 The English controlled Paris and Rouen while the Burgundian faction controlled Reims, which had served as the traditional site for anointing French kings.This was an important consideration since neither claimant to the throne of France had been anointed or crowned yet.Since 1428 the English had been conducting a siege of Orléans, one of the few remaining cities still loyal to Charles VII and an important objective since it held a strategic position along the Loire River, which made it the last obstacle to an assault on the remainder of Charles VII's territory.