The fate of Jeanne, wife of Louis 12. Louis XII of France before accession to the throne

The advantage of a man who loves a single woman is that she protects him from everyone else.
(Heyem)

Ever since Louis XII got his dear little Breton into his bedroom, he seemed to be quite a contented man. He, who once did not miss a single skirt, now remained completely indifferent to the prettiest girls in his court. One might think that he spends such tiring nights with the queen that during the day he simply does not have the strength to think about such trifles.

Now he looked calm and peaceful. In the morning, getting out of bed, he liked to walk through the groves that surrounded Blois, singing some frivolous song. And sometimes, still singing, he would appear at his Council.

In short, he was happy.

But if, on a personal level, Louis had some reason to congratulate himself on this marriage, then as a king they turned out to be much less. Indeed, the marriage contract signed at Nantes looked far less advantageous for France than the contract once signed at Langeais. Small. The Breton woman took advantage of the love of Louis to regain everything that she had to cede to Charles VIII after her father's troops were defeated.

The new contract included the following terms:

1) Anna of Brittany retains the right to personal government of the duchy;

2) If there are children from a real marriage, the second child, whether male or female, inherits the duchy, and if the spouses have only one heir, then the duchy will pass to the second child of this heir;

3) If the duchess dies before the king, leaving no offspring, Louis XII will retain Brittany for the rest of his life, but after him the duchy will be returned to the direct heirs of Madame Anne.

Blinded by love, Louis XII agreed to the terms dictated by a cunning little duchess in an ermine robe. Thus Brittany retained its independence, which it regained with the death of Charles VIII.

In July 1499 Louis. XII, whose intentions with respect to Italy completely coincided with those that Charles VIII was hatching, went to conquer the Duchy of Milan. Before leaving Blois, he took Queen Anne to Romorantin Castle, who, through his efforts, was expecting a child at that time.

Better than here. Madame, you will not find a place to give birth to the Dauphin we expect, he told her.

To be honest, it's an interesting idea. Indeed, in this castle lived the Countess of Angouleme, Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis, Duke of Valois, a plump five-year-old boy, whom a bizarre kaleidoscope of premature deaths made the rightful heir to the French throne. It is easy to imagine what feelings this woman overwhelmed at the sight of Anne of Brittany, who hoped to give birth to the Dauphin. While the whole court prayed tirelessly for the birth of a boy, Louise secretly dreamed that the queen would have a daughter and that Francis would inherit the throne of Louis XII.

For five years now, the young Countess of Angouleme had lived with the hope that her son would become king. Achieving this goal would be perceived by her as a kind of revenge. So far, fate had really not been kind to her. After a bleak childhood, as soon as she was twelve years old, her father, Philippe de Bresse, married Louise to Count Charles of Angouleme, who at that time was thirty years old.

The count took his wife to Cognac, where he lived for his own pleasure with two mistresses: Antoinette de Polignac, the daughter of the Angouleme governor, and Jeanne Comte, a girl from among the ladies of the court. Louise was so happy about her marriage that she did not express the slightest dissatisfaction with her husband's hobbies and very quickly got used to the strange family life of the four of them. However, at first Charles of Angouleme was very passionate about his twelve-year-old wife. For a while, he even left his favorites, who, not at all tormented by jealousy, took advantage of the pause to take a breath. It must be admitted that the Count of Angouleme was distinguished by a rare indefatigability, but at the same time, it seems that no one could be found who would explain to him that the bed, by the way, was also intended for sleeping.

After several months of extremely exhausting life, Louise suddenly became very sad.

I am not at all like other women, she once said with chagrin.

To persistent questions from one of the ladies of her retinue, she burst into tears and replied that is it okay not to get pregnant when you are already thirteen years old.

And then to say, in Cognac, where all the ladies of the court acquired bastards, her case was strange. And therefore, Louise of Savoy went to Plessis-le-Tour to receive a blessing from Francois de Paul, about whom there was a rumor that he could restore the woman's ability to give birth by prayers. The holy man was agitated by her premature anxiety and predicted to the young countess that she would become the mother of the king ...

Louise returned to Cognac with some confidence, and a few months later she was able to announce her high expectations. Was it the son she had foretold? No. On April 11, 1491, she gave birth to a blue-eyed girl, who was christened Margarita.

<Накануне свадьбы дочери Филипп де Бресс писал своей второй жене, Клодине де Бресс, что Луиза очень озабочена предстоящей ей брачной ночью, а «это означает, отмечал он, что она жаждет овладеть тем умением, которым владеете вы, взрослые замужние женщины…».>

Why was she named by that name? - the courtiers were perplexed.

Due to the persistent curiosity of one of the ladies of her retinue, an explanation was soon found. At the beginning of her pregnancy, Louise always wanted oysters, and one day she accidentally swallowed a pearl along with an oyster ... By the way, “margarita” in Latin means “pearl”.

After the birth of little Marguerite, Charles of Angouleme returned to his former pastimes with Antoinette de Polignac, and then with Jeanne Comte, without stopping, however, relations with his wife; at night he came to the bedroom to the one that inexplicably aroused in him a constant attraction. On other nights, when his appetite was especially violent, he successively honored each of the three beauties.

The result was impressive: in 1494, Antoinette, Jeanne and Louise became pregnant at the same time. These three upcoming motherhoods delighted Charles of Angouleme. Until the very end of summer, he looked with pride at his three rounded bellies, testifying to his rare ability to deal with ladies.

