Charleroi

a fortified and important manufacturing town of Belgium, in the province of Hainault, on_ the navigable river Sambre, 33 miles S. of Bru els. The town is the center of the large coal-basin of Charleroi. Charles VII., King of France; born in Paris, Feb. 22, 1403, and though only the fifth son of Charles VI. and Isabella of Bavaria, became, by the succe ive deaths of his elder brothers, bene to the crown. That he should ever succeed to it was then extremely problematical, as Henry V. of England was pursuing his career of conquest, and shortly afterward, by the treaty of Troyes, secured to himself the hand of Charles sister Catharine, and the succe ion to the Wrench throne after her father’s death. On the King of England’s death in 1422 his son Henry VIL. was proclaimed King of France at Paris. The war with the national party, represented by the Orleanist faction, with the dauphin at their head, was maintained for several years by the English, under the command of the Duke of Bedford. So succe fully did the latter conduct operations that Charles was nearly ready to abandon the struggle when his fortunes were retrieved by one of the most singular incidents recorded in history. This was the arrival in his —_ of the Maid of Orleans, who by the enthusiasm which she {nspired turned the tide of succe against the English. Through the intervention of the Earl of Suffolk a marriage was concluded between the young King Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou, niece of Charles VIL’s queen. In the treaty entered into on this occasion the territory of Maine was secretly surrendered to France, and subsequently, on hostilities being resumed between the two countries, the troops of Charles conquered the whole of Guienne, and finally expelled the English from all their Charles. Oe O_O in France except Calais. he last years of Charles’ reign were embittered by domestic broils, in which his son and succe or Louis XI. took a prominent part against his father. He died at the castle of Mehun, near Bourges, on July 22, 1461. His share in the treacherous murder of the Duke of Sy ee and base abandonment to her fate of Joan of Arc, are stains on his memory which can never be effaced. Charles IX., King of France, born in 1550, ascended the throne at_ the age of 10 years, after the death of his brother Francis II. During his reign occurred the Ma acre of St. Bartholomew’s Day.