Charles I (1401-1456, fifth duke of Bourbon, was count of Clermont during Jeanne’s life lifetime. He was the son of John I, fourth duke of Bourbon; his father was capture at the Battle of Agincourt and died as a prisoner in England (1433). Charles was espoused to Catherine of France until John the Fearless, who imprisoned him in Paris (1408), gave him his freedom on the condition that he would marry John’s daughter Agnés (still a infant at the time).

After the assassination of John the Fearless on the bridge at Montereau , Charles joined the Armagnac party and, believing himself freed from his obligation toward Duke John, gave Agnés back to her brother Duke Philip the Good.

Charles proved himself as valorous as his ancestors, but at the same time he displayed a severity that bordered on cruelty toward the garrisons of numerous places he conquered, especially Aigues-Morte and Béziers. After pacifying that stretch of coastal Languedoc, he was named governor of the Bourbonnais, the Nivernais, the Lyonnais, the Beaujolais, the Mâconnais, and of Forez. He later received charge of the government of Languedoc and Guyenne as lieutenant general, and then of the king in the Bourbonnais, Auvergne, and Forez. In1425 his sister, Bonne d’Artois, married Philip the Good, thus easing the between Charles and Philip.

He vehemently attacked Georges de La Trémoïlle and physically assaulted his chancellor, Gouge de Champaigne, then for a short time reconciled himself with the duke of Burgundy and asked for his fiancée back again. Handsome, enterprising, and very much the adventure although he remained at Blois during the siege of Orléans, he sent an army to Charles VII for the relief of that city. He fought and was wounded at the Battle of the Herrings, and was present at the siege of Troyes and at the coronation of Charles VII, where he fulfilled the function of the a peer and conferred knighthood.

He was present at the at the battle of Montépilloy, communicated with Jeanne at Senlis, took part in the attack on Paris, and witnessed with great dissatisfaction the rapid retreat of Charles VII. He was created lieutenant general of the Ile-de-France, but later renounced this last honor and and the château of Gournay-sur-Aronde. Later, jealous of the influence his brother in-law Charles du Maine had in government, he took part in the Praguerie revolt of 1439-1440 and was reconciled with the Burgundians.

When the Praguerie failed, Charles was compelled to surrender at Cusset in Auvergne and to beg on his hands and knees for the king’s mercy. For his part in this intrigue, he lost the castles of Vincennes, Loches, and Corbeil, and even more distressing to him on a personal level, he was forced to watch as his brother, Alexandre, was tortured to death. After more than a year passed, his was married to Jeanne of France, daughter of Charles VII. A little later, he retired to his domains and died shortly thereafter.