At the beginning of 1445 the kingdom of France lay in ruins after a century of warfare. Yet in the spring of that year a reform began which ultimately brought military victory to the house of Valois and restored peace and effective political direction to the lands of the French monarchy. Charles VII, acting with the support of many elements of French society, created the famed Compagnies d'ordonnance which proved instrumental in ending the chaos which had threatened the destruction of the realm. Charles's military innovation was strikingly simple and clearly evolutionary. It amounted to little more than the enforcement of many previous royal edicts concerning military affairs directed against independent mercenary companies.
