CHARLES VI., THE WELL-BELOVED, king of France from 1380 to 1422, was son and successor of Charles V.; began his reign under the guardianship of his uncles, who rifled the public treasury and provoked rebellion by their exactions; gained a victory at Rossbach over the Flemings, then in revolt, and a little after dismissed his uncles and installed in their stead the wise councillors of his father, whose sage, upright, and beneficent administration procured for him the title of “Well-Beloved,” a state of things, however, which did not last long, for the harassments he had been subjected to drove him insane, and his kingdom, torn in pieces by rival factions, was given over to anarchy, and fell by treaty of Troyes almost entirely into the hands of the English conquerors at Agincourt (1368-1422).

CHARLES VII., THE VICTORIOUS, son of Charles VI., became king of France in 1422; at his accession the English held possession of almost the whole country, and he indolently made no attempt to expel them, but gave himself up to effeminate indulgences; was about to lose his whole patrimony when the patriotism of the nation woke up at the enthusiastic summons of Joan of Arc; her triumphs and those of her associates weakened the English domination, and even after her death the impulse she gave continued to work, till at the end of 20 years the English were driven out of France, and lost all they held in it except the town of Calais, along with Havre, and Guines Castle (1403-1461).

CHARLES VIII., king of France, son and successor of Louis XI.; during his minority the kingdom suffered from the turbulence and revolts of the nobles; married Anne of Brittany, heiress of the rich duchy of that name, by which it was added to the crown of France; sacrificed the interests of his kingdom by war with Italy to support the claims of French princes to the throne of Naples, which, though successful in a military point of view, proved politically unfruitful (1470-1498).

CHARLES IX., second son of Henry II. and Catharine de’ Medici, became king of France in 1560; the civil wars of the Huguenots and Catholics fill up this reign; the first war concluded by the peace of Amboise, during which Francis of Guise was assassinated; the second concluded by the peace of Longjumeau, during which Montmorency fell; the third concluded by the peace of St. Germain, in which Conde and Moncontour fell, which peace was broken by the massacre of St. Bartholomew, into the perpetration of which Charles was inveigled by his mother and the Guises; incensed at this outrage the Huguenots commenced a fourth war, and were undertaking a fifth when Charles died, haunted by remorse and in dread of the infinite terror (1550-1574).

CHARLES X., brother of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII., the latter of whom he succeeded on the throne of France in 1824; was unpopular in France as Duc d’Artois in the time of the Revolution, and had to flee the country at the outbreak of it, and stayed for some time as an exile in Holyrood, Edinburgh; on his accession he became no less unpopular from his adherence to the old regime; at an evil hour in 1830 he issued ordinances in defiance of all freedom, and after an insurrection of three days in the July of that year had again to flee; abdicating in favour of his son, found refuge for a time again in Holyrood, and died at Goertz in his eightieth year (1757-1837).