Charles VII claimed the French crown in 1422 under circumstances that left his authority deeply contested. The Treaty of Troyes had excluded him from the succession in favor of Henry V of England and his heirs. Based chiefly south of the Loire, Charles governed through an alternative royal administration while the English and their Burgundian allies controlled Paris and much of northern France.

Joan of Arc's arrival in 1429 helped transform the military and political situation. The relief of Orléans and victories along the Loire opened the way for Charles's coronation at Reims that July, strengthening the legitimacy of his claim. Progress remained uneven, and Joan's capture and execution did not end the war. A crucial diplomatic shift came with the Treaty of Arras in 1435, when Philip the Good of Burgundy reconciled with Charles and weakened the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. Paris returned to royal control the following year.

Charles developed more reliable financial and military institutions. Taxation supported permanent cavalry companies, while improvements in artillery and siege operations helped recover fortified places. The victories at Formigny in 1450 and Castillon in 1453 completed the reconquest of Normandy and Guyenne. England retained Calais, and no comprehensive peace treaty immediately resolved every claim, but the major fighting of the Hundred Years' War had ended.

At home, the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges in 1438 asserted principles limiting papal interference in the French church and strengthened the crown's position. Charles suppressed the aristocratic revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440, which involved his son, the future Louis XI. Court factions, the rise and fall of financier Jacques Cœur, and continuing conflict with the dauphin complicated his later government. He died in 1461. His territorial recovery depended on commanders, financiers, administrators, and changing alliances. He left stronger systems of taxation and military organization.