Finally, on December 12, on the lawn under an oak tree, Louise of Savoy gave birth to a loud-mouthed, strong man, who was named Francis.

"Isn't he going to be king?" she asked herself.

But the prediction of Francois de Paul looked too fantastic. In those days, the House of Angouleme was very far from the throne ...

Immediately after the birth of little Francis, both favorites gave birth to daughters. For several months, the proximity of children's cradles so tired Karl that he went to sleep with one of the beauties of the court in the farthest chambers.

Being suddenly abandoned, Louise suffered greatly. And then there was Karl, being in a good mood, every day expanding the circle of his affections. Now he visited Louise's bed less and less often, and the poor countess was in utter despair.

And suddenly, on January 1, 1496, Charles died due to a severe cold. A widow at the age of nineteen, Louise almost immediately takes Jean de Saint-Gele, the manager of the castle, with whom she indulges in love pleasures with the ardor inherent in youth, wanting to find an upset balance. So several years passed. And now, after the death of Charles VII, her Francis becomes the rightful heir. Then Louise decides to approach the royal court. One fine day, accompanied by her own children and her lover, the favorites of the late Count Charles and their bastards, she appeared at the castle of Chinon, where all this very colorful company caused a real scandal. In the end, she had to return to Romorantin in the hope that Anne of Brittany would not be able to give birth to a son to Louis XII, just as she failed to give an heir to Charles VIII.

Now one can easily imagine the state of Louise at a time when the queen was about to give birth in her castle.

She spent whole hours in prayer, turning the rosary and lighting candles, in the hope that Louis would not have a son. And on October 13, 1499, heaven rewarded her: Anna gave birth to a girl, who was named Claude.

Naturally, Louise tried her best to hide her joy, but the queen, being a delicate little thing, immediately noticed the gleam of triumph in the eyes of the Countess of Angouleme and at the same moment flared up with great hatred for her.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Louis XII, whom the queen simply transformed, was thinking about only one war.

For the first time in his life, a military campaign did not serve as a pretext for wandering around the brothels. During the previous campaign, he arranged such deafening orgies that the memory of them was alive throughout northern Italy. That is why all the beauties of the Milanese aristocracy awaited the arrival of the King of France with a mixture of fear and hope.

Alas! They spent absolutely nothing on decorations and toilets: Louis's love for Anna was so great that he did not even look at the local beauties.

This sudden loyalty literally shocked everyone.

Nothing, - these completely spoiled persons consoled themselves, - a person does not change so quickly! Another night will come when he will return to us.

But they were mistaken, as the Genoese were mistaken a few years later, dreaming of removing Louis XII from the places of military events and sending a woman to him for this purpose so that she would seduce him.

Everything was arranged so that the king, not having time to arrive, immediately lost his head. On the streets along which the royal procession followed, he could see in the windows, on the galleries and balconies of palaces and residential buildings the most beautiful women of the city, “most of whom were in white silk dresses, tied with a belt under the chest and short enough to it was to notice the legs ... ". And all together, according to a contemporary, "represented a dazzling garland of Genoese, so dear to the heart of a gallant Frenchman for their majestic posture and gentle charms, for grace and ardor, for a passion for chatting with taste, for constancy in feelings and fidelity."

In the following days, magnificent and highly refined festivities were held in the city, where the Genoese brought their wives and daughters "contrary to local customs", solely obeying the order of the city senators. Everyone was charged at any cost to make the French king fall in love and involve him in some kind of intrigue.

In the twinkling of an eye, Genoa turned into a city completely given over to pleasure.

In the evening, when Louis XII left the palace and went to one of the balls, the streets were brightly lit with torches and fireworks, fragrant with flowers and filled with the sweet sounds of serenades. According to a contemporary of the events, Jean d "Othon, to all these amusements, where the night hours flew by in courtship, dances, masquerades and games, "the Genoese brought their wives, daughters, sisters and relatives, wanting to provide a pleasant pastime for the king and his entourage. Some the most beautiful women were chosen from these associates and presented to the king, kissing them first for a test, after which the king did the same with great pleasure, and then he danced with them and received the most honorable award from them.<Жан д"Отон. История Людовика XII в 1502 году.>.

It was the most honorable, because Louis XII limited himself to a kind conversation with beauties, shaking their delicate hands or playfully biting his ear, which, of course, was the highest manifestation of gallantry. And if at the same time, carried away, he caressed a woman's breasts, it was only because habit is second nature.

It was then that the disappointed and impatient Genoese instructed the most brilliant woman of the city, Tomassina Spinola, the wife of a famous lawyer, to melt the ice of royal chastity and seduce him.

As a special mission, she was to obtain from Louis XII a number of concessions in favor of the Genoese Signorina. To achieve this goal, a detailed mise-en-scene was developed.

Laurent Cataneo, one of the most distinguished and famous nobles in the country, was given the task of involving the king of France in a situation favorable for love affairs. To achieve this, he invited the king to his villa and regaled the guest with the most exciting spectacle possible. Under the marble portico, "the youngest, with dazzling white skin" creatures, dressed with exquisite lasciviousness in all the rules of Italian coquetry, danced, gradually getting rid of their clothes.

After a performance that lasted about an hour, during which only highly stimulating drinks were served, Louis XII finally saw Tomassina Spinola.

