of England) who had consequently a distant but disputed claim to the throne; following the elimination by war of most other candidates, their son became King Henry VII of England and founder of the Tudor Dynasty.

November 23, 1407: Death of Louis I, Duke of Orléans

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Charles V of France, Charles VI of France, Duke of Burgundy, Hundred Years War, Jean II of France, Jean of Burgundy, Louis I of Orléans, Valentina Visconti of Milan

Louis I of Orléans (March 13, 1372 – November 23, 1407) was Duke of Orléans from 1392 to his death. He was also Duke of Touraine (1386–1392), Count of Valois (1386?–1406) Blois (1397–1407), Angoulême (1404–1407), Périgord (1400–1407) and Soissons (1404–07).

Biography

Born March 13, 1372, Louis was the second son of King Charles V of France and Joanna of Bourbon and was the younger brother of Charles VI.

Joanna of Bourbon was a daughter of Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, and Isabella of Valois, a half-sister of Philippe VI of France.

From October 1340 through at least 1343, negotiations and treaties were made for Joanna of Bourbon to marry Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy. The goal was to bring Savoy more closely into French influence. Following this she was betrothed to Humbert, Dauphin of Viennois, which also fell through.

On April 8, 1350, Joanna married her cousin, the future Charles V of France, at Tain-l’Hermitage. Since they were second cousins, their marriage required a papal dispensation. Born thirteen days apart, they both were 12 years old.

In 1374, Louis was betrothed to Catherine, heir presumptive to the throne of Hungary. Louis and Catherine were expected to reign either over Hungary or over Poland, as Catherine’s father, Louis I of Hungary, had no sons. Catherine’s father also planned to leave them his claim to the Crown of Naples and the County of Provence, which were then held by his ailing and childless cousin Joanna I.

However, Catherine’s death in 1378 ended the marriage negotiations. In 1384, Elizabeth of Bosnia started negotiating with Louis’ father about the possibility of Louis marrying her daughter Mary, notwithstanding Mary’s engagement to Sigismund of Luxembourg. If Elizabeth had made this proposal in 1378, after Catherine’s death, the fact that the French king and the Hungarian king did not recognise the same pope would have presented a problem. However, Elizabeth was desperate in 1384 and was not willing to let the schism stand in the way of the negotiations.

Antipope Clement VII issued a dispensation which annulled Mary’s betrothal to Sigismund and a proxy marriage between Louis and Mary was celebrated in April 1385. Nonetheless, the marriage was not recognised by the Hungarian noblemen who adhered to Pope Urban VI. Four months after the proxy marriage, Sigismund invaded Hungary and married Mary, which ultimately destroyed Louis’ chances to reign as King of Hungary.

Role in court and the Hundred Years’ War

Louis d’Orléansplayed an important political role during the Hundred Years’ War. In 1392, his elder brother Charles the Mad (who may have suffered from either schizophrenia, porphyria, paranoid schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) experienced the first in a lifelong series of attacks of ‘insanity’.

It soon became clear that Charles was unable to rule independently. In 1393 a regency council presided over by Queen Isabeau was formed, and Louis gained powerful influence.

Louis disputed the regency and guardianship of the royal children with Jean the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. The enmity between the two was public and a source of political unrest in the already troubled France. Louis had the initial advantage, being the brother rather than the first cousin of the king, but his reputation as a womanizer and the rumour of an affair with the queen consort Isabeau of Bavaria made him extremely unpopular.

For the following years, the children of Charles VI were successively kidnapped and recovered by both parties, until the Duke of Burgundy managed to be appointed by royal decree to be the guardian of Louis, the Dauphin and regent of France.

Louis did not give up and took every effort to sabotage Jean’s rule, including squandering the money raised for the relief of Calais, then occupied by the English. After this episode, Jean and Louis broke into open threats and only the intervention of Jean of Valois, Duke of Berry and uncle of both men, avoided a civil war.

