Chartres Treaty

The Treaty of Chartres of March 9, 1409 was supposed to bring about the reconciliation between Charles, Duke of Orléans and Johann Ohnefurcht , Duke of Burgundy .

The reason for the rift was the assassination of Duke Ludwig von Orléans on November 23, 1407, Karl's father, which Johann had caused fearlessly. This act triggered the civil war between the Armagnacs and Bourguignons , the outbreak of which this treaty was intended to prevent.

The negotiations were preceded the previous year by the murder trial in Paris and the death of Valentina Visconti , Ludwig's widow. In addition, the greats of the empire, for fear of Johann, have so far hesitated to openly support the young new duke.

The contract was drawn up by Jean de Montaigu . The most important of the 21 articles were:

• the admission of the Duke of Burgundy that he had the Duke of Orléans murdered: "Par sa volonté et par ses ordres, pour le bien du royaume" - by his will and on his command, for the good of the kingdom - and
• the apology towards the children of his victim

In return, Ludwig's sons, 18-year-old Karl and 13-year-old Philippe, pledged to forgive John Fearless at the ceremony that took place in Chartres Cathedral and swore on the Bible to respect the signed contract. King Charles VI. again pardoned the Burgundy.

However, the treaty was not kept after a league against the Burgundians was formed in Gien at the wedding of Charles and a daughter of Count Bernard VII d'Armagnac on April 15, 1410 , the spokesman of which was the Count of Armagnac - which then resulted in dualism originated between Bourguignons and Armagnacs . Two more attempts were made to end the military conflict that broke out, on November 2, 1410 with the Treaty of Bicêtre and on August 22, 1412 with the Treaty of Auxerre , both of which had no effect.

literature

• Françoise Autrand: La folie du roi Charles VI.