Charles II, King of Normandy

Charles II, King of Normandy (1462-149?) was King of Normandy from 1494 to 1495.

King of Normandy
Charles was crowned King of Normandy and Jerusalem in 1494, after the death of his brother, Loui I, King of Normandy at the age of 32. Prior to this Charles had been of little importance to the Kingdom and it was never expected that he would have inherited the throne. Many nobles spoke out against the crowning of such an unlikely King and were it not for the powerful Dukes of the Kings Council, the Kingdom would have fallen into civil war.

After just a year in power, Charles had proved to be an ineffectual leader of the Kingdom and had lost the backing of the Kings Council. In 1495, Charles became the first Norman King to abdicate. With no children, the Norman crown remained undecided. Two strong claimants came forward. Edmund, Earl of Damietta, an illegitimate son of Loui I, King of Normandy and Edward de Lusignan, Duke of Brittany, the son of Lucy, Duchess of Cyprus. Edmund received the support of the nobility of Northern Normandy, as his father, Loui, had been popular in the north, and Edward had the support of the Kings Council and the nobility of Cyprus and Jerusalem.

On the 26 April 1495, Edward de Lusignan went to Rouen, where he was crowned King of Normandy and Jerusalem. Edmund rallied the northern nobles and raised an army of 10,000, which arrived in Upper Normandy in June 1495. Edward raised his own army of 22,000 and met Edmund at the Battle of Havre, where Edmund's army was crushed and Edmund himself taken prisoner.