Louis XI of France

Louis XI the Prudent
Louis XI wearing his Order of Saint Michael
King of France
Reign 22 July 1461 − 30 August 1483
Coronation 15 August 1461, Reims
Predecessor Charles VII
Successor Charles VIII
Spouse Margaret of Scotland
Charlotte of Savoy
Issue
Anne, Duchess of Bourbon
Joan, Duchess of Berry
Charles VIII
Father Charles VII
Mother Marie of Anjou
Born 3 July 1423(1423-07-03)
Bourges, Cher, France
Died 30 August 1483(1483-08-30) (aged 60)
Château de Plessis-lez-Tours, France
Burial Notre-Dame de Cléry Basilica, Cléry-Saint-André, near Orléans

Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called the Prudent (French: le Prudent), was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois.

During his 22-year reign, Louis successfully expanded royal power at the expense of that of the dukes. Shrewd and often vicious, he spun webs of plot and conspiracy which earned him the nicknames the Cunning (Middle French: le rusé) and the Universal Spider (Middle French: l'universelle aragne ). His love for scheming and intrigue made him many enemies, including his father, his brother Charles de Valois, Duc de Berry, as well as Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Edward IV of England.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Louis was born at Bourges, Cher in 1423, when the English held northern France and his father Charles VII was restricted to the centre and south. Louis was the grandson of the strong-willed Yolande of Aragon, the princess who was the driving force in driving the English out of France. Louis despised his father, regarding him as a weakling.

On 24 June 1436 he met Margaret of Scotland, daughter of James I of Scotland, the bride his father had chosen for diplomatic reasons.[1] There are no direct accounts from Louis or his young bride of their first impressions of each other, and it is mere speculation to say whether or not they actually had negative feelings for each other. Several historians think that Louis had a predetermined attitude to hate his wife. But it is universally agreed upon that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting.

Louis' marriage shows both the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy at the time. The wedding — by the standards of the time, it was a very plain ceremony — took place 25 June 1436 in the afternoon in the chapel of the castle of Tours and was presided over by the Archbishop of Reims.[2] The 13-year-old Louis looked clearly more mature than his eleven-year old bride, who looked like a beautiful “doll”, and was treated as such by her in-laws.[2] Charles wore “grey riding pants” and “did not even bother to remove his spurs.”[2] The Scottish guests were quickly hustled out after the wedding reception, as the Valois court was quite impoverished at this time. They simply could not afford an extravagant ceremony or to host their Scottish guests for any longer than they did. The Scots however saw this behaviour as an insult to their small but proud country.[3]

Following the ceremony, “doctors advised against consummation” because of the relative immaturity of the bride and bridegroom. Margaret continued her studies and Louis went on tour with Charles to loyal areas of the kingdom. Even at this time, Charles was taken aback by the intelligence and temper of his son. During this tour, Louis was named Dauphin by Charles, as is traditional for the eldest son of the king.[3]

In 1440, Louis, aged 17, was part of the uprising known as the Praguerie, which sought to control Charles and install Louis as Regent. The uprising failed and Louis was forced to submit to the King, who however forgave him. In this revolt, Louis was greatly influenced by Charles de Bourbon, whose troops were “badly out of condition” with “poor logistics.” Louis was forced to retreat to Paris but was “by no means trounced.”[4] In fact, before his final defeat, “[Louis's]...military strength, combined with antipathy of the masses for great lords, won him the support of the citizens of Paris.”[4] This was a great learning experience for Louis. James Cleugh notes:

“Like other strong minded boys, he had found at last he could not carry all before him by mere bluster. Neither as prince nor as king did he ever forget his lesson. He never acted on pure impulse, without reflection, though to his life’s end he was constantly tempted to take such a risk.”[2]

Louis continued soldiering. In 1444 he led an army of "écorcheurs" against the Swiss at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs and was impressed by the latter's military might. He still loathed his father, however, and on 27 September 1446 he was ordered out of court and sent to his own province of Dauphiné, where he was to establish order. Despite frequent summons by the King, the two would never meet again. In Dauphiné, Louis ruled as King in all but name, continuing his intrigues against his father. On 14 February 1451, Louis, 27, who had been widowed for six years, made a strategic marriage to the eight-year-old Charlotte of Savoy, without Charles' consent.

