1403–1418: Childhood, Anjou and becoming dauphin

Charles was born on 22 February 1403 at the Hôtel Saint-Pol in Paris. He was one of the many children of Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria, and was not, at the outset, destined to succeed to the throne.

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👶 A younger prince in a kingdom in crisis

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Hundred Years’ War was intertwined with the civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians (from 1407 onward). The struggles to control the regency, aggravated by the illness of Charles VI, constantly reshaped the future of the princes.

Charles was given at a young age the title of Count of Ponthieu. His normal horizon would have been an appanage, not the crown.

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🤝 1413: Angevin alliance (betrothal)

In 1413, an alliance project was sealed: Charles was betrothed to Marie of Anjou. His in-laws, and especially Yolande of Aragon, played a protective role during the years of unrest, far from the capital.

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👑 1417: Charles becomes Dauphin of France

Charles, Count of Ponthieu, the last living heir to the crown of France, became Dauphin of France at the age of 14, on 5 April 1417, under the traditional title of Dauphin of Viennois.

From the death of his future father-in-law, the Duke of Anjou, on 29 April 1417, Charles of Ponthieu replaced him as president of the regency council. His mother, Isabeau of Bavaria, however, claimed sole direction of the regency, under the influence of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless. To be rid of her, her son Charles sent her under guard to Tours, held under surveillance by the Armagnacs: she would never forgive the dauphin for this episode.

The dauphin took part in the regency of the kingdom with his Armagnac advisors. He was made Duke of Touraine, Duke of Berry and Count of Poitiers (under the name of Charles II of Poitiers). In May 1417, he was appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, charged with standing in for his father in case of incapacity. He benefited from the close protection of several crown officers affiliated with the Armagnac party.

However, the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, had just freed Queen Isabeau from her prison at Tours. He installed her at Troyes on 23 December 1417, having rallied her to his cause against the dauphin. He published a manifesto demanding full powers, given the king’s illness and the dauphin’s youth.

John the Fearless decided to seize control of the situation in Paris by abducting Dauphin Charles and eliminating the Armagnacs, in order to assume sole regency of the kingdom.

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🏙️ 1418: Paris falls, the dauphin escapes

During the night of 29 May 1418, in the midst of the civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians, Paris was invaded by the men of the Duke of Burgundy, led by Jean de Villiers de L’Isle-Adam. The Provost of Paris, Tanneguy du Chastel, assisted by the crown officers charged by King Charles VI with the close protection of the dauphin, rushed to the Hôtel Saint-Pol, where the heir to the throne of France was staying. He pulled the sleeping dauphin from his bed, wrapped him in his night robe and led him to the Bastille Saint-Antoine, the eastern exit of the Parisian fortifications. From there, the Provost was able to send Charles toward Melun, thus enabling him to escape the influence of John the Fearless. Meanwhile, having become masters of the capital, the Burgundians proceeded to massacre the Chancellor of France, Henri de Marle, the Constable of France, the Count of Armagnac, and their Armagnac supporters.

The dauphin, aged fifteen, took refuge at Bourges, capital of his Duchy of Berry, to organise resistance against the Burgundians and the English.

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🏰 The refuge of Bourges and the “King of Bourges”

Dauphin Charles of Ponthieu took refuge in the former palace of his uncle John I of Berry, who had died in 1416. He was surrounded by the faithful crown officers affiliated with the Armagnac party, which earned him, from Burgundian chroniclers, the pejorative nickname of “King of Bourges”, while his advisors were treated as “unscrupulous adventurers,” “hungry for power” and accused of “greed” by those Burgundian chroniclers in the service of John the Fearless. The same chroniclers spread the rumour that the young dauphin was entirely given over to the influence of his advisors and singularly lacked character. Charles VII’s career would on the contrary prove his shrewd conduct.

He appeared as the legitimate heir to the kingdom of France, still bearing the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, conferred by his father Charles VI. He was an ally of the Armagnacs and hostile to the policy of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, who was secretly allied with the English. Dauphin Charles established the Parlement at Poitiers and the Chambre des Comptes at Bourges. He took up arms to reconquer his kingdom. Surrounded by great feudal lords and military commanders, he subjugated several towns including Tours, Melun, Meaux, Compiègne and Montereau. It was during the siege of Tours that the dauphin proclaimed himself regent of the kingdom of France, much to the displeasure of John the Fearless.

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🤝 1418: The Treaty of Saint-Maur

The Burgundians occupying the outskirts of Paris were surrounded by the Armagnacs. John the Fearless, eager to take control of the dauphin who had taken refuge at Bourges, made a first diplomatic move by ratifying with Queen Isabeau of Bavaria and Duke John V of Brittany on 16 September 1418 the Treaty of Saint-Maur.

By this treaty, devised without the knowledge of King Charles VI and the Dauphin of France, John the Fearless and Isabeau of Bavaria proposed to grant pardon to the Armagnacs for all the wrongs they might be guilty of. They were accused, among other things, of having poisoned the first two Dauphins of France, Louis of Guyenne (died 1415) and John of Touraine (died 1417), and of holding the last surviving dauphin hostage at Bourges — Dauphin Charles — with the intention of handing him over to the English. In return, the dauphin and his Armagnac advisors were asked to submit to the wishes of John the Fearless and Isabeau of Bavaria by signing the Treaty of Saint-Maur and renouncing all resistance.

Duke John V of Brittany, sent on 22 September 1418 as an ambassador by John the Fearless, met the dauphin at Saumur to attempt to persuade him to ratify this treaty. But the dauphin was not deceived by his Burgundian cousin’s intentions and had no intention of disavowing his Armagnac advisors. Assisted by Jean Louvet, President of Provence, and his councillors, he would accept no capitulation: he refused to ratify it and the treaty remained void.

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🧠 Key points

• Charles VII was at first an “improbable” prince: war and dynastic deaths pushed him toward the throne.
• 5 April 1417: Charles became Dauphin of France at age 14, the last living heir to the crown.
• 29 May 1418: spectacular escape from Paris thanks to Tanneguy du Chastel, evading the Burgundians.
• Bourges became the political base of a contested future king, pejoratively nicknamed “King of Bourges.”
• 16 September 1418: Treaty of Saint-Maur rejected by the dauphin, who refused to submit to John the Fearless.
• The dauphin established institutions (Parlement at Poitiers, Chambre des Comptes at Bourges) and proclaimed himself regent of the kingdom.