Louis was reportedly responsible for the deaths of four dancers at a disastrous 1393 masquerade ball that became known as the Bal des Ardents (Ball of the Burning Men). The four victims were burnt alive when a torch held by Louis came too close to their highly flammable costumes. Two other dancers wearing the same costumes (one of whom was Charles VI himself) narrowly escaped a similar fate.

Murder

On Sunday, November 20, 1407, the contending Dukes exchanged solemn vows of reconciliation before the court of France. But only three days later, Louis was brutally assassinated in the streets of Paris, by the orders of the Duke of Burgundy Jean the Fearless. Louis was stabbed while mounting his horse by fifteen masked criminals led by Raoulet d’Anquetonville, a servant of the Duke of Burgundy. An attendant was severely wounded.

Jean was supported by the population of Paris and the University. He could even publicly admit the killing. Rather than deny it, Jean had the scholar Jean Petit of the Sorbonne deliver a peroration justifying the killing of tyrants.

Louis’ murder sparked a bloody feud and civil war between Burgundy and the French royal family which divided France for the next twenty-eight years, ending with the Treaty of Arras in 1435.

Marriage and issue

In 1389, Louis married Valentina Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan and his first wife Isabelle of Valois, a daughter of King Jean II the Good of France by his first wife, Bonne of Bohemia.

The union produced eight children. Among them were Louis’ eldest son, Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394 – 1465), who married Marie of Cleves (daughter of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves) and was father of Louis XII, King of France.

Another son was Jean, Count of Angoulême (1399 – 1467), who was the grandfather of Francis I of France.

Titles of the British Monarch. Part II.

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Battle of Agincourt, Charles IV of France, Charles VI of France, coronation, Edward III of England, Henry VI of England, Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc, Philippe VI of France, Reims Cathedral, Salic Law, Siege of Orléans, Titles of the British Monarch, Treaty of Troyes

Claims to the French Throne

When King Charles IV of France died on February 1, 1328 without a surviving male heir, it ended the direct line of the Capetian Dynasty which had ruled France since the election and accession of King Hughes Capét on July 3, 987 by the prelate of Reims.

King Charles VI of France

Twelve years prior to the death of Charles IV, a rule against succession by women, arguably derived from the Salic Law, had been recognised – with some dissent – as controlling succession to the French throne. The application of this rule barred Charles’s one-year-old daughter Mary, by Jeanne d’Évreux, from succeeding as the monarch, but Jeanne was also pregnant at the time of Charles’s death.

Since she might have given birth to a son, a regency was set up under the heir presumptive Philippe of Valois, son of Charles of Valois and a member of the House of Valois, the next most senior branch of the Capetian dynasty.

After two months, Jeanne gave birth to another daughter, Blanche, and thus Philippe became king and in May and was consecrated and crowned Philippe VI. Edward III of England argued, however, that although the Salic law should forbid inheritance by a woman, it did not forbid inheritance through a female line – under this argument, Edward III, son of Queen Isabella, wife of Edward II and daughter of Philippe IV, should have inherited the throne.

At first, King Edward III seemed to accept Philippe VI’s succession. However, in 1337 Edward III declared himself the rightful heir to the French throne. This started what became known as the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). Following some initial setbacks, this first phase of the war went exceptionally well for England; victories at Crécy and Poitiers led to the highly favourable Treaty of Brétigny, in which England made territorial gains, and Edward renounced his claim to the French throne.

Revival of the claims to France

By 1378, under King Charles V the Wise and the leadership of Bertrand du Guesclin, the French had reconquered most of the lands ceded to King Edward III in the Treaty of Brétigny (signed in 1360), leaving the English with only a few cities on the continent.

Arms of Henry VI of England.

In the following decades, the weakening of royal authority, combined with the devastation caused by the Black Death of 1347–1351 (with the loss of nearly half of the French population and between 20% and 33% of the English population) and the major economic crisis that followed, led to a period of civil unrest in both countries. These crises were resolved in England earlier than in France.

Lancastrian Phase of the Hundred Years War

The newly crowned Henry V of England seized the opportunity presented by the mental illness of Charles VI of France and the French civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians to revive the conflict.

In 1415 the army of Charles VI was crushed by the English at the Battle of Agincourt, which led to Charles’ signing of the Treaty of Troyes, which entirely disinherited his son, the Dauphin and future Charles VII, in favour of his future son-in-law Henry V of England. Henry was thus made regent and heir to the throne of France, and Charles VI married him to his daughter Catherine de Valois.

Henry V and Catherine de Valois had a son, Henry, born on December 6, 1421 at Windsor Castle. The young Henry succeeded to the throne as King Henry VI of England at the age of nine months on September 1, 1422, the day after his father’s death; he remains the youngest person ever to succeed to the English throne. On October 21, 1422, in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes of 1420, he became titular King of France upon the death of his grandfather King Charles VI of France. His mother, the 20-year-old Catherine of Valois, was viewed with considerable suspicion by English nobles as Charles VI’s daughter. Therefore she was prevented from playing a full role in her son’s upbringing.

However Charles VI’s own son, the disinherited Dauphin, was regarded as the true heir by the French. At the same time, a civil war raged in France between the Armagnacs (supporters of the House of Valois) and the Burgundian party (supporters of the House of Valois-Burgundy allied to the English).

With his court removed to Bourges, south of the Loire River, Charles VII was disparagingly called the “King of Bourges”, because the area around this city was one of the few remaining regions left to him. However, his political and military position improved dramatically with the emergence of Joan of Arc as a spiritual leader in France.

Joan of Arc and other charismatic figures led French troops to lift The Siege of Orléans in 1429 which announced the beginning of the end for English hopes of conquest.

With the local English troops dispersed, the people of Reims switched allegiance and opened their gates, which enabled the coronation of Charles VII in 1429 at Reims Cathedral.

In reaction to the coronation of Charles VII on July 17, 1429, at Reims Cathedral, Henry was soon crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on November 6, 1429, aged 7. This was folowed by his own coronation as King of France at Notre-Dame de Paris on December 16, 1431, aged 10. He was the only English king to be crowned king in both England and France.

Despite the eventual capture of Joan of Arc by the Burgundians and her execution in 1431, a series of crushing French victories such as those at Patay in 1429, Formigny in 1450 and Castillon in 1453 concluded the Hundred Years War in favour of France and the Valois dynasty.

England permanently lost most of its continental possessions, with only the Pale of Calais remaining under its control on the continent, until it too was lost in the Siege of Calais in 1558.

Despite his brief reign in France, Henry VI of England is not recognized as a legitimate King of France.

The claim to the title of “King of France” was nonetheless not relinquished and was retained in pretense by the English/British monarchs until the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, by which time the French monarchy had been overthrown by the French Revolution.

March 4, 1461: Edward IV of England deposed Henry VI of England

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Charles VI of France, Duke of York, Earl of Warwick, House of Lancaster, House of York, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VI of England, Lords of Ireland, Richard Plantagenet

In October 1452, an English advance in Aquitaine retook Bordeaux from the French and was having some success, but by 1453 Bordeaux was lost again leaving Calais as England’s only remaining territory on the continent. Upon hearing of the final loss of Bordeaux in August 1453, Henry VI of England experienced a mental breakdown and became completely unresponsive to everything that was going on around him for more than a year. He even failed to respond to the birth of a son and heir, who was christened Edward.

Henry VI, King of England and Lord of Ireland

Henry may have inherited a psychiatric condition from Charles VI of France, his maternal grandfather, who was affected by intermittent periods of insanity during the last thirty years of his life. During his bout of insanity, Henry was attended by the surgeons Gilbert Kymer and John Marchall. Thomas Morstede had previously been appointed royal surgeon and died in 1450.

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, (a leading English magnate, a great-grandson of King Edward III through his father, and a great-great-great-grandson of the same king through his mother) meanwhile, had gained a very important ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, one of the most influential magnates and possibly richer than York himself.

