The “do you know” of the day. Do you know why Nancy was the capital of France for seven months?

Charles VII (1403-1461) is a little-known king in the history of France, except when we talk about Joan of Arc and the way he would have treated her. But this is to misunderstand a king who allowed France, by ending the Hundred Years’ War, to retain a good part of its territory, to leave feudalism and to begin to lay the foundations of an absolute monarchy.

Paris was under the control of the English and the Burgundians and Charles VII did not have good memories there, between his father, who was crazy, and a mother who did not particularly have love for him. Bourges will be the city where he will reside the most.

But this king, as was often the case at the time, could reside in various places. Thus, to follow the siege of Metz, Charles VII settled in Nancy, undoubtedly in the ducal palace.

He resided there from September 1444 to April 1445, making Nancy, in fact, the capital of France, since all decisions concerning the kingdom were taken there. Some of the most emblematic personalities of the era will reside there: the Duke of Lorraine, of course, René d’Anjou, the dauphin, future Louis XI, his wife, Marguerite of Scotland, and the future Queen of England , Marguerite of Anjou.

The latter was also married, by proxy, to King Henry VI, in April 1445, in the Saint-Georges collegiate church, adjoining the ducal palace, a church which has since disappeared. The groom was not required to be there at that time…

Charles VII will leave Nancy upon the news of the death of his daughter, Radégonde, aged 16, and who is buried in Tours.

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