Charles V of France reads, seated on his throne; beside the books on the table stands an armillary sphere, an astronomical instrument for determining the coordinates of celestial bodies

Charles V made a considerable contribution to the development of astrology. He opened a faculty at the University of Paris to promote the study of the subject. This was the Collège de Maître Gervais, which became the centre of astrological activity in France, the opening of the faculty having been approved by the Pope himself. Astrology had been recognised as a science fit for university teaching by a special act as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Some historians, however, point out that the college at the University of Paris, founded in 1371 by Gervais Chrétien, the first physician of Charles V, was intended chiefly for students of theology. Only six years after its foundation did it acquire scholarships for students specialising in the medical and mathematical sciences.