But this territorial advantage was not all.  Distinct progress had been made towards a national existence in France.  The establishment of the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the depredations of the “ecorcheurs,” the devastating, marauding bands which had harassed the provinces.  There was new activity in agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in spite of the depression of the Hundred Years’ War.  Royal justice was reorganised, public finance was better administered.  By 1456, misery had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.

The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however, years of discord between Charles and his son.  The dauphin Louis had not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin.  Very poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir (1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who baptised the child or the woman who nourished him.  The latter received no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.  The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal father’s uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month.  Every feature of his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of Charolais.

From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called the Praguerie.  Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the administration of Dauphine, thus practically banishing him honourably from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element.  The only restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.  To these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed.  He assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign.  He made wars and treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own marriage.

At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien.  Her death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander.  “Fie upon life,” she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist the languor into which she was sinking.  “Talk to me no more of it.”

Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself.  He took no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new alliance.  At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphine and his own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.  After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his matrimonial project.  It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.