Home Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
France
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Facts & Stats
Images, Videos & Interactives
France France Villandry France Paris skyline Château Gaillard Chaîne des Puys beach at Nice Paris, France
For Students
France summary
Quizzes
Brown globe on antique map. Brown world on vintage map. North America. Green globe. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, geography and travel, explore discovery
Countries & Their Features
Actual continental drift of plates. Thematic map.
Geography Fun Facts
Napoleon Bonaparte. General Bonaparte on the bridge at Arcole, 17 November, 1796, by Antoine-Jean Gros, Musee National, Chateau de Versailles. The first emblematic image of the Napoleonic myth. Napoleon I
Exploring French History
10:087 Ocean: The World of Water, two globes showing eastern and western hemispheres
You Name It!
Flags of the world. National flags. Country flags. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, geography and travel, explore discovery
Countries of the World
Related Questions
Read Next
Battle of Fleurus (June 16, 1794), the most significant battle in the First Coalition phase of the French Revolutionary Wars; by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse, 19th century.
What Led to France’s Reign of Terror?
Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)
All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained
Joan of Arc, in the presence of Charles VII, King of France, answers the questions of the prelates; she anounces her mission and the visions which have revealed her task. Gillot Saint-Evre, Oil on Canvas, 142 x 167 cm. In the Louvre, Paris, France (notes)
6 Teenagers Who Made History
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher. Print published in London, 1812. Profile portrait surrounded by Ouroboros ancient Egyptian-Greek symbolic serpent with tail in mouth devouring itself representing unity of material and spiritual in eternal...
Philosophers to Know, Part II
Joan of Arc at the Coronation of King Charles VII at Reims Cathedral, July 1429 by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Oil on canvas, 240 x 178 cm, 1854. In the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
7 Women Warriors
Discover
solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space
How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?
Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.
10 Important Dates in Pluto History
African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
Aphrodite. Greek mythology. Sculpture. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
12 Greek Gods and Goddesses
Julius Caesar in full Gaius Julius Caesar (100? BCE-44 BCE) statue in Rimini, Italy. Roman general and statesman and dictator
The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates
Person paying with a credit card using a credit card terminal. Cashless payment, credit card reader
What Is a Cashless Society and How Does It Work?
Stylish light blue jeans on wooden background, closeup of inset pocket
Why Do Jeans Have That Tiny Pocket?

Charles VII

Charles VI’s son, Charles VII (reigned 1422–61), for his part, did not fail to claim his inheritance, though he had no proper coronation. Residing at Bourges, which his adversaries pretended was the extent of his realm, he in fact retained the fidelity of the greater part of France, including Berry, Poitou, Lyonnais, Auvergne, and Languedoc. For a time the Valois cause suffered from the ineptness of its leader and from his advisers and retainers, who prospered from the unresolved conflict. Incapable himself of military leadership, Charles put his hope in reconciliation with Philip of Burgundy, a diplomacy that thoroughly discomfited King Henry’s regent, the duke of Bedford. Nevertheless, French prestige collapsed with the abasement of the monarchy; Charles VII appears to have doubted his own legitimacy, and disorder spread again.

Then Joan of Arc appeared. Stirred by the popular memory of traditional French kingship, she found her way from her peasant home at Domrémy (on the border of Champagne and Bar) to Chinon, where she confronted Charles with her astonishing inspiration: her “voices” proclaimed a divine commission to aid the king. In April 1429 she entered Orléans, long besieged, rallying the garrison to effective sorties that soon caused the English to lift the siege. Other victories followed, in which Joan’s influence was manifest, although probably exaggerated in tradition. On her insistence that only consecration at Reims could make a true king, chosen by God (a view doubtless supported by the chancellor Regnault, archbishop of Reims), it was decided to advance boldly across the Île-de-France to Reims. Charles was anointed there on July 17, 1429.