Needless to say, he liked her and agreed to walk with her along the garden path. However, the love for his little Bret, as he called Anna of Brittany, prevented the king from capturing the beautiful Genoese into dense thickets, as he had done before.

In the following days, such meetings were skillfully arranged again and again, because the Genoese were stubborn, but as a result of this the most ridiculous thing that can be imagined happened: Tomassina herself fell in love with the king.

Pale, with a pleading look, she asked permission to become the lady of his heart, just as he himself became her "honorary friend."

Louis agreed "to such a sweet relationship," and Thomassina, delighted at "being desired by the king," began to wear the colors of France and announced to her husband "that she did not want to sleep with him anymore."

But the idea failed.

When the king, some time later, left the city to return to France, the Genoese, upset to the core, found that Tomassina, all in tears, had retired to a monastery.

She did not stay there for long, because three years later, that is, in 1505, when a rumor came to Italy that Louis XII had died, the beauty died of grief.

Touched by such affection, the King of France sent several lines of poetry to the Genoese to be carved on the tombstone of Thomassina "as a token of eternal memory and an unforgettable impression."

This was to please the Genoese, who from the very beginning of 1502 could not forget their failure.

Anne of Brittany, of course, knew all the details of this Platonic story and was very proud that she turned one of the most frivolous French princes into a faithful husband and wise king.

For several years, Louis XII and Anna lived happily ever after. For a long time already the French court was not such a respectable place as in these years.

An observer of those times reports that the queen “invited all the unmarried ladies of the court to her place and, after carefully examining each one, chose the one who was more modest and more like a country girl in her manners. All of them were forbidden to secretly meet and be nice to the nobles. In turn, the men at the court were allowed to conduct only chaste and decent conversations with the ladies. The queen warned that if one of them wants to talk about love, then it can only be about permitted love, in other words, about pure and bashful love, inevitably leading to marriage, and the desire to unite in marriage should be expressed in just a few words. ... The prudent princess did not want her house to be open to those terrible people who, in conversations with the ladies, without hesitation, allowed themselves obscenities and obscene things ”<Шарль де Сент-Март. Надгробная речь на смерть Франсуазы Алансонской>.

Is it not because of this that most of the charming ladies who adorned the French court hurried to leave Blois and settle in those courts where life was not so dull?

However, one day the pious queen herself almost caused a diplomatic scandal because of the obscene words she uttered. Without intention, of course. Here's how it happened. Anna, who was engaged in state affairs, while the king was absorbed in the war in Italy, herself received foreign ambassadors who came to court. Out of a desire to please the ambassadors, she did not miss the opportunity to make a short speech to each of them in her native language. She was usually assisted in this by an officer who served with her, Señor de Grigno, who knew German, English, Spanish, Swedish, and Italian, and taught the queen those few words that so flattered foreigners.

One day the officer came up with the absurd idea of playing a dubious farce. Knowing that the ambassadors of Ferdinand of Spain were about to arrive in Blois, he gave the queen to learn very rude expressions in Spanish, and, according to the historian who told about this, “simply vile curses.” Suspecting nothing, Queen Anne uttered these dubious words to the guests.

Satisfied with his own invention, Señor de Grigno was also talkative. He told the king about this joke, who had a lot of fun, but nevertheless warned the queen.

This joke Anna never forgave Señor de Grigno.

All this time in Amboise, Louise of Savoy spent her days in the company of Marshal de Gier, her son's new tutor, who replaced Jean de Saint-Jelay in this post. Evil tongues claimed that the young marshal, like his predecessor, was the lover of a charming countess.

The truth was that he was madly in love with her. Every evening he made an attempt to get into Louise's room, and each time she rejected him. Finally, his unsatisfied desire made him so furious that he went to the royal court in Blois and there he began to tell right and left that Louise of Savoy was the mistress of Jean de Gelay and at the same time tried with all her might to seduce him, Pierre de Jie...

There is no doubt that this story made a lot of noise, Anna of Brittany, who even had a nervous attack on this occasion, threw herself on her knees before the crucifixion and asked the ladies of the court to pray with her so that such abominations would not bring the wrath of God on the French kingdom.

After that, completely ill, she retired to her bedroom.

Some believe that this nervous breakdown, and even the strongest annoyance at the betrothal of her daughter Claude to Francis de Valois (which took place against her wishes) shortened her life. She died at the age of thirty-eight on February 9, 1514.

Louis XII. Portrait by J. Perreal, ca. 1514

Internal reforms of Louis XII

Charles VIII of France, who died childless in 1498, was succeeded by Louis XII, Duke of Orléans, a descendant of Charles VI's brother. Until now, the people in France have suffered greatly from the constant army, which has appeared since the time of Charles VII and fed at the expense of unarmed residents: Louis XII freed the people from this burden, appointing certain incomes for the maintenance of the army, appointing well-known and well-meaning people instead of seekers as commanders of the troops adventurers and robber knights, as before, finally forbidding troops to be stationed in villages and small towns, and allowing them to stand only in large cities where the inhabitants could keep them from rampage. In addition, under Louis XII there were useful changes regarding the courts, regarding the coin, and all these concerns of the supreme power about improving the life of the subjects brought Louis the glorious nickname father people.