York was named regent as Protector of the Realm in 1454. The queen was excluded completely, and Edmund Beaufort was detained in the Tower of London, while many of York’s supporters spread rumours that Edward was not the king’s son, but Beaufort’s. Other than that, York’s months as regent were spent tackling the problem of government overspending.

Around Christmas Day 1454, King Henry VI regained his senses. Disaffected nobles who had grown in power during Henry’s reign, most importantly the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, took matters into their own hands. They backed the claims of the rival House of York, first to the control of government, and then to the throne itself (from 1460), pointing to York’s better descent from Edward III. It was agreed that York would become Henry’s successor, despite York being older. In 1458, in an attempt to unite the warring factions, Henry staged The Love Day in London.

Thereafter followed a violent struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York. Henry VIII’s was defeated and captured at the Battle of Northampton on July 10, 1460. The Duke of York was killed by Margaret’s forces at the Battle of Wakefield on December 30, 1460, and Henry VI was rescued from imprisonment after the Second Battle of St Albans on February 17, 1461, allowing the Lancastrians to regain custody of Henry VI.

Edward IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

The Earl of Warwick and the the new Duke of York, Edward, met in London, where Edward was hastily crowned as King Edward IV before leading his army north. By then, however, Henry VI was suffering such a bout of madness that he was apparently laughing and singing while the battle raged. Henry VI was finally defeated at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461 but Edward IV failed to capture Henry VI and his queen, Margaret of Anjou, who fled to Scotland. During the first period of Edward IV’s reign, Lancastrian resistance continued mainly under the leadership of Queen Margaret and the few nobles still loyal to her in the northern counties of England and Wales.

History of the French Dynastic Disputes. Part III.

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Charles VI of France, Edward III of England, French Dynastic Disputes, Henry V of England, Henry VI of England, Hundred Years War, Kings and Queens of England, Kings of france, Philip IV of France, The Treaty of Troyes, Valois Succession

The Valois succession

In 1328, Edward III of England unsuccessfully claimed the French throne. There was a political motive for this claim and not just a genealogical claim.

The legal basis of this outcome is a corollary to the masculinity principle established in 1316. Women do not have a right to the throne; hence, no right of succession can be derived from them (Nemo dat quod non habet). Edward III had to give in, and for nine years the matter seemed resolved.

Edward III, King of England and Lord of Ireland

But the ancient alliance of the Scottish and the French, the disputes over the suzerainty of Gascony, and Edward III’s expansionist policy against Scotland, led to a long war between the kingdoms of England and France.

To alleviate the pressure on the Scots, the French carried out raids on English coastal towns, leading to rumours in England of a full-scale French invasion. In 1337, Philippe VI confiscated the English king’s Duchy of Aquitaine and the county of Ponthieu. Instead of seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict by paying homage to the French king, as his father had done, Edward responded by laying claim to the French crown as the grandson of Philippe IV. The French rejected this based on the precedents for agnatic succession set in 1316 and 1322. Instead, they upheld the rights of Philippe IV’s nephew, King Philippe VI (an agnatic descendant of the House of France), thereby setting the stage for the Hundred Years’ War.

In the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V of England married Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France. Henry recognized Charles as king for the remainder of his life, while he would be the king’s regent and heir. The treaty was ratified by the Estates General the next year, after Henry entered Paris. But Henry predeceased Charles, and it would be his infant son Henry VI who would inherit according to the Treaty of Troyes.

Henry V, King of England and Lord of Ireland

The Treaty of Troyes threw the French in an uncomfortably humiliating position. To accept its terms meant that a defeated King of France could be coerced to hand over his kingdom to the enemy. To counter this act, the French developed the principle of the inalienability of the crown. The succession is to be governed by the force of custom alone, rather than by the will of any person or body.

