I was a little shocked when I found out that the most recent English language scholarly biography of King Charles VII of France was published in the 1970s. Charles’ long reign had a notoriously tumultuous start as King Henry V of England (about whom many biographies are available) arranged to have him disinherited in hopes of passing the claim to the English line. Henry died before the reigning French monarch, Charles VII’s father Charles VI, which meant that the dispute over who was truly king of France passed to his infant son, Henry VI, who also happened to be Charles VII’s nephew. Henry V’s brothers, acting as regent, would fight for control of France on behalf of their nephew against his other uncle, but it was Charles who would ultimately emerge triumphant. This is a critical period in Anglo-French history and Charles VII one of the central protagonists so it seems very odd that he has received only a fraction of the attention of his English counterparts - in English anyway, the French have understandably paid him a little more attention.