Italian wars under Louis XII - the capture of Milan by the French (1499)

But Louis soon showed that he did not intend to confine himself to internal orders alone: he took the title of King of Neapolitan, Sicilian and Jerusalem, Duke of Milan. First of all, he wanted to take possession of Milan on the grounds that his grandmother was from the house of Visconti that had previously reigned there. Desiring to ensure success in capturing Milan, Louis XII attracted to his side Pope Alexander VI, whom he promised to his son, Caesar Borgia, famous for his immorality, to arrange possession in Italy; concluded an alliance with the Venetians, dissatisfied with the Milanese Duke Ludovic Moreau. But the French king had a small army, he considered it necessary to hire the Swiss, but there was no money; in such need, he demanded money from the tax collectors and began to sell their places, thus giving the buyers the right to collect their money from the poor taxpayers. Money was collected, the Swiss were hired, and in 1499 Louis XII marched against Milan. The success was brilliant, because everyone in Milan hated Ludovic Moreau as a tyrant, a thief of power, a murderer of his nephew, who owned the throne; Moreau was forced to flee from Milan, then returned with hired Swiss, was betrayed by them and sent to France. Having mastered Milan, Louis XII began to think about Naples. Success was not sure, because next to powerful France a no less powerful Spanish state was formed, and Ferdinand the Catholic, who already owned Sicily, did not want to allow the French to strengthen in Italy.

Rivalry for Southern Italy with the Spanish

Thus, the Italian wars take on a special meaning for us: we see how France, striving to strengthen itself at the expense of a divided and weak Italy, is held back by Spain. In order not to have interference from the Spanish king Ferdinand the Catholic, Louis XII decides to share the booty with him: both kings entered into an agreement according to which Apulia and Calabria should go to Ferdinand. In 1501, the French army under the command of d "Aubigny (Scottish Stuart) moved to Naples; the uncle of the deceased king Ferdinand II, Frederick, reigned here: he was captured by the French and died a prisoner in France. Meanwhile, the famous commander of Ferdinand the Catholic, Gonzalvo of Corduan, already occupied the southern regions of Neapolitan, and soon a quarrel broke out between him and the French: the division was difficult!In the summer of 1502, a clear war broke out between the Spaniards and the French, a war in which the obsolete chivalry expressed itself for the last time in all its strength; the French knight Bayard became especially famous here, “a knight without fear and reproach". The case ended with the fact that in 1503, having suffered two defeats from the Spaniards, the French were forced to clear the Kingdom of Naples, which went to the Spaniards; Louis XII sent a new army to conquer Naples, but it was also defeated by Gonzalva Corduana under Garigliano.In 1504, Spain and France concluded a truce: Naples remained with Spain, Mi lan - for France.

Thus the two most powerful continental powers established themselves at the two ends of Italy. Of the Italian powers, Venice was the strongest, with which Emperor Maximilian alone could not cope, and therefore began to try to break her with an alliance; allies were easily found, because many wanted to humiliate the proud Venetian oligarchy and divide the possessions of the republic; In addition to Emperor Maximilian, the French king Louis XII, Ferdinand the Catholic and the pope, now the militant Julius I, entered into an alliance: the allies in Cambrai directly agreed to divide the Venetian possessions among themselves. The French began hostilities and defeated the Venetian army at Agnadello (1509); King Louis began to take the Venetian cities. Then Venice hastened to break the alliance, giving the pope and Ferdinand the Catholic everything they wanted.

Holy League against Louis XII

The pope, pleased with the humiliation of Venice, began to act against the French, because he did not at all want to strengthen them in Italy; Louis XII, for his part, took up arms against the pope, demanding ecclesiastical reforms; through his efforts, a council was assembled in Pisa, whose fathers proclaimed the need for transformations of the Church, at the head of it and in its members, proclaimed that the pope must obey the decision of the council. But this ecclesiastical matter could not have consequences, because political relations were against it. Ferdinand the Catholic considered it necessary not to extradite the pope to the mighty king of France, and in the autumn of 1511 the so-called Holy League, an alliance for the defense of the Roman Church, was formed. The members of the union were: Pope, Venetians, Spain; Ferdinand attracted to the union and his son-in-law, the English king Henry VIII; Ferdinand wrote that if the French were allowed to take Rome, the freedom of Europe would perish. Since 1512, hostilities began: it was difficult for the allies to act against the French army, led by the royal nephew, Gaston de Foix. Nicknamed Italian Lightning, Gaston really with incredible speed ran through vast spaces with his army, unexpectedly appeared now here, now where danger demanded. The Italians were against the French, who especially drove them out of patience with their immorality towards women, but the French put out the uprising in the blood of the rebels, and they behaved worse than the Tatars.

Expulsion of the French from Milan (1512)

In the spring of 1512, the Allied troops met the French at Ravenna: after a bloody battle in which up to 20,000 people died on both sides, the French remained victorious, but lost their famous leader, Gaston de Foix. With the death of Gaston, happiness left the French, who could hardly hold out in Italy, and meanwhile the Spaniards and the English attacked France itself; the French also had to leave Milan, where the descendant of the formerly reigning Sforza family had established itself; the fathers of the Pisa Cathedral had to retire first to Milan, and then to Lyon, and the cathedral was recognized by France alone.

In 1513, Louis XII sent a new army to conquer Milan; but the allies hired the Swiss, who defeated the French at Novara and forced them to flee to the fatherland; and at the very beginning of 1515, Louis XII died childless, leaving the throne to his cousin, Francis.

