Crowned arms of France / Floriated cross in quadrilobe, crown in angles. Friedberg 291. A great example of another early French hammered gold piece. Great value.
Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), called the Beloved, and the Mad, was King of France from 1380 to his death. He was a member of the House of Valois.Charles VI was only 11 when he inherited the throne in the midst of the Hundred Years' War. The government was entrusted to his four uncles. Although the royal age of majority was fixed at 14, the dukes maintained their grip on Charles until he took power at the age of 21.In 1388 Charles VI dismissed his uncles and brought back to power his father's former advisers, known as the Marmousets. Political and economic conditions in the kingdom improved significantly, and Charles earned the epithet "the Beloved". But in August 1392 en route to Brittany with his army in the forest of Le Mans, Charles suddenly went mad and slew four knights and almost killed his brother, Louis of Orléans.From then on, Charles' bouts of insanity became more frequent and of longer duration. A fierce struggle for power developed between Louis of Orléans, the king's brother, and John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, the son of Philip the Bold and the king's cousin. When John instigated the murder of Louis in November 1407, the conflict degenerated into a civil war between the Armagnacs (supporters of the House of Valois) and the Burgundians. John offered large parts of France to King Henry V of England, who was still at war with the Valois monarchy, in exchange for his support. After the assassination of John the Fearless, his son Philip the Good led Charles the Mad to sign the infamous Treaty of Troyes (1420), which disinherited his offspring and recognized Henry V as his legitimate successor on the throne of France.When Charles VI died, the succeession was claimed by his son Charles VII, who found the Valois cause in a desperate situation.
