Dual monarchy of England and France

This article is about the 1422–1453 dual monarchy of England and France. For the Franco-British theoretical union, see Franco-British Union.
Dual monarchy of England and France
1422–1453
Flag of England and France
Flag
The Royal Arms of England during Henry VI's reign of England and France
The Royal Arms of England during Henry VI's reign
StatusEnglish-held territories in France
CapitalNone[1]
GovernmentMonarchy
• 21 October 1422 – 19 October 1453
Henry VI of England and II of France
Historical eraLancastrian War
21 May 1420
• Death of Charles VI of France
21 October 1422
• Coronation of Henry II at Notre-Dame de Paris
16 December 1431
20/21 September 1435
• Loss of Bordeaux
19 October 1453
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of France

The dual monarchy of England and France existed during the latter phase of the Hundred Years' War when Charles VII of France and Henry VI of England disputed the succession to the throne of France. It commenced on 21 October 1422 upon the death of King Charles VI of France, who had signed the Treaty of Troyes which gave the French crown to his son-in-law Henry V of England and Henry's heirs. It excluded King Charles's son, the Dauphin Charles, who by right of primogeniture was the heir to the Kingdom of France. Although the Treaty was ratified by the Estates-General of France, the act was a contravention of the French law of succession which decreed that the French crown could not be alienated. Henry VI, son of Henry V, became king of both England and France and was recognized only by the English and Burgundians until 1435[2] as King Henry II of France.[3][4][5][6][7][8] He was crowned King of France on 16 December 1431.[9]

In practical terms, King Henry's claim to de jure sovereignty and legitimacy as king of France was only recognised in the English and allied-controlled territories of France which were under the domination of his French regency council, while the Dauphin ruled as King of France in part of the realm south of the river Loire.

The Dauphin was crowned as King Charles VII of France at Reims on 17 July 1429, largely through the martial efforts of Joan of Arc, who believed it was her mission to free France from the English and to have the Dauphin Charles crowned at Reims.[10][11] In 1435, the Duke of Burgundy, released from his obligations to Henry VI by a papal legate,[12] recognised Charles VII as the rightful king of France.[13] The defection of this powerful French noble marked the decline of Henry's de facto reign over France.[14] The dual monarchy came to an end with the capture of Bordeaux by Charles VII's forces on 19 October 1453 following their final victory at the Battle of Castillon (17 July 1453), thus bringing the Hundred Years' War to a conclusion. The English were expelled from all of the territories which they had controlled in France, with the sole exception of Calais. Charles VII had thus established himself as the undisputed king of almost all of France (save Calais, which remained under English rule for another century).

  1. ^ Main administrative centers were Paris, London, and Rouen.
  2. ^ Charles, John Foster Kirk, History of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, (J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1863), 36.
  3. ^ Patrick, James, Renaissance and Reformation, (Marshall Cavendish, 2007), 601.
  4. ^ Neillands, Robin, The Hundred Years' War, (Routledge, 1991), 263.
  5. ^ Morgan, Kenneth O., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, (Oxford University Press, 2000), 200.
  6. ^ Oman, Charles William Chadwick, The History of England, from the Accession of Richard II to the Death of Richard III (1377-1485), (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906), 316-317.
  7. ^ Hare, Christopher and Mare Andrews, The life of Louis XI, (C. Scribner, 1907), 15-16.
  8. ^ Thackeray, Frank W., Events that changed the world through the sixteenth century, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001), 57.
  9. ^ Lebigue, Jean-Baptiste, "L'ordo du sacre d'Henri VI à Notre-Dame de Paris (16 décembre 1431)" Archived 2014-04-04 at archive.today, Notre-Dame de Paris 1163-2013, ed. C. Giraud, (Brepols, 2013), 319-363.
  10. ^ Gower, Ronald Sutherland, Joan of Arc, (BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008), 21.
  11. ^ Williams, Jay, Joan of Arc, (Sterling Publishing Company, 2007), 11.
  12. ^ Harriss, Gerald, Shaping the Nation, (Oxford University Press, 2007), 567.
  13. ^ Charles, John Foster Kirk, History of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, (J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1863), 36.
  14. ^ Andrews, Allen, Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, Marshall Cavendish Publications Ltd., London, 1976, p. 82.