When writing the article, the "Course of New History" by S. M. Solovyov was used

When Louis was born, it seemed incredible that he would take the throne of the French kings: after all, he was in third place in the line of successors to the throne after the brother of the king and his own father. Louis XI himself showed obvious irritation at the appearance of this "heir to the throne" and openly doubted the legitimacy of his birth. Indeed, the father of Louis, the Duke of Orleans, was then already. 68 years old, and he did not differ in good health. Not thinking about the French throne, Louis in his youth was much more concerned about receiving the inheritance of his grandmother. As the grandson of Valentina Visconti, he could lay claim to the Duchy of Milan.

Louis XI had a long-standing dislike for the Dukes of Orléans. This hostility prompted him a truly diabolical idea - to strike at the future of the House of Orleans. Soon after the birth of Louis, the king had a daughter, Jeanne, with a physical deformity, and before this fact became known to everyone, he managed to conspire with Louis's unsuspecting father about the future wedding of the children. It was not to be expected that this marriage would be happy, besides, he could well remain childless. Later, when the state of the unfortunate princess was no longer a secret to anyone, mother and son tried to frustrate these plans. But the king remained inexorable and, despite resistance, forced the marriage. It was not in his power, however, to force the Duke of Orleans to reconcile with him. Jeanne sincerely loved her husband, cared for him, not being afraid to get infected when he fell ill with smallpox in 1483, but she never managed to overcome the dislike of the duke. The sight of the newlyweds at a luxurious wedding feast - the young duke did not touch the food and, paying no attention to anyone, sobbed from anger and impotence, and the bride shed tears from resentment and disappointment - did not bode well. Only the threats of the king could make the young husband visit - however, very rarely and not for long - the chambers of his wife, who lived separately from him in the castle of Linier. Later, having barely ascended the throne, Louis started a case to recognize the marriage as invalid. At the trial, he, despite the objections of his wife, argued that during all twenty years of their life together there had never been a marital relationship between them.

In April 1498 Charles died without leaving any sons. Having become king, Louis treated his former enemies very generously, and even Anna God did not remind him of the hardships of his three-year imprisonment. The financial situation of the country was desperate. The Italian campaign of Charles VIII devastated the treasury. Nevertheless, the new king not only did not raise taxes, but even went for some of their reduction. He did not collect the usual tax for the coronation celebrations, although he had every right to do so. The king diligently took up the transformation, trying to raise the welfare of the country. His first decrees dealt with money circulation, coinage, customs duties, trade and other economic and financial issues. He took care of the improvement of roads, the growth of trade, the rise of agriculture, the prosperity of crafts. The economic situation in France quickly improved. The resumption of the Italian war soon did not prevent this.

As before, Louis considered the acquisition of the Duchy of Milan to be his main concern. In June 1499 the king crossed the Alps and was received in Savoy in a friendly manner. After the first clashes with the French army, the mercenaries of the Duke of Milan, Louis More, began to scatter. He himself fled to Tyrol under the protection of the emperor. In September, the French entered Milan. But the following year the Milanese revolted against them. Louis More returned to his capital, but in March 1500 he suffered a final defeat and was taken prisoner. In April, the French captured Milan for the second time, and in November, Louis concluded an agreement with the Spanish king Ferdinand on the division of the Kingdom of Naples. In the summer of 1501, the French invaded southern Italy, took Capua and subjected it to defeat. At the same time, the Spaniards landed in Calabria. The Neapolitan king Federigo gave up resistance and surrendered to Louis. As expected, the Kingdom of Naples was divided between the winners, but soon strife began between the French and the Spaniards, which escalated into open war in 1503. Louis, outraged by the treachery of Ferdinand, gathered a new army and moved it to Italy. In November-December, the French were defeated in a seven-week battle at Garigliano. Upon learning of this defeat, Louis fell ill, locked himself in his rooms and did not receive anyone. In March 1504 he signed peace with Spain and renounced all claims to southern Italy. Things went wrong in the north too. Neither the pope nor the emperor was willing to recognize Louis' rights to Lombardy. Spain, Switzerland, Venice and England joined their union. In 1512, Milan again came under the rule of the Sforza family. Then the Spaniards took possession of Navarre. The following year, the Swiss invaded Burgundy and advanced on Dijon. To make peace, Louis had to give up all his conquests.

The same failure awaited the king in another respect: he never succeeded in securing the throne for his dynasty. After parting with Jeanne, Louis soon married the widow of his predecessor, Queen Anne. In later years she bore him two daughters and two sons, but both boys died in infancy. After the death of his second wife, Louis married a third time to the young English princess Mary. But this new marriage only undermined his strength: two months after the wedding, the king died.

All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

Louis XII.

Louis XII (1462-1514) - King of France from the Valois family, who ruled from 1498-1514. Son of the Duke of Orleans Charles and Mary of Kyiv.

2) from 8 Jan. 1499 Anne, Duchess of Brittany, widow of King Charles VIII of France (born 1477 + 9 January 1514);

All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

Louis XII.
Reproduction from the website http://monarchy.nm.ru/

Louis XII
King of France
Louis XII Father of the Nation
Louis XII le Pere du Peuple
Years of life: June 27, 1462 - January 1, 1515
Reigned: April 7, 1498 - January 1, 1515
Father: Charles of Orleans
Mother: Maria Klevskaya
Wives: 1) Jeanne of France (Saint Jeanne)
2) Anne of Brittany
3) Mary Tudor
Daughters: Claudia, Renata

Among the heirs to the throne, Louis was only third after the Dauphin Charles and his father. His appearance on the throne seemed almost unbelievable, and therefore, in his youth, Louis paid more attention to obtaining the Milanese inheritance of his grandmother Valentina Visconti. Nevertheless, Louis XI sought to completely exterminate the Orleans branch of the Valois. When his physically disabled daughter Jeanne was born, he arranged with Charles of Orleans for a marriage between the children before everyone knew about the deformity of the princess. Charles tried to annul this arrangement, but the king was adamant. At the wedding, there were no people more unhappy than the bride and groom. Jeanne truly loved her husband. When he fell ill with smallpox in 1483, she looked after him without fear of contracting it. However, Louis openly neglected his wife, visited her bedroom very rarely, and soon resettled her to another castle.