Finally, in August 1456, Charles sent an army to Dauphiné. Louis fled to Burgundy where he was granted refuge by Duke Philip the Good and his son Charles the Bold and settled in the castle of Genappe. King Charles was furious when Philip refused to hand over Louis and warned the Duke that he was "giving shelter to a fox who will eat his chickens".

French Monarchy
Capetian Dynasty
(House of Valois)

Philip VI
Children
   John II
John II
Children
   Charles V
   Louis I of Anjou
   John, Duke of Berry
   Philip the Bold
Charles V
Children
   Charles VI
   Louis, Duke of Orléans
Charles VI
Children
   Isabella of Valois
   Michelle of Valois
   Catherine of Valois
   Charles VII
Charles VII
Children
   Louis XI
   Charles, Duke of Berry
Louis XI
Children
   Charles VIII
Charles VIII

Succession as King

In 1461 Louis learned that his father was dying. He thus hurried to Reims to be crowned in case his brother, Charles, Duke of Berry, beat him to it.

Louis pursued many of the same interests as his father had pursued less successfully, such as limiting the powers of the Dukes and Barons of France. He suppressed many of his former co-conspirators, who had thought him their friend. He became extremely fiscally prudent, whereas he had previously been lavish and extravagant. He wore rough and simple clothes and mixed with ordinary people and merchants. A candid account of some of Louis's activities is given by the courtier, Philippe de Commynes, in his memoirs of the period.

Feud with Charles the Bold

Philip the Good was keen to start a Crusade and Louis gave him money in exchange for a number of territories including Picardy and Amiens. But Philip's son, Charles, was angry, feeling that he was being deprived of his inheritance. He joined a rebellion called the League of the Public Weal, led by Louis's brother Charles. Although the rebels were largely unsuccessful in battle, Louis was forced to grant an unfavourable peace as a matter of political expediency.

Upon becoming Duke in 1467, Charles seriously considered having an independent Kingdom of his own, but he had many problems with his territories, especially with the people of Liège who were constantly rising against him. Louis was their ally.

In 1468 Louis and Charles met in Peronne but in the course of the negotiations they learned that the Liegois had again risen up and killed the Burgundian governor. Charles was furious. Philippe de Commynes and the Duke's other advisors had to calm him down for fear that he might hit the King. Louis was forced into a humiliating treaty, giving up many of the lands he had acquired and witnessing the siege of Liege in which hundreds were massacred.

But once out of Charles's reach, Louis declared the treaty invalid and set about building up his forces. His aim was to destroy Burgundy once and for all and end a feud which had lasted over three generations since the murder of Louis, Duke of Orléans in 1407. War broke out in 1472, but Charles's siege of Beauvais and other towns were unsuccessful and he finally sued for peace. Commines rallied to the King's side and was made welcome.

In 1469 Louis founded the Order of St. Michael, probably in imitation of and as a French rival to the prestigious Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Charles' father, Philip the Good, just as previously John II has founded the now defunct Order of the Star in imitation of and as a French rival to Edward III's Order of the Garter. In both cases, a French king appears to have been motivated to found an order of chivalry to increase the prestige of the French royal court by the example of his chief political adversary.

Dealings with England

Coin of Louis XI, struck ca. 1470
Obverse: Medieval image of Louis XI Reverse: Fleurs-de-lis

Meanwhile England was going through its own civil conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Louis had an interest in this war since Charles the Bold was allied with the Yorkists who opposed King Henry VI. When the Earl of Warwick fell out with Edward IV, whom he had helped to the throne, Louis granted him refuge in France. Through Louis' diplomacy, Warwick then formed