This effectively removed the king’s power to relinquish his kingdom, or disinherit the heirs, the princes of the blood. From that moment the succession to the French throne was firmly entrenched in the Capetian lineage. As long as it continued to exist, the Estates cannot elect a new king. By this principle, the French do not consider Henry VI of England as one of their kings. Charles VII of France directly succeeded his father, not his nephew. Curiously, the French kings never asked the English monarchs to drop their nominal claim to France, which they persistently retained until 1800.

History of the French Dynastic Disputes. Part II.

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Arrêt Lemaistre, Charles VI of France, Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown, Henry of Navarre, Philip III of France, Philip IV of France, Robert II of France

The fundamental laws concerning the royal succession In Ancien Régime France, the laws that govern the succession to the throne are among the fundamental laws of the kingdom. They could not be ignored, nor modified, even by the king himself, since it is to these very laws to which he owes his succession. In the French monarchy, they are the foundation of any right of succession to the throne. They have developed during the early centuries of the Capetian monarchy, and were sometimes transferred to other countries linked to the dynasty.

Heredity: the French crown is hereditary. The early Capetians had their heirs crowned during their lifetime, to prevent succession disputes. The first such coronation was in favor of Robert II, in 987.

Primogeniture: the eldest son is the heir, while cadets only receive appanages to maintain their rank. This principle was strengthened in 1027, when Henry, the eldest surviving son of Robert II, was crowned despite the protests of his mother, Constance of Arles, and younger brother, Robert.

Masculinity: females are excluded from the succession. This issue was not raised until 1316, as the Capetian kings did not lack sons to succeed them for the preceding three centuries. This was invoked by Philip V of France to exclude his niece, Jeanne, daughter of his elder brother.

Male collaterality: the right of succession cannot be derived from a female line. This was invoked in 1328 by Philippe VI of France, to counter the claims of Edward III of England, making the succession exclusive to the Capetian family.

Continuity of the Crown (or immediacy of the Crown): as soon as the king dies, his successor is immediately king because “the King (the State) never dies”. Philippe III, who was in Tunis when his father died, was the first to date his reign from the death of his predecessor (1270), instead of his own coronation.

Orders made under Charles VI, in 1403 and 1407, anxious to avoid any interregnum, declared that the heir to the throne should be considered King after the death of his predecessor. But even after these decisions, Joan of Arc persisted in the old position by calling Charles VII, whose father died in 1422, the “Dauphin” until his coronation at Reims in 1429.

Inalienability of the Crown (or unavailability of the Crown): the crown is not the personal property of the king. He cannot appoint his successor, renounce the crown, or abdicate. This principle arose circa 1419, in anticipation of the Treaty of Troyes, which sought to exclude the Dauphin Charles from the succession. The succession can no longer be regulated by the king, and would rely only on the force of custom.

Catholicism: this principle was not specifically identified in the Middle Ages, but it was implied. Since the baptism of Clovis, the kings of France were Catholic. The Protestantism of Henri of Navarre led to a civil war wherein the king had to reestablish his legitimacy. In the famous Arrêt Lemaistre (1593), Parlement protected the rights of the legitimate successor, Henri of Navarre, but deferred his recognition as legitimate king, pending his conversion.

It is clear that the constitution of the fundamental laws is empirical: masculinity, Catholicity and inalienability for example, have been added or rather clarified because there is uncertainty on points considered already implied by others or by custom (as was the case for masculinity, practiced with the rule of male collaterality, in 1316 and 1328 before being formulated in 1358 and formally put into effect in 1419).

The ‘fundamental’ character of the laws was that they could be supplemented in order to clarify, but not changed, or have any or all of the basic laws ignored to change the direction of the whole. It also appears that the role of parliaments is essential in these various clarifications, the fourteenth to the eighteenth century or the nineteenth century if we add the episodes from the history of the French Capetian dynasty in 1830, 1848, 1875 and 1886.

