Government of the dukes

Under the government of the dukes one understands the reign that the dukes Ludwig von Anjou (1339–1384), Johann von Berry (1340–1416) and Philip of Burgundy (1342–1404) from 1380 to 1388 for the underage French King Charles VI . exercised.

When King Charles V died on September 16, 1380, his son and heir was Charles VI. not yet twelve years old. He was initially under the tutelage of his father's three brothers, the dukes mentioned, who, as a Regency Council, also ruled for him.

The reign

The regents pursued contradicting goals, mostly for their own benefit. Their politics caused uprisings, especially in 1382 in Rouen ( La Harelle ) and Paris ( Maillotins ) after they announced the reintroduction of taxes during the prevailing economic crisis, which Charles V had abolished shortly before his death. The revolts in Rouen and Paris could be suppressed, the rebellious citizens of Ghent , Bruges and Ypres in the county of Flanders , which then belonged to the Kingdom of France , were defeated on November 27, 1382 in the Battle of Roosebeke . Ludwig von Anjou left the country in the same year to assert his claims to the Kingdom of Naples ; he died two years later.

It was not until 1388 that Karl took over the government himself and disempowered his uncles. He proved to be good-willed, but weak and erratic, but he surrounded himself with capable ministers from his father's earlier circle, with whom he ruled with happy hands for a few years, so that the previous rulers were disempowered. From 1392 at the latest, however, he was temporarily mentally disturbed and from 1393 onwards he was mostly unable to act, even if he was apparently clear-headed for a short time in between.

The consequences

The conflicts of the brothers Johann and Philipp escalated in the 1390s, new competitors appeared, Isabeau (1370-1435), the queen and official regent, as well as the Duke Ludwig von Orléans (1372-1407), the younger brother of Charles VI. After Philip of Burgundy died in 1404, his son Johann Ohnefurcht (1371–1419) had his cousin Ludwig von Orléans murdered in 1407. Johann Ohnefurcht was also murdered by supporters of the opposing party twelve years later.

In the years that followed the reign of the dukes, two camps had formed:

the party of formally loyal to the king "Orleanists", the followers of Ludwig von Orléans, which was later renamed Armagnacs because it was under the leadership of Johann von Berry's son-in-law Bernard VII of Armagnac (around 1360-1418), and
the Bourguignons of Philip the Bold and John of Fear, who were in alliance with the English when they resumed the Hundred Years War in 1415 .