- Praguerie
The Praguerie was a revolt of the French
nobility against King Charles VII in1440 .It was so named because a similar rising had recently taken place in
Prague ,Bohemia , at that time closely associated with France through theHouse of Luxembourg ,kings of Bohemia , and it was caused by the reforms of Charles VII at the close of theHundred Years' War , by which he sought to lessen the anarchy in France. The attempt to reduce the brigand-soldiery, and especially the ordinances passed by the estates of "langue d'oïl " atOrléans in1439 , which not only gave the king an aid of 100,000franc s (an act which was later used by the king as though it were a perpetual grant and so freed him from thatparliament ary control of the purse so important inEngland ), but demanded as well royal nominations to officerships in the army, marked a gain in the royal prerogative which the nobility resolved to challenge.The main instigator was
Charles I, Duke of Bourbon , who three years before had attempted a similar rising, and had been forced to ask pardon of the king. He and his bastard brother, Alexander, were joined by the formerfavourite ,Georges de la Tremoille , John V, duke of Brittany, who allied himself with the English, the duke of Alençon, the count of Vendôme, and captains ofmercenaries likeRodrigo de Villandrando ,Antoine de Chabannes , orJean de la Roche . Theduke of Bourbon gained over to their side the "dauphin" Louis, —afterwards Louis XI, then sixteen years old, and proposed to set aside the king in his favour, making him regent.Louis was readily induced to rebel; but the country was saved from a serious civil war by the energy of the king's officers and the solid loyalty of his "good cities". The constable de Richemont marched with the king's troops into
Poitou , his old battleground with de la Tremoille, and in two months he had subdued the country. The royal artillery battered down thefeudal strongholds. The dauphin and the duke of Alençon failed to bring about any sympathetic rising in Auvergne, and the Praguerie was over, except for some final pillaging and plundering inSaintonge and Poitou, which the royal army failed to prevent.Charles then attempted to ensure the loyalty of the duke of Bourbon by the gift of a large pension, forgave all the rebellious gentry, and installed his son in
Dauphiné . The ordinance of Orleans was enforced.References
*1911
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