A History of Styles & Titles: Part I

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Charles VI of France, Duke of Aquitaine, Joan of Arc, King of England, King of France, King of the English, Kingdom of Wessex, Kings and Queens of England, styles, titles, Wessex, William Rufus, William the Conqueror

The Anglo-Saxon kings of England used numerous different titles, including “King of the Anglo-Saxons” and “King of the English. Around the mid 880s Is period in which almost all chroniclers agree that the Saxon people of pre-unification England submitted to Alfred. This was not, however, the point at which Alfred came to be known as King of England; in fact, he would never adopt the title for himself.

Initially Alfred was titled King of Wessex until 886 when in London Alfred received the formal submission of “all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes”, and thereafter he adopted the title Anglorum Saxonum rex (King of the Anglo-Saxons). While Alfred was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex.

Alfred’s son and successor His son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw, but it was his son and successor Æthelstan who became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927, and he is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England. The title “King of the English” or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928.

Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons.

Variations of the monarchs title were adopted by some kings of Wessex and England; for example, Edred used “King of the Anglo-Saxons, Northumbrians, pagans and Britons”. These titles were sometimes accompanied by extravagant epithets; for instance, Æthelstan was “King of the English, raised by the right hand of the Almighty to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of Britain”.

William I the Conqueror used the simple “King of the English” and “Duke of the Normans” as his titles. His successor, William II, was the first to consistently use the style “by the Grace of God”. Henry I added “Duke of the Normans” in 1121, though he had seized Normandy from his brother Robert in 1106. In 1152 Henry II acquired many further French possessions through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine; soon thereafter, he added “Duke of the Aquitanians” and “Count of the Angevins” to his titles.

“King of the English”, “Duke of the Normans”, “Duke of the Aquitanians” and “Count of the Angevins” remained in use until King John ascended the throne in 1199, when they changed the title “King of the English” to “King of England”, along with “Duke of Normandy”, “Duke of Aquitaine” and “Count of Anjou”, respectively. John, furthermore, was already the titular ruler of Ireland; therefore, he added “Lord of Ireland” to his style.

In 1204 England lost both Normandy and Anjou. Nevertheless, they did not renounce the associated titles until 1259. French territory once again became the subject of dispute after the death of the French King Charles IV in 1328. Edward III claimed the French Throne, arguing that it was to pass to him through his mother Isabella, Charles IV’s sister. In France, however, it was asserted that the Throne could not pass to or through a woman according to the Salic Law.

Nevertheless, Edward III began to use the title “King of France” (dropping “Duke of Aquitaine”) after 1337. In 1340 he entered France, where he was publicly proclaimed King. In 1360, however, he agreed to relinquish his title to the French claimant. Though he stopped using the title in legal documents, he did not formally exchange letters confirming the renunciation with the French King. In 1369 Edward III resumed the title, claiming that the French had breached their treaty.

Henry VI, King of England, Lord of Ireland and King of France.

In 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was an agreement signed by Henry V of England and Charles VI of France, recognizing Henry as Charles’ successor, and stipulating that Henry’s heirs would succeed him on the throne of France. It disinherited the Dauphin Charles (with further claim, in 1421, that the young Charles was illegitimate). It also betrothed Charles VI’s daughter, Catherine of Valois, to Henry V. Henry V then adopted the title Heir of France instead.

Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other in 1422, and Henry V’s infant son (Charles VI’s grandson) Henry VI became King of France. He was the only English king who was de facto King of France, rather than using the style as a mere title of pretense. He is also the only English monarch to actually have been crowned King of France (as Henri II, in 1431). However, by 1429 Charles VII was crowned at Reims with the support of Joan of Arc and begun to push the English out of northern France. In 1435, an end to the French civil war between Burgundians and Armagnacs allowed Charles to return to Paris the following year, and by 1453 the English had been driven out of their last strongholds in Normandy and Guyenne. The only French territory left to the English was Calais which they held until 1558.

Coat of Arms of Henry VI with the Lion of England and the French fleur-de-lys.

Nonetheless the kings and queens of England (and, later, of Great Britain) continued to claim the French throne for centuries, through the early modern period. The words “of France” was prominently included among their realms as listed in their titles and styles, and the French fleur-de-lys was included in the royal arms. This continued until 1801, by which time France had no monarch, having become a republic.

