esigns. He seized the Norman towns held by the Navarrese, while Henry
of Trastamara invaded Navarre, and imposed conditions of peace which
rendered his lifelong enemy at last powerless. A premature attempt to
amalgamate the duchy of Brittany with the French crown failed. Charles
summoned the duke to Paris in 1378, and on his non-appearance committed
one of his rare errors of policy by confiscating his duchy. But the
Bretons rose to defend their independence, and recalled their duke. The
matter was still unsettled when Charles died at Vincennes on the 16th of
September 1380. His health, always delicate, had been further weakened,
according to popular report, by a slow poison prepared for him by the
king of Navarre. His wife, Jeanne of Bourbon, died in 1378, and the
succession devolved on their elder son Charles, a boy of twelve. Their
younger son was Louis, duke of Orleans.

Personally Charles was no soldier. He owed the signal successes of his
reign partly to his skilful choice of advisers and administrators, to
his chancellors Jean and Guillaume de Dormans and Pierre d'Orgemont, to
Hugues Aubriot, provost of Paris, Bureau de la Riviere and others;
partly to a singular coolness and subtlety in the exercise of a not
over-scrupulous diplomacy, which made him a dangerous enemy. He had
learnt prudence and self-restraint in the troubled times of the regency,
and did not lose his moderation in success. He modelled his private life
on that of his predecessor Saint Louis, but was no fanatic in religion,
for he refused his support to the violent methods of the Inquisition in
southern France, and allowed the Jews to return to the country, at the
same time confirming their privileges. His support of the schismatic
pope Clement VII. at Avignon was doubtless due to political
considerations, as favouring the independence of the Gallican church.
Charles V. was a student of astrology, medicine, law and philosophy, and
collected a large and valuable library at the Louvre. He gathered round
him a group of distinguished writers and thinkers, among whom were Raoul
de Presles, Philippe de Mezieres, Nicolas Oresme and others. The ideas
of these men were applied by him to the practical work of
administration, though he confined himself chiefly to the consolidation
and improvement of existing institutions. The power of the nobility was
lessened by restrictions which, without prohibiting private wars, made
them practically impossible. The feudal