After the death of Louis XI, the young Charles VIII became king, and his elder sister Anna Bozhe became regent under him. Louis himself claimed the regency. Teaming up with Francis of Brittany, he went to war against Anna, but was defeated, captured and spent three years in prison in terrible conditions. Starting to rule on his own, Charles freed Louis, restored his rights and declared him his heir.

After the death of the childless Charles, Louis became king. He dealt generously with his enemies and did not even remind Anna God of past grievances. The treasury was devastated by the Italian campaign of Charles, but Louis not only did not introduce new taxes, but even somewhat reduced the old ones. His first decrees dealt with money circulation, coinage, customs duties, trade and other economic and financial issues. He took care of the improvement of roads, the growth of trade, the rise of agriculture, the prosperity of crafts. The economic situation in France quickly improved. The resumption of the Italian war soon did not prevent this.

Louis did not abandon his former dream of capturing the Duchy of Milan. By 1500, Milan was under the rule of Louis. Soon he signed an agreement with Spain on the division of southern Italy. Having attacked the Kingdom of Naples from two sides, Louis and Ferdinand quickly captured it, but very soon quarreled. Louis was defeated by the army of the Spanish king, and in March 1504 he renounced his claims to southern Italy. In the north, things were also not going well. Spain, Switzerland, England and Venice united against Louis, not wanting to recognize his rights to Lombardy. In 1512, the Spaniards captured Navarre, the Swiss invaded Burgundy, and Louis was forced to return Milan to the Sforza family, renouncing all conquests.

Louis also failed to secure the throne for his dynasty. As soon as he became king, he began to seek a divorce from Joan, after which he married the widow of Charles VIII. However, of their children, only two daughters survived. After the death of Anne of Brittany, he married a third time to the young English princess Mary, but died shortly after the wedding.

Used material from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/

Read further:

France in the 16th century(chronological table).

Louis XII of France before accession to the throne

At the birth of Louis on June 27, 1462, in his father's castle in Blois, it would have seemed absurd to predict that he would take the throne of the French kings: after all, he was in third place in the line of successors to the throne after the brother of the king and his own father. Louis XI himself showed obvious irritation at the birth of this "heir to the throne", and in narrow circles openly questioned the legitimacy of such a late offspring, although he never officially announced this.

His father, Charles, Duke of Orleans (died in 1465), who had been married to Mary of Cleves for 22 years by the time Louis was born, was almost 70 years old, and he did not differ in good health. He was the grandson of King Charles V of France, thus Louis XII, like the reigning King Louis XI, was the great-grandson of Charles V. This lineage gave him the right to claim the throne, provided that King Louis XI and his brother died without leaving behind male heirs, or these heirs will die before Louis, leaving no legitimate sons. King Louis had a direct heir - the only son born on 06/30/1470, the future Charles VIII (1483-1498). Having almost no hope of the French throne, Louis, apparently, was counting on another opportunity - on the right to claim the Duchy of Milan, which had passed to him after the death of his father in 1465. As the son of Valentina Visconti, daughter of the Duke of Milan Giangaleazzo Visconti, to whom, after the death of her brother Philippe Maria (who died in 1447 without leaving sons), the duchy was to be inherited, Charles of Orleans considered himself the rightful heir of Milan, and his son Louis followed behind him. Apart from accession to the French throne, one of Louis's most passionate aspirations was, apparently, to receive this inheritance.

The hostility of Louis XI to the House of Orleans had two reasons: firstly, their views on the throne and, secondly, their strong influence as large local princes who opposed the power of the king. This hostility suggested to him a truly diabolical idea - to strike at the future of the House of Orleans. Shortly after the birth of Louis, on April 23, 1464, the king had a daughter with a physical deformity, and before this fact became known to everyone, he managed to come to an agreement with Louis' unsuspecting father about the future wedding of the children. It was not to be expected that this marriage would be happy, he could well remain childless. Later, when the state of the unfortunate princess was no longer a secret to anyone, mother and son tried to frustrate these plans. But the king remained inexorable and, despite resistance, forced the same in 1476 to conclude this marriage. It was not in his power, however, to force the Duke of Orleans to reconcile with him. Jeanne, who sincerely loved her husband, cared for him, not being afraid to get infected, when in 1483 he fell ill with smallpox - this was the beginning of a long string of illnesses that fell on him - never managed to overcome the dislike of the duke. The sight of the newlyweds at a luxurious wedding feast - the young duke did not touch the food and, paying no attention to anyone, sobbed from anger and impotence, and the bride shed tears from resentment and disappointment - did not bode well. Only the threats of the king could force the young husband to visit - however, very rarely and not for long - the chambers of his wife, who lived separately from him in the castle of Linier. Having ascended the throne, a few months later he started a case to invalidate the marriage in order to marry the royal widow Anna, Duchess of Brittany. At the trial, he, despite the objections of his wife, argued that during all twenty-two years of marriage, there was no marital relationship between them.

The life of the duke, removed from political activity by the king and trying to find solace in luxury and debauchery, seemed to be completely determined by numerous love affairs, hunting and other "befitting his position" entertainment. However, when the brother of Louis XI died without heirs, and Charles remained the only son of the king, the position of the Duke of Orleans noticeably increased: now he became the second contender for the throne, immediately after the direct heir, Charles. The rapidly decrepit Louis XI was very well aware of the threat this poses to the minor heir to the throne. In October 1482, he obliges the duke to swear allegiance to the heir to the throne and take an oath that he renounces the regency, which he had every right to claim. After the king's death, Louis XI's daughter and son-in-law, Anne and Pierre de Baeuille, were to receive it. Of course, Louis of Orleans felt just as little bound by the oath given on the Gospel as later, when he had already ascended the throne. He violated numerous treaties as often as the rest of their participants. The king saw a potential danger for his son, first of all, in the traditionally good relations of the House of Orleans with the Duke of Brittany Francis II, an enemy of Louis and an ally of the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold, as well as with Louis's brother Charles - in their dispute over the possession of Normandy in 1467 and 1468. From This is what he tried to protect his son by binding Louis of Orleans with an oath. His fears were not unfounded. As soon as after the death of the king on August 30, 1483, the pressure on the duke eased, he, in alliance with the old opponents of the deceased monarch, begins to develop political activity - at first secretly - against the heir and his temporary guardians, de God. How impatient he was, can be seen from the fact that as early as August 1483, he began secret negotiations with the Duke of Brittany, trying to free himself from the burdensome burden placed on him by Louis XI, i.e. from his wife Jeanne. After the annulment of his marriage to Jeanne, he wanted to marry Anne, the only daughter of the duke and heir to the Duchy of Brittany. The Duke readily agreed to this proposal. He realized his intention only 15 years later, since de God managed to achieve the marriage of Anna with their ward, Charles VIII, which provided the crown with the right to the Duchy of Breton.

So in the second attempt to gain power and political influence, the still inexperienced young duke was defeated. The opponents managed to curb the first manifestations of open hostility towards the son of the deceased king by generously distributing lands, titles, rents and other favors to noble landed nobles, deprived of their power and power by Louis XI. Louis d'Orleans himself also took advantage of this generosity. The troops placed under him, a large annuity of 24,000 pounds, such a source of constant income as admission to the Order of Saint Michael founded by King Louis, were honorary privileges that outwardly paid tribute to his position as First Prince of the Blood, without, however, discussion of government affairs. Louis hoped to get such an opportunity from the Estates General, who had the right to remove the young king from the influence of de Baeu and appoint a royal council of several people, selected by him, and a regency under his control. At least, such could be his immediate goals, when he demanded - and achieved - the convocation of the Estates General as early as September 1483. However, he and the opposition associated with him (supposed future members of the royal council - the Duke John II of Bourbon, the elder brother of Pierre de Beaugh, Francois Orleans, the Count of Dunois, the Count of Commenge, as well as the bishops of Periguet and Coutances) allowed de Beauge to achieve such a procedure for holding elections in States-General that in the end all the interests of the opposition at the meetings of the States-General from January to March were doomed to failure. Not to the benefit of Louis, it turned out that, almost at the last moment, the seat of the meetings of the states was transferred from Orleans to Tours, which was loyal to the king. The chairmanship of the Duke of Orleans at the meetings of Parliament was purely formal, since it was valid only in the absence of the king. When, in January 1485, the campaign of Louis, joined by the Duke of Brittany, to assemble the States General in a renewed composition, failed, Louis of Orleans no longer saw any other way to fulfill his claims, except for a direct confrontation, up to an armed struggle, with the king . However, on this path he achieved as little success as before. His allies each had their own obligations, and at times pursued different goals, which did not contribute to success at all. Among them were the Count of Dunois, the Prince of Orleans, the Duke of Brittany and Alain d'Albret, as well as his foreign supporters - the English king and the Austrian Archduke, Maximilian. Maximilian and Alain d'Albret, like Louis himself, tried to get Brittany by marriage with Anna, the daughter of the Duke of Brittany.

The military conflict of the beginning of the 16th century, called the “senseless war” - “insana militia”, (fr. Guerre folle), ended in tears for Louis: he almost died on 07/28/1488 in the battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, small Breton town. The poorly armed and significantly outnumbered army of the allies was defeated by the royal army, which was under the command of the 27-year-old Louis II of Tremouille, the counts de Benon and de Guin and the prince of Talmond, who later, in the Italian campaign, was to become one of the most prominent and military leaders loyal to Louis. The personal courage and competence in military affairs of Louis himself, who had managed to accumulate military experience over the past years, was not in doubt. Only the caution of de Tremouille saved him from the enraged Swiss landsknecht, who was already pushing him with weapons in his hands.

Louis was imprisoned without trial and spent the next three years in appalling conditions. The jailers harassed him with rough treatment, until at last he was transferred to Bourges, the most secure dungeon. The fact that he was the only one of all the opposition kept so long in custody confirms what danger he represented in the eyes of God to the king, still under their influence; after all, there were petitioners at court for his release. For this, however, he had only his unloved wife Jeanne to thank. After futile attempts to soften her sister, Anne de Beaugh, she turned directly to her brother, Charles VIII, and was successful. Exactly three years after being taken into custody, on June 27, 1491, Charles decided, without asking Anna's consent, to release Louis, return his grace to him and restore the morals taken from him.