James I, King of Scots: Part Two.

Tags

Catherine ofValois, Charles VI of France, Duke of Albany, Henry IV, Henry IV of England, Henry V of England, James I of Scotland, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Murdoch of Albany, Robert Duke of Albany

King in captivity

James, now the uncrowned King of Scots, began what proved to be his 18-year period as a hostage while at the same time Robert, Duke of Albany transitioned from his position of lieutenant to that of Governor of Scotland, wielding immense power and was king in all but name. The Duke of Albany confiscated James’s lands and placed them under his own control. This deprived the young king of any income. The Duke of Albany also confiscated the regalia (the Honors of Scotland).

James was held in Windsor Castle and although technically a prisoner Henry IV treated the young James well, provided him with a good education. With James now a regular member of the Court of Henry IV he was ideally placed to observe Henry’s methods of kingship. Despite being a prisoner of the English king, and with his uncle ruling Scotland, James was kept abreast of the events and news within Scotland as he received personal visits from his nobles coupled with letters to individuals to maintain his visibility in his kingdom.

Henry IV died on March 30, 1413 and his son, Henry V, became King of England and Lord of Ireland and the policies and treatment of James changed immediately. The King of Scots became not just a prisoner in theory, he became a prisoner in reality as James’s comparative freedom was halted and Henry V moved him to the Tower of London along with the other Scottish prisoners.

Ironically, one of these prisoners being held at the same time was James’s cousin, Murdoch Stewart, the Duke of Albany’s son, who had been captured in 1402 at the Battle of Homildon Hill. Initially the cousins were held apart but from 1413 until Murdoch’s release in 1415 they were together in the Tower and at Windsor Castle.

James’s value to Henry became apparent in 1420 when he accompanied the English king to France where his presence was used against the Scots fighting on the Dauphinist side. Following the English success at the siege of Melun, a town southeast of Paris, the contingent of Scots were hanged for treason against their kings. These events changed James’s standing at Henry V’s court and his condition improved greatly; he ceased to be regarded as a hostage and more of a guest.

James attended Catherine of Valois’s coronation on February 23, 1421 and was honoured by being seated immediately on the queen’s left at the coronation banquet. Catherine of Valois was the wife of Henry V and the daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. In March, Henry began a circuit of the important towns in England as a show of strength and it was during this tour that James was knighted on Saint George’s day. By July, the two kings were back campaigning in France where James, evidently approving of Henry’s methods of kingship, seemed content in supporting the English king’s claim for the French crown.

Henry appointed the Duke of Bedford and James as the joint commanders of the siege of Dreux on July 18, 1421 and on August 20, they received the surrender of the garrison. Henry died of dysentery on August 31, 1422 and in September James was part of the escort taking the English king’s body back to London. Henry V was succeeded on the English throne by his 9 month old son who became Henry VI.

Next: The King’s Marriage.

Anne of Brittany: Part III

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Anne of Brittany, Charles V of France, Charles VI of France, Duchy of Brittany, King Charles VIII of France, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Naples, Louis of Orleans, Louis XI of France, Pope Innocent VIII

Continuing our examination of Anne of Brittany, here is more information on her marriage to King Charles VIII of France.

At sunrise on December 6, 1491 the 14 year old Anne, Duchess of Brittany, married the 21 year old King Charles VIII of France. The marriage was solemnized in the Great Hall of the Château de Langeais. The wedding was concluded discreetly and in a near clandestine fashion because technically the marriage was illegal because the proxy marriage between Anne and Maximilian of Austria was still valid.

To resolves this dilemma Pope Innocent VIII annulled the by-proxy marriage between Anne and Maximilian in February 1492. A dispensation for the marriage with Charles VIII was also obtained because Charles VIII and Anne were related within the fourth degree of consanguinity and this was forbidden under Church law.

