CHARLES VI°

CHARLES VI° (1368–1422), king of France, 1380–1422. He succeeded his father Charles V at the age of 12, but for eight years the country was governed by regents, beginning with Louis, duke of Anjou; after Charles was declared insane in 1392, the regency was again assumed by his uncles. The relatively favorable ordinance of March 26, 1381, after the anti-Jewish riots in Paris and other towns, which exempted Jews from the obligation to replace stolen pledges, was signed by Charles but was really the work of Louis of Anjou. When Charles himself assumed control, the official attitude changed. From 1388, the prerogatives of the conservateurs of the Jews were restricted. On Feb. 16, 1389, the two judges appointed over the Jews of northern France were dismissed, and the Jews were subjected to the jurisdiction of the Châtelet in Paris. Later the same month Charles confirmed the former privileges of the Jews and prolonged their right of residence until 1394, without however renewing it. On Sept. 17, 1394, the expulsion of the Jews from France was ordered in Charles' name. Properly speaking, this constituted a refusal on the part of the throne to renew the residence authorization issued by Charles V and which had expired in that year. The ordinance ordered the officers of the crown to call upon the debtors of the Jews to repay their debts so as to redeem their pledges, to watch over the security of the Jews and their property, and to conduct them, under protective escort, to the frontier. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Graetz, Hist, 4 (1894), 152, 175f.; Ordonnances des Roys de France…, 6 (1741), 519, 563; 7 (1745), 225f., 230, 232, 318, 557, 675. (Bernhard Blumenkranz)