Charles VII of France
Charles VII inherited a France that had been signed away and reconquered it. Born in Paris in 1403, the fifth son of the intermittently insane Charles VI, he became heir by the deaths of his brothers, was implicated in the murder of John the Fearless of Burgundy at Montereau in 1419 — which drove Burgundy into the English alliance — and was disinherited by the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, which made Henry V heir to France. His own mother endorsed it. He held only territory south of the Loire and was mocked as the king of Bourges. He was passive, doubted his own legitimacy, and did little for seven years. Joan of Arc reached him at Chinon in 1429, and the situation reversed within months: the siege of Orléans was lifted, the Loire towns were taken, and he was crowned at Reims in July 1429 with the proper rite, which settled the question of legitimacy. He did nothing to save her when the Burgundians captured her in 1430 and sold her to the English. His achievement came afterwards, and it was administrative. He detached Burgundy from England at Arras in 1435, established permanent taxation with the taille, created the first standing army in Europe — the compagnies d'ordonnance of 1445 — and reformed the artillery under the Bureau brothers, which is what took the English fortresses. Normandy fell at Formigny in 1450 and Gascony at Castillon in 1453, ending the Hundred Years' War. He starved himself to death in 1461, reportedly fearing poisoning by his son.
- Lived: 1403 CE – 1461 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: monarch, head_of_state
