The court of Charles VII was still reveling in the victory
of the Battle of Castillon and the subsequent siege of Bordeaux when news of Henry
VI’s death reached Paris. As the French
King and his advisors thought about how the turn of events in England would
affect their enemy’s foreign policy, there was a bit of a mystery as no one
knew exactly who would succeed Henry. The
fact that neither did the English wasn’t comforting to Charles as he learned
that both York and Somerset were claiming the English Crown, he saw it both as
an opportunity to fully push English forces out of France and a potential
problem if York were to prove victorious in the certain civil war. Soldiers were sent to join the French forces
besieging Bordeaux as well as instructions to report the news of Henry’s death
and the succession crisis unfolding in England then he wanted to know if it was
possible to capture Calais from the garrison there. Finally Charles thought about how his son the
Dauphin, Louis, would react to the news considering their estrangement and what
would Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, do now that England was on the verge
of civil war.
The months past until 19 October when finally Bordeaux
surrendered to French forces thus ending the 300-year English hold on Guyenne
in southwestern France, the English soldiers were allowed to return to England
on order by Charles. The King would
later learn that this decision had given York the numerical advantage that
would prove decisive in the coming “Winter War” that would see York transformed
into Richard III. But at the time,
Charles hoped the influx of defeated soldiers would escalate the chaos that
seemed to be consuming England with two rivals claiming the crown. Charles hoped to use this chaos to take
Calais, however the French forces found that the garrison wasn’t about to
surrender thanks to the efforts of Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron
Welles, the deputy captain of the garrison charge of Calais. When the Burgundians looked like they were
about to interfere before the end of 1453, the French had no choice but to
retreat and Charles wondered if the Burgundians activity was the result of
Louis convincing Philip to intervene.
Early in 1454, news reached Paris that London had opened its
gates to York who had been proclaimed Richard III. To Charles the apparent ascension of York to
the throne meant that English foreign policy would shift dramatically back to
the “war party” that had been marginalized the latter half of Henry VI’s reign
in favor the Somerset-led “peace party” that the French used to their advantage
the last few decades. As the French
court continued to follow what was happening in England, Charles tried to find
out what Louis was doing in regard to the situation as well as Philip and his
son Charles in Burgundy. But Charles
also had to consider rumors about the Count of Armagnac and his sister, though
only rumors it was disturbing on the surface and the King didn’t like the
implications if they were true.
The news reached Charles on the result of Bosworth it did
not surprise him and decided on a wait-and-see approach when it came to
Richard’s actions in regards to the conquered territory of Guyenne. In the months that followed, Charles tried to
persuade his nephew Peter II, Duke of Brittany, to ally with him against the
English if the need were to arise and also sent overtures to Philip in
Burgundy. Neither would give the King a
clear answer resulting in Charles decided to make sure that he had enough
forces to repel an invasion. Throughout
the summer of 1454, Charles tried not to think too much of the English and with
no immediate threat seemingly on the horizon he decided to let down his
guard. Then when he heard that the Earls
of Devon and Warwick had left Calais headed for Paris with a far too small
entourage befitting their status made the King and his own councilors wonder
why the two men were coming.
In their audience Devon and Warwick told of Richard’s wish
to present Margaret of Anjou as a possible wife to Henry IV of Castile and
hoped that Charles would not have any objections. The King along with his advisors were surprised,
but kept it from the Englishmen. Although
many of his advisors wondered what Richard was up to, Charles knew exactly what
was going on. The King reminded them
that he still had two nephews in England after Henry VI’s death only to get
bewildered looks in response; Charles explained that his sister Catherine had
married one Owen Tudor and had given birth to Edmund and Jasper Tudor, the
earls of Richmond and Pembroke respectfully.
Then he reminded them of the widow of John, Duke of Bedford, who married
a minor English nobleman before stating that Richard was simply attempting to
avoid another scandal by marrying his wife’s niece to a brother King in Henry
IV. To Charles it simply showed that
Richard was not planning on launching a military campaign to reconquer Guyenne
in the near future and decided it would be prudent to develop a good
relationship with the new King of England.
The next day Charles told the two envoys that he approved of Richard’s
plan to present Margaret to Henry IV for marriage, the French king told his
English guests that his wife would be pleased that her brother’s daughter would
once again be a Queen. Charles appointed
a trusted man to accompany Devon to Castile to help with the negotiations and
suggested the men return to Calais to sail to Castile immediate so as the
Dauphin wouldn’t interfere in their mission.
