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French Monarchy
Capetian Dynasty
(House of Valois)

Philip VI Children    John II John II Children    Charles V    Louis I of Anjou    John, Duke of Berry    Philip the Bold Charles V Children    Charles VI    Louis, Duke of Orléans Charles VI Children    Isabella of Valois    Catherine of Valois    Charles VII Charles VII Children    Louis XI    Charles, Duke of Berry Louis XI Children    Charles VIII Charles VIII

Charles de Valois (26 December 1446 – 24 May 1472) was the son of Charles VII, King of France and Marie of Anjou. He spent most of his life plotting against his brother Louis XI.

Charles was born at Tours, last child and fourth son of Charles VII and Marie of Anjou. In 1461, Louis XI granted Charles the Duchy of Berry as an appanage. Charles was dissatisfied with this compensation, and joined with Charles, Count of Charolais (the futureDuke of Burgundy, better known as Charles the Bold) and other powerful nobles such as Francis II, Duke of Brittany in the League of the Public Weal in May 1465, provoking the Guerre folle (Mad War).

The war ended in October, with the Treaty of Conflans signed between Louis XI and the Count of Charolais. Charles was granted an additional appanage by his brother, the Duchy of Normandy, of which he was the last effective ruler. Charles proved unable to control his new possession, coming into conflict with his former ally Francis II of Brittany. Louis dispatched the royal army to Normandy, dispossessing Charles, who, now reconciled with Duke Francis, fled to Brittany.

He remained an exile until September 1468, when he and Francis signed the Treaty of Ancenis with Louis, promising to abandon the former Count of Charolais, now the Duke of Burgundy. Louis, imprisoned by Charles of Burgundy in October 1468 during a conference at Péronne, agreed to grant Champagne to his brother as compensation for Normandy, a promise which he lost no time in breaking after his release.

However, the brothers were reconciled in April 1469, and Charles was granted the Duchy of Guyenne as compensation. At the same time, the betrothal of Charles to Mary of Burgundy, Charles of Burgundy's only child and heir to the duchy, was announced, but Louis had no intention of allowing such a marriage to take place. He dispatched envoys to Pope Paul II to ensure that the necessary dispensation, required on grounds of consanguinity, was not granted. The Pope nonetheless granted the dispensation, but the marriage plan still came to nothing.

Charles, however, died at Bordeaux in May 1472 before any marriage could take place, probably from a combination of tuberculosis and a venereal disease contracted from his mistress, Colette de Chambes (who, legend has it, had been fed poisoned fish by her aged but jealous husband, Louis d'Amboise, viscount of Thouars).¹ Charles left no legitimate issue and his lands returned to the crown. His daughter by the viscountess, Anne batarde de Valois, died childless not long after her marriage in 1490 to François de Volvire, Baron of Russec.²

References

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