He lived in the shadow of his much more intelligent father who lives on in history as Philippe "the Good". His father had allowed him to participate in government in the last three years of his father's
life. Charles wanted to aggrandize his family as much as his father. His territories were spread far and apart, within France as well as in the Netherlands and Germany. Aiming to unite all these territories
with himself as an independent king, he established first a standing army which meant increased taxes for the population. Then he tried to centralize government and justice; however, this also upset many
people as all his duchies, counties and lordships had their own laws and traditions. He obtained the Elsas and parts of Lorraine decreasing the distance between his territories in the north and the south. Then
the Duke of Gelre pawned his duchy to him.

In 1473 Charles arranged a meeting in Trier with Emperor Friedrich III. They arrived in pouring rain, both at the same time and tried to out do each other in politeness by urging the other to enter first.
After an hour in the rain they decided to enter the city together. They had a lot to discuss: the marriage of Charles's only child to the Emperor's son; the creation of the Burgundy kingdom; and in case of
the Emperor's death, Charles becoming the next Emperor. Charles impressed the impoverished Emperor with his wealth so that agreements seem to have been reached. A crown was made and a day appointed on which Charles was to be crowned king by the Emperor. However, the day beforehand the Emperor left. The reason was probably lack of support from the German princes and objections of Charles's enemy, King Louis XI of France. Louis XI then encouraged dissidents in his territories and supported an uprising in the Elsas with a Swiss army. The Swiss defeated Charles time after time, till finally he was killed in battle in 1477.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas