After Louis XII's predecessor Charles VIII died childless, Louis' marriage was annulled in order to allow him to marry Charles’ widow, the former Queen-Consort, Anne of Brittany (1477–1514), who was the daughter and heiress of Francis II of Brittany, in a strategy meant to integrate the duchy of Brittany into the French monarchy. Being a stern disciplinarian, Lord Stuart held the troops of his army to strict decorum during most of the march to Naples. Louis XII’s successor, Francis I (r. 1515— 1547), was badly defeated by the largely Spanish Habsburg forces at Pavia in 1525 and was himself taken prisoner and held in Madrid until he signed a treaty giving up all the Valois Italian claims and ceding the duchy of Burgundy. [12] Pardoned three years later, Louis joined his cousin King Charles VIII in campaigns in Italy. [clarification needed] Despite any alleged doubts that King Louis XI had, the King, nevertheless, became "godfather" of the newborn.[5]. While Sforza had been in charge of Milan, the export of grain had been forbidden. [30] Finally, Louis was ready to march into Italy. Royal biographies constitute a historical genre of their own, for various reasons. King Louis XI died on 30 August 1483. When Louis XII became king in 1498, he had his marriage with Joan annulled by Pope Alexander VI and instead married Anne of Brittany, the widow of his cousin Charles VIII. Louis XII did not have a surviving son so he was succeeded by his nearest male relative, Francis of Angoulême. The First Estate (the Church) wanted a return to the "Pragmatic Sanction". Thus, Anne's eldest daughter, Claude of France, inherited the Duchy of Brittany directly in her own right (suo jure) before Louis's death. As a youth, Louis did not expect to gain the throne since he was several degrees of blood distant from the ruling family. Military campaigns against the Kingdom of Naples (1501–1508), André Vauchez, Michael Lapidge, "Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages: A-J", pp. Succeeded by Francis I: Louis XII, Roi de France. The French army plundered and raped Capua mercilessly. One opponent in particular was Spain. [8] In January 1484, deputies of the Estates General began to arrive in Tours, France. In 1494, the Pisans successfully overthrew the Florentine governors of the city. This allowed enough freedom for Louis XII to start negotiating with Scotland for an alliance. Joan responded by asking how he was able to know what it was like to try to make love to her. Francis became Francis I of France and he was crowned on 25th January 1515. Charles the Wise, Dauphin du Viennois Louis, duke of Anjou Jean, duke of Berry ", Albrecht I. Louis XII did not have a surviving son so he was succeeded by his nearest male relative, Francis of Angoulême. At the time, the Duchy of Milan was one of the most prosperous regions of Europe. Francis became Francis I of France and he was crowned on 25th January 1515. They were many, they were weak, some of them were afraid of the Venetians, others of the Church, hence they were bound to stick by him; and with their help, he could easily have protected himself against the remaining great powers. [39] Milan was to remain a French stronghold in Italy for twelve years. Louis XII’s successor, Francis I (r. 1515— 1547), was badly defeated by the largely Spanish Habsburg forces at Pavia in 1525 and was himself taken prisoner and held in Madrid until he signed a treaty giving up all the Valois Italian claims and ceding the duchy of Burgundy. In 1476, Louis XI forced Louis (his second cousin) to marry his daughter Joan of France. She became a nun; she was canonized in 1950. The king also ordered the building of some of France’s most beautiful châteaux. Louis XII and Francis I (arms for Milan) Issue of Philippe VI the Fortunate of France . [37] Many of these new recruits in the French army were Swiss mercenaries. Following this, a 15-year-old Claude and 20-year-old Francis were married on 18th May 1514 at Saint-Germain-En-Laye. The agreement with Savoy also allowed France to purchase supplies and to recruit troops in Savoy. [40] However, Louis first had to deal with a recurring problem in northern Italy. This time the massacre had the desired effect, as three more fortified towns surrendered without a fight. In August 1498, he signed a peace treaty with the Emperor Maximillian I of the Holy Roman Empire. To limit the ambition of Alexander and keep him from becoming master of Tuscany, he was forced to come to Italy himself [in 1502]. Anne of Brittany predeceased Louis XII. • Tenth generation descendant of Louis IX in the male line • Grandnephew of Francis I • Second cousin, and by first marriage brother-in-law of Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III King of France and of Navarre (Roi de France et de Navarre) Louis XIII the Just (Louis XIII le Juste) 14 May 1610: 14 May 1643 • … Louis married the reluctant queen dowager, Anne, in 1499. Francis' mother was Louise of Savoy, who descended from a younger branch of the ruling house of Savoy and from the French noble house of Bourbon. The succession to the throne of France followed Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne. [28] In August 1498, Louis XII succeeded in signing a treaty with Spain that ignored all the territorial disputes between France and Spain and merely pledged mutual friendship and non-aggression.[29]. Artists were welcome at the French court. In March 1499, Louis signed an agreement with the Swiss Confederation that promised 20,000 francs as an annual subsidy for simply allowing the French to recruit an unspecified number of troops in the Confederation. Louis XII, Francis I, Henry II, Charles IX.. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. The king wished, by a union considered sterile, to extinguish this rival collateral dynasty. Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince,[43] Chapter III. [26] Accordingly, even before he became King of France, Louis began to claim the Duchy of Milan as his own inheritance, which should have come to his by right of his paternal grandmother Valentina Visconti. On 24 December 1514, Louis was reportedly suffering from a severe case of gout. Claude succeeded her mother in Brittany and became queen consort to Francis. 42, 1854: "Louis XI compelled him to marry his deformed and sterile daughter Joan, threatening him with death by drowning, if he refused. [24] Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future King Louis XII, joined Charles VIII on this campaign. Pope Alexander VI, however, had political reasons to grant the annulment, and ruled against Joan accordingly. In 1514, Queen Anne, wife of King Louis XII, died and Claude inherited the Duchy of Brittany. This marriage allowed Louis to reinforce the personal Union of Brittany and France. Early French Renaissance Château of Blois, Louis XII Wing ca. Download Image of France, 1500-1575. On the accession of his cousin Louis XII in 1498, Francis became heir presumptive and was given the Duchy of Valois. Faced with the return of the French and his own greatly reduced force, Sforza decided to slip out of Milan as he had done previously. [40] The Florentines requested aid from the French to recapture Pisa, as the city of Florence had long been an ally of France in Italian affairs. A popular king, Louis was proclaimed "Father of the People" (French: Le Père du Peuple) in 1506 by the Estates-General of Tours for his reduction of the tax known as taille, legal reforms, and civil peace within France. Francis I made expeditions to Italy and brought Leoanrdo da Vinci to France King Louis XII 1462 - 1515. And he never realized that by this decision he was weakening himself, driving away his friends and those who had flocked to him, while strengthening the Church by adding vast temporal power to the spiritual power which gives it so much authority. Download Image of France, 1500-1575. Charles had been married to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, in order to unite the quasi-sovereign Duchy of Brittany with the Kingdom of France. He had, however, arranged for the marriage of his daughter to his cousin Francis, who became king after Louis XII died. This time, however, Sforza was captured[38] and spent the rest of his life in a French prison. In the Ordinance of Blois of 1499[20] and the Ordinance of Lyon issued in June 1510[21] he extended the powers of royal judges and made efforts to curb corruption in the law. Proclaimed King of Naples, Louis faced a new coalition gathered by Ferdinand II of Aragon and was forced to cede Naples to Spain in 1504. He repudiated this treaty the moment he was safely back in France. Succeeded by Francis I: Louis XII, Roi de France. Louis conquered the Duchy of Milan in 1500 and pushed forward to the Kingdom of Naples, which fell to him in 1501. Pursuing the claim to the Kingdom of Naples had become politically impossible until some of the opponents were neutralized. At the royal victory in the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in 1488, Louis was captured, but Charles VIII pardoned him and released him. The younger daughter, Renée (1510–1575), married Duke Ercole II of Ferrara. Instead, these positions would be filled by appointment made by the cathedrals and monastery chapters themselves. 