Charles (V) the Wise (1337–1380)

King of France (1364–80). He was regent during the captivity of his father John II in England from 1356 to 1360, and became king upon John's death. During the Hundred Years' War he reconquered nearly all of France from England between 1369 and 1380, and diminished the power of the medieval mercenary companies in France.

Charles commanded at a distance rather than in the field, a method that had rarely succeeded in the past. He chose an excellent commander in Bertrand du Guesclin, who defeated the rebel Charles of Navarre at Cocherel in 1364.