#charlesvii

On July 17, 1429, during the Hundred Years’ War, Charles VII of France was officially crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Reims, fulfilling a long-awaited tradition of French monarchy. The coronation took place after a remarkable military campaign led by Joan of Arc, whose victories helped restore Charles’s confidence and strengthen his claim to the throne.

Joan of Arc’s relief of Orléans earlier that year and the subsequent French victories opened the road to Reims, the traditional site of French coronations. By bringing Charles to the cathedral, Joan helped transform him from a struggling claimant into the recognized king of France, giving new momentum to the French cause against England.

On July 16, 1429, Joan of Arc and the French army entered the city of Rheims in a remarkable and largely peaceful victory. After a series of military successes against the English during the Hundred Years’ War, Joan helped lead the Dauphin Charles VII’s forces through hostile Burgundian territory and reached the traditional coronation city of France.

The bloodless arrival at Rheims opened the way for Charles VII to be officially crowned King of France the following day at Rheims Cathedral. This coronation was a major turning point, strengthening Charles’s legitimacy and inspiring renewed French resistance against English occupation.

On July 14, 1429, the Dauphin Charles of Valois, the future King Charles VII of France, arrived at Châlons-en-Champagne with his army during one of the most remarkable campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War. Accompanied by Joan of Arc, whose victories had revived French hopes, the royal forces continued their march toward Reims, the traditional city of French coronations.

As the army approached Châlons, the citizens chose to open their gates willingly, welcoming the Dauphin and his troops rather than resisting them. The peaceful entry into the city demonstrated the growing support for Charles’s claim to the French throne after years of conflict, division, and English occupation.

On July 2, 1419, during the turbulent years of the Hundred Years’ War, the future King Charles VII of France—then still the Dauphin—and John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, met at Pouilly to sign a pact of friendship. The agreement was an ambitious attempt to ease the bitter divisions tearing France apart between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions.

At the time, France was deeply weakened by internal civil war and the ongoing English invasion. The Armagnacs, loyal to the Dauphin, and the Burgundians, led by John the Fearless, had been locked in violent rivalry that severely undermined French resistance. The Pouilly meeting represented a rare moment of diplomacy, where both sides recognized the necessity of cooperation against a shared external enemy.

On September 10, 1419, one of the most shocking political murders of the Middle Ages unfolded on the bridge at Montereau. John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, arrived for what was meant to be a peace meeting with the Dauphin, the future Charles VII, hoping to ease the bitter civil war that had divided France between the Burgundian and Armagnac factions.

Instead, the meeting turned into a deadly ambush. As tensions escalated, one of the Dauphin's followers reportedly cried, "Kill! Kill!" before striking John in the face with an axe. The duke was cut down where he stood, and some contemporary accounts claim his right hand was severed—a grim reminder of the mutilation inflicted years earlier on his rival, Louis I, Duke of Orléans.

During the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, the French royal army led by Joan of Arc and Charles VII of France began its historic advance toward Reims on June 29, 1429.

This strategic march followed a series of remarkable French victories and opened the way for the Dauphin to reach Reims, the traditional coronation city of French kings. Joan’s leadership helped restore confidence among the French forces, while the campaign strengthened the idea of a united French nation under Charles VII.