From the introduction:
The scene is Paris in the late 1430s. France has been at war with England for nearly a century, and after decades of defeat and humiliation the tide of war seems finally to have changed. Things had gotten so bad by 1420 that the reigning King of France, (the likely insane) Charles VI, signed the Treaty of Troyes, which recognized Henry V of England as his successor—and which implied that Charles’ own son, “the said Dauphin,” was illegitimate. However, in 1422 both Charles and Henry died, and the latter’s infant son—Henry VI—was crowned King of England and France. Then, thanks to the efforts of Joan of Arc, the English suffered a series of military reverses in 1429 and 1430. Ultimately Joan was captured, then tried and executed on charges of heresy in 1431, but her victories allowed the Dauphin to be crowned Charles VII in the ancient cathedral at Rheims, in the manner of his ancestors. Four years later the Duke of Burgundy, who had up to that point been allied with the English, switched sides, allowing French forces to return to Paris.
User summary:
This game is intended to be played in a single class session at the collegiate level.