As crown prince he was the first to bear the title of Dauphin, a name derived from the area his grandfather, Philippe VI, had bought in 1349. 

He was more a scholar than a warrior, and his health may have been damaged by a poisoning attempt. Poet Christine de Pisan referred to his beautiful chestnut eyes, his pale skin, even temper and a pleasant 
voice. In 1356 while his father was imprisoned in England, he acted as Regent. However, the parliament refused to give money for the war with England without the promise of administrative reforms. The ensuing unrest in 1358 resulted in opposition led by Charles II "the Bad" of Navarre, this unrest being further escalated by "the Jacquerie," or a peasant revolt. 

When in 1359 Charles revoked the Treaty of London signed by his imprisoned father, his parliament at last supported him and the peasants were brutally suppressed. In 1364, after his father had died 
a prisoner in London, he became king; and, under Bertrand du Guesclin, the royal French armies started to force the English to retreat. At the age of thirteen he had married the plump and slightly unstable Jeanne de Bourbon. In their early years he preferred his mistress Biette Cassinel, but once he was king he became and remained faithful to his wife. After the birth of their ninth child in February 1377, Jeanne died, leaving him grief-stricken. 

Two years later and suffering from gout in both hands and feet, he succumbed to kidney failure and died on September 16th, 1380 at Beaute-sur-Vincennes, aged forty-three.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas