General Notes

Charles V, or Charles the Wise, b.  Jan.  21, 1338, d.  Sept. 16, 1380, king
of France from 1364 to 1380, was the oldest son of John II of France.
Exploited by the opponents of his inept father and forced to head the
government during the latter's captivity (1356-60), Charles struggled against
domestic brigandage and the peasant revolt called the Jacquerie.  He emerged
from this ordeal with increased political maturity and ensured the success of
his reign by winning the support of the influential (and previously hostile)
northwestern nobles.

The development of France's first regular system of taxation in the 1360s
enabled Charles to finance the armies that won the first major French
victories in the Hundred Years' War. Charles supported currency reform and
patronized artists and intellectuals, but his policies helped bring about
(1378) the Great Schism in the papacy.  Just before his death, he canceled a
tax that was particularly unpopular with the nobles.