Anne and Charles VIII were paternal third cousins both direct descendants of Charles V of France. Charles VIII was a direct male line descendant of Charles V via the eldest son of son of Charles V, Charles VI. Anne was a direct descendant of Louis, Duke of Orleans, younger brother of Charles VI. The Duke of Orleans daughter, Margaret, was the mother of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, the father of Anne of Brittany.

The marriage between Anne and Charles stipulated in a contract that if one of them died, the surviving spouse would retain possession of Brittany. The contract further stated that if Charles VIII died without male heirs, Anne would marry his successor. These conditions were proposed to insure the French kings would eventually, and permanently, annex Brittany.

Anne’s marriage contract, which heavily favored France, mentioned that these lopsided provisions were to ensure peace between the Duchy of Brittany and the Kingdom of France. Anne granted Charles VIII the right to be her her representative. Anne was crowned Queen of France at St. Denis Basilica on February 8, 1492 and she was the first Queen crowned and consecrated there. One slight to her dignity was that Charles VIII forbade her to use her title of Duchess of Brittany. This issue became a bone of contention between the two.

Anne of Brittany had a limited role in both France and Brittany. However, her role did mean she was frequently separated from her children in infancy. Her primary residences were in the royal castles of Amboise, Loches and Plessis or in the towns of Lyon. In 1494 She became Queen Consort of Naples and Jerusalem during the conquest of Naples by Charles VIII when he became king of Naples Italy. As Queen of Naples, Anne lived in the palaces of Grenoble or Moulins when the king was in Italy. At Amboise, when Charles VIII had work, she mainly resided in the nearby Clos Lucé, the future home of Leonardo da Vinci.

Charles VIII died as the result of a unfortunate accident on April 4, 1498. While on his way to watch a game of jeu de paume (real tennis) in Amboise he struck his head on the lintel of a door. At around 2pm, while returning from the game, he fell into a sudden coma, and died nine hours later, perhaps of a subdural hematoma. Charles VIII had reigned for 15 years and was only 27 years old. He left no heir and the throne was passed to Louis of Orleans who became King Louis XII of France. Louis XII was the son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, and a great-grandson of King Charles V of France.

Queen Anne was 21 years old and without surviving children. She now reassumed her position as reigning Duchess of Brittany and personally took charge of the administration of the Duchy. She restored the faithful Philippe de Montauban to the chancellery of Brittany, named Jean de Châlon, the Prince of Orange, as Hereditary Lieutenant General of Brittany. Anne convened the Estates of Brittany, and ordered production of a new gold coin bearing her name and likeness.

Issue

Her marriage with Charles VIII of France produced seven pregnancies:

Tomb of Charles Orland and Charles, two sons of Anne and Charles VIII at Tours Cathedral.

* Charles Orland, Dauphin of France (11 October 1492 – 16 December 1495). Her only healthy son, he died of the measles when three years old. Buried at Tours Cathedral.

* Francis (August 1493). Anne had become pregnant in late 1492/early 1493, but travelled with her husband from castle to castle; she went into labour during a drive in the forest of Courcelles, and the child was premature and stillborn. Buried at Notre-Dame de Cléry.

* Stillborn daughter (March 1494). In her third pregnancy, Anne avoided travel (instead residing in Amboise near the Dauphin). However, in February 1494 she accompanied the king to Lyon, where he was preparing to depart for the Italian Wars. After arriving on 15 March, she attended all of the ceremonies; the stress of the occasion caused her to go into premature labour, and the child was stillborn.

* Stillborn daughter (March 1495). She had become pregnant again in late 1494, but lost the child soon after.

* Charles, Dauphin of France (8 September 1496 – 2 October 1496). His death prompted Anne to withdraw temporarily to Moulins in despair. Buried at Tours Cathedral.

* Francis, Dauphin of France (July 1497). He died several hours after his birth. Buried at Tours Cathedral.

* Anne of France (20 March 1498). She died on the day of her birth at Château de Plessis-lez-Tours. Buried at Tours Cathedral.