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Historical person

Charles V of France

1338–1380

Charles V of France, known as Charles the Wise, ruled from 1364 to 1380 and rebuilt French fortunes during the Hundred Years’ War. Working with commanders such as Bertrand du Guesclin, he recovered territory lost after earlier defeats and strengthened royal administration.

Charles V of France also held the offices or ranks of King of France, regent of France, list of dukes of Touraine, and Duke of Normandy. Charles V of France belonged to the House of Valois. Charles V of France was born in Vincennes and died in Paris.

Michael Jecks’s Ashes of Rebellion portrays the future Charles V as the young dauphin trying to govern while his father John II remains an English prisoner, Paris is dominated by Étienne Marcel and the Jacquerie spreads through the countryside. Maurice Druon’s The King without a Kingdom covers the same political ordeal, making Charles’s contest with Marcel and Charles of Navarre part of France’s wider collapse after Poitiers. David Gilman’s Shadow of the Hawk turns to 1364, when John II’s death brings Charles to the throne and the uneasy peace with England begins to unravel. Gilman’s Cross of Fire and Defiant Unto Death place Thomas Blackstone in the violent Anglo-French world Charles inherits, showing the territorial warfare, mercenary violence and unstable authority his government must reverse before France can recover.

Periods

Periods linked to Charles V of France

Hundred Years’ War1337–1453 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Charles V of France (5 series)

Master of War in Order

by David Gilman 9 books 4.6(35,248)

The Master of War series follows Thomas Blackstone, an English archer and later knight, through the Hundred Years’ War. Beginning with the Crécy campaign in 1346, the sequence expands across France, Aquitaine, Brittany, Castile and northern Italy, using Blackstone’s career to show how medieval war was fought through…

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Chivalry in Order

by Christian Cameron 7 books 4.5(14,724)

The Chivalry series follows William Gold from his beginnings as a London cook’s boy in the campaign of 1356 to a career as knight and professional captain. His path leads from Poitiers through the mercenary wars of Italy, crusading expeditions and the rivalries of France, Savoy, Venice, Genoa…

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Arrows of Albion in Order

by Jonathan Lunn 8 books 4.3(19,146)

Arrows of Albion follows Martin Kemp, an English archer and sometime mercenary, through the campaigns and border wars of the mid-fourteenth century. Beginning with Edward III’s invasion of France and the Battle of Crécy, the series moves through the siege of Calais, warfare in Brittany and Scotland, Gascon…

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The Vintaine in Order

by Michael Jecks 5 books 4.3(8,205)

The Vintaine series follows Berenger Fripper and a small company of English archers through the changing phases of the Hundred Years’ War. The first three novels cover Edward III’s 1346 campaign, the siege of Calais and the Black Prince’s march to Poitiers; later volumes return to the survivors…

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The Accursed Kings in Order

by Maurice Druon 7 books 4.2(8,269)

The Accursed Kings follows the French and English monarchies from the final year of Philip IV's reign in 1314 to the capture of John II at Poitiers and the political crisis of the late 1350s. Across seven novels, the direct Capetian line fails, the Valois dynasty takes the…

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