The French king Charles VII (1403-1461) ruled from 1422 to 1461. His reign witnessed the expulsion of the English from France and the reestablishment of a strong French monarchy after the disasters of the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453.

Charles VII was born on Feb. 22, 1403, the son of Charles VI. His father, who suffered from recurrent madness, implied that Charles was illegitimate since his mother, Isabelle of Bavaria, was known to be a woman of loose morals. Nevertheless Charles was regarded as heir to the throne until the English victory over the French at Agincourt. By the Treaty of Troyes (1420) his father was forced to disinherit him in favor of the English king, Henry V. After Charles VI's death in 1422, Charles VII was scornfully called the "king of Bourges," since that city was the capital of the small part of France that still recognized Valois royal legitimacy.

Rise to Power

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