In contrast to Anna, who did not hide the hostile attitude towards the duke, the king retained rather friendly feelings for Louis. After all, it was Louis who knighted him during the coronation, and according to the code of noble honor adopted then, this connected them with personal ties. Release without any conditions and restrictions and reconciliation with the king, who rode from Tours to Firtzon, where he ordered a prisoner from neighboring Bourges to be brought to him, should have been a beneficial shock for Louis. Together with the return of the favor of the king, as well as the receipt of Normandy, transferred to him instead of Île-de-France, Louis not only regained his former positions as prince of the blood, but also received what he had sought for so long and in vain - the king was now open to his advice and influence . However, a certain price was required for this: all attempts to get rid of Jeanne should have been abandoned. It looked like a final refusal to marry Anna. Now, after the death of her father, which soon followed the crushing defeat at Sainte-Aubin-du-Cormier and the signing of a humiliating peace treaty, she became the Duchess of Brittany. And when Charles, in the face of increased claims from Maximilian, in turn began to seek marriage with Anna in order to be able to annex Brittany to the kingdom, Louis, as the king's adviser, negotiated on this issue with Anna on his behalf.

In order to marry Anna, Karl had to terminate the union concluded during the life of his father with Maximilian's daughter Margarita; back in 1488, at the age of three, she arrived in France, where she was brought up as a future queen. In addition, Anna, despite the rupture of the peace treaty of 1488, promised her hand to Maximilian and even celebrated the engagement. The success of Charles had for Louis, apparently, also the unfavorable consequence that Margaret, as the ruler of the Netherlands, could become a serious opponent of Louis XII. The marriage between Charles VIII and Anna was celebrated in December 1491. The question whether Louis made it a condition of the marriage contract that, in the event of the death of the king, she could only remarry his heir or successor remains open. That Louis still dreamed of marrying Anna and, despite his illnesses, hoped to outlive the king, who was 8 years younger than him, is in principle possible, although implausible. His negative attitude towards Jeanne, despite all that she did for his release, persisted. Otherwise, however, his whole being profoundly changed. Although tournaments, feasts, extravagance and debauchery, as well as the financial problems associated with them, did not disappear from his life, they receded into the background and did not prevent him from seriously and effectively managing Normandy. So, it was thanks to his diplomatic efforts that the British abandoned the already planned landing in Normandy.

On October 11, 1492, Anna gave birth to a healthy son, who was christened Charles-Orland. Charles's forthcoming Italian campaign, by which the king hoped to annex the kingdom of Naples, was an opportunity for Louis to realize the claims of his own house to the Duchy of Milan, which was in the hands of Lodovico Sforza, nicknamed "il Moro". However, Lodovico's prudently concluded alliance with Charles VIII, which he undertook to observe during the campaign against Naples, frustrated these plans. The growth of the power of Louis in the event of the capture of the Duchy of Milan could not but disturb the king and his advisers. Illness prevented Louis from accompanying the king on his campaign further to the south of Italy, and allowed him to stay in his fief possession of Asti. Charles put him not at the head of the army, but only at the head of the fleet - an unusual task for Louis and clearly did not prove the favor of the king. When Lodovico Sforza attempted to capture Asti, an important outpost on the route from France to Italy, in violation of the treaty, Louis resisted him. Encouraged by success, he took Nova-ra with a single onslaught, almost without bloodshed, where the population joyfully greeted him. However, he failed to take advantage of the chance and overthrow the usurper Lodovico, hated by the inhabitants, and he managed to re-assemble the army and lock Louis in Novara.

Although Charles VIII was successful in Naples and emerged victorious from the battle with the troops of the Lombard League at Fornovo on July 6, 1495, he hesitated for more than a month before coming to the aid of the besieged Louis. The consequences of the siege became more and more noticeable: diseases spread in the city, food supplies were quickly depleted, and there was not enough drinking water. Charles was already in the vicinity of Asti on July 27, but it was not until September 8 that he finally moved his army to Lodovico, without showing any particular haste, however. Only on September 28, Louis was able to leave the city, after Charles and Lodovico agreed to lift the siege and unhindered withdrawal of troops. For this, Novara was returned to the Duke of Milan. The behavior of Charles, who equaled Louis himself in betrayal, led to the fact that the enmity between them escalated. However, in subsequent years, Louis could not be blamed for any disloyal actions towards the king. The sudden death of the only son Charles after a short illness in December 1495 contributed to the beginning of the alienation. After two more sons of Queen Anne died in 1496 and 1497, barely born, and at the beginning of 1498 she was relieved of the burden of a dead girl, Louis tangibly approached the coveted throne, especially since the king's health clearly deteriorated. Only by extremely tactful behavior, a complete rejection of everything that could set the royal couple and his opponents at court against him, Louis avoided a new aggravation of relations.

With the death of Charles VIII on April 7, 1498, the path to the throne was clear for Louis. No one else could prevent him from divorcing his unloved wife Jeanne, and also from trying to conquer the Duchy of Milan, of which he considered himself the legitimate ruler. Finally, now the rights of the House of Anjou were transferred to him: the right to the kingdom of Naples.

Portal for the student. Self-training