French King Charles V  will be 669 years old on Wednesday, January 31, having been born in 1338.  Charles is the great, great grandfather of English King Henry II, whose birthday we described in this Family Newsletter for this Sunday, January 28. My relationship to Henry II's line is from his mother and her ancestry back to Haldane, the Earl of the Uplands in Viking Norway in the 700's.

"Charles V the Wise (French: Charles V le Sage) (January 31, 1338 – September 16, 1380) was king of France from 1364 to 1380 and a member of the Valois Dynasty. His reign marked a high point for France during the Hundred Years War, with his armies recovering much of the territory ceded to England at the Treaty of Bretigny.

"Charles was born at Vincennes, Île-de-France, France, the son of King Jean II and Bonne of Luxembourg. Upon his father's succession to the throne in 1350, Charles became Dauphin. He was the first French heir to use the title, after the region of Dauphiné was acquired by his father.

"The future king was highly intelligent but physically weak, with pale skin and a thin, ill-proportioned body. He made a sharp contrast to his father -- who was tall, strong and sandy-haired -- and gossip at the time suggested he was not Jean's son. Similar rumors would pursue Charles' grandson, Charles VII.

"While he was in many ways a typical medieval king, Charles V has been praised by historians for his willingness to ignore the chivalric conventions of the time to achieve his aims, which led to the recovery of the territories lost at Bretigny.

"His successes, however, proved ephemeral. Charles' brothers, who dominated the regency council that ruled in the king's name until 1388, quarreled amongst themselves and divided the government. Charles VI, meanwhile, preferred tournaments to the duties of kingship, and his descent into madness in 1392 put his uncles back in power. By 1419, the country was divided between Armagnac and Burgundian factions and Henry V was conquering the northern part of France. The hard-won victories of Charles V had been lost through the venality of his successors."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V_of_France

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