1461–1483 Louis XI (the Spider) 1483–1498 Charles VIII (Father of his People) 1498–1515 Louis XII; 1515–1547 Francis I; 1547–1559 Henry II; 1559–1560 Francis II; 1560–1574 Charles IX; 1574–1589 Henry III Ever since becoming king, Louis XII had been rebuilding the French army. He reigned from 1498 to 1515 and pursued a very active foreign policy. On January 1, 1515, Louis XII also died and was succeeded to the throne of France by his son-in-law, Francis I. Francis I continued Louis XII's war against the Holy League in Italy by leading a French and Venetian Army against the Swiss and routing them at Marignano on September 13–14, 1515. Anne of Brittany had predeceased Louis XII; her … Nicolas Ferrial, also known as Le Févrial or Triboulet (1479–1536) was a jester of kings Louis XII and Francis I of France. [44] As the army approached Rome, Spanish and French ambassadors notified Pope Alexander VI of the thus far secret Treaty of Grenada, signed 11 November 1500, which divided the Kingdom of Naples between France and Spain. [32] In the campaign of 1499, the French army surrounded the fortified town of Rocca di Arazzo in the western part of the Duchy of Milan. He could have left in Naples a caretaker king of his own, but he threw him out, and substituted a man capable of driving out Louis himself. [6] He was succeeded to the throne of France by his thirteen-year-old son, Charles VIII. Louis XII (27 June 1462 – 1 January 1515) was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. Francis was less than 2 years old when his father died and only 4 years old when he became heir apparent to the throne. As a result, Louis XII was succeeded by Francis I. The elder daughter, Claude (1499–1524), was betrothed by her mother's arrangement to the future Emperor Charles V in 1501. [45] Negotiations were started between France and Spain over their disagreements about Naples. Meanwhile, Ludovico Sforza had been gathering an army, mainly among the Swiss, to take Milan back. Louis XII was severely criticized by contemporary historians including Niccolò Machiavelli;[42] Machiavelli's criticism of Louis XII is contained in his work The Prince. He once slapped the king on the butt, which greatly pissed him off, but then was given a chance to be forgiven if he could think of something more clever. Louis XII had an illegitimate son, Michel Bucy, Archbishop of Bourges, from 1505, who died in 1511 and was buried in Bourges.[54][55]. The reign of Louis XII (1498-1515) has been much neglected by historians. Louis was also skilled in managing his nobility, including the powerful Bourbon faction, greatly contributing to the stability of French government. Each estate brought its chief complaints to the Estates General in hopes to have some impact on the policies that the new King would pursue. The French army had been a potent force in 1494 when Charles VIII had first invaded Italy. Furthermore, Spain was then a member of the anti-French League of Venice. 776, 2000: "Infirm from birth, she was obliged by her father, Louis XI, to marry her cousin, Louis of Orleans. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy.He succeeded his first cousin once removed Louis XII, who died without a son. The French Kingdom was responding to an appeal for assistance from Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Louis de Orleans was defeated in the Mad War rebellion of 1485-1488 against King Charles VIII of France, but served as a general during the Italian Warsand succeeded Charles as king in 1498. [9] By 7 March 1484, the King announced that he was leaving Tours because of poor health. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics. [57] He is commemorated by the Tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany. Although he came late[15] (and unexpectedly) to power, Louis acted with vigour, reforming the French legal system,[16] reducing taxes,[17] and improving the government[18] much like his contemporary Henry VII did in England. Louis XII (27 June 1462 – 1 January 1515) was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft. [11] Allied with Francis II, Duke of Brittany, Louis confronted the royal army at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier on 28 July 1488 but was defeated and captured. Born to Louise of Savoy, on 12 September 1494 Francis I was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême. The French army was also supplied with 5,000 Swiss mercenaries. On 11 July 1500, the French broke camp and retreated north. By the time Trémoille reached the forts west of Milan where Marshal Trivulzio and his force were holding out, the French army had swollen to 30,000 men by recruitment along the way. The First Estate was the Church; in France this meant the Roman Catholic Church. [25] This left Louis, the Duke of Orleans, in an awkward and inferior military position at the Battle of Fornovo on 6 July 1495. Jean the Good, duke of Normandy Philippe, duke of Orléans Issue of Jean II the Good of France . Accordingly, on 24 October 1483, a call went out for a convocation of the Estates General of the French kingdom. Francis would also marry Louis XII's eldest daughter Claude of France. He subsequently took part in the Italian War of 1494–1498 as one of the French commanders. Louis XII (27 June 1462 ? Louis XII granted him the duchy of Valois, created from the vast estates of the house of Orléans. In spite of his military and diplomatic failures, Louis proved to be a popular king. However, Henry was then pursuing a marriage between his eldest son, Arthur, and Catherine of Aragon, the Infanta of Spain. Buy Online Access  Buy Print & Archive Subscription. He immediately left Lyon and on 6 October 1499, Louis XII made his triumphant entry into Milan. In 1514 Francis married Louis's daughter, Claude de France (1499–1524). The French were eventually driven from Milan in 1513 by the Swiss. [56] Louis was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. [33] Additionally, the French king now began to espouse his claim to the Kingdom of Naples, though the legal rationale for this claim was weaker than for his claim to Milan, stemming only from his position as the successor to Charles VIII. [33] Louis XII, staying in Lyon, heard about the surrender of Milan on 17 September 1499. Louis, the current Duke of Orleans and future Louis XII, attended as part of the Second Estate. Anne opposed this marriage, which took place only after her death in 1514. Accordingly, a French army including 600 knights and 6,000 Swiss infantrymen under the command of Sire de Beaumont was sent to Pisa. Francis I would also become Louis XII's' son-in-law upon Francis I's marriage to Louis XII's daughter Claude of France. (Herzog von Niederbayern-Straubing), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_XII&oldid=1005198256, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2015, Articles needing additional references from July 2019, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Père Anselme records that in 1501 King Louis XII sent “, The Journal de Louise de Savoie records that “, As Duke of Orleans, he is a recurring character in, This page was last edited on 6 February 2021, at 13:22. 1515 - 1524) shows far more influence of classical … The Third Estate was generally composed of commoners and the class of traders and merchants in France. Before his accession to the throne of France, he was known as Louis of Orléans and was compelled to be married to his disabled and supposedly sterile cousin Joan by his second cousin, King Louis XI. The succession to the throne of France followed Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne. [31] Now he could put it to use. Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was a queen consort of France by marriage to Francis I.She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514. Their union produced no children, and the throne passed to Francis I of France, who was Louis's first cousin once removed, and also his son-in-law. In 1514, Queen Anne, wife of King Louis XII, died and Claude inherited the Duchy of Brittany. The son of Louis XI, Charles VIII, succeeded to the throne of France in 1483, but died childless in 1498, whereupon the throne passed to Louis XII. Francis I (French: François I er; Middle French: Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed, Charles VIII, who died without direct heirs in 1498. This assured that Brittany would remain part of the Kingdom of France and the unity of the Kingdom would be upheld. He granted the annulment on the grounds that Louis did not freely marry, but was forced to marry by Joan's father Louis XI. However, things became much more difficult in 1510, when the army of Pope Julius II intervened. Château Blois - Louis XII Wing and Francois I Wing This view shows the wing built by Louis XII (right) and the addition (left) by his successor Francois I – the “builder king.” The architecture of the Francois I Wing (ca. Louis opened negotiations with the Duchy of Savoy and by May 1499 had hammered out an agreement that allowed French troops to cross Savoy to reach the Duchy of Milan. The government of the Swiss Confederation heard about the coming battle and forbade any Swiss soldier from fighting against a fellow Swiss, which effectively subtracted all the Swiss from both sides for this particular battle. In mid-January 1500, his army crossed the border into the Duchy of Milan and marched toward the city of Milan. Renaissance Warrior and Patron - The Reign of Francis I by Robert J. Knecht (Cambridge University Press xxv + 512 pp.) The invasion set off a series of wars that would last from 1494 until 1559 and would become known as the "Italian Wars". [5] However, Louis XI might have been more influenced in this opinion by his opposition to the entire Orleanist faction of the royal family than by the actual facts of this paternity case. At first, a vigorous defense was mounted by the garrison, but on 29 August 1499, the city gave up and the garrison and the governor of the city slipped out of town before dawn. He reigned from 1498 to 1515 and pursued a very active foreign policy. Vey i a HUSTLE a Louis XII and Francis I may have been history's most clever little jackass. He appears in Book 3 of François Rabelais ' Pantagrueline chronicles. [56] In the early hours of 1 January 1515, he received the final sacraments and died later that evening. Louis XII and Francis I (arms for Milan) Issue of Philippe VI the Fortunate of France . Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.