Schwitter, Thomas (2016). Der Herrscher und die gute Ordnung. Das Bild Karls VII. in der französischen Historiographie am Übergang von der tradierten zur humanistisch geprägten Historiographie. In: Baker, Patrick; Kaiser, Ronny; Priesterjahn, Maike; Helmrath, Johannes (eds.) Portraying the Prince in the Renaissance. The Humanist Depiction of Rulers in Historiographical and Biographical Texts. Transformationen der Antike: Vol. 44 (pp. 17-38). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110473377

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This article investigates the portrayal of the French king Charles VII (1422–1461) in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century French historiography, beginning with the contemporary chronicles by Gilles le Bouvier and Jean Chartier and closing with the new French history written by the Italian humanist Paolo Emilio. These sources show that, despite Charles VII’s great successes, no vivid or triumphant image of him as a ruler emerges from the sources. An important reason for this is his inseparability from and thus inescapable comparison with another historical figure of great stature, Joan of Arc. A further cause can be found in the political ideal of ordonnance (political order), an ideal which arose during his reign and was used to characterize his rule in historical texts, thereby entering French historiography for the first time. The ideal of good political order puts the focus on order itself and on the personnel that guarantees order in the king’s service; the figure of the king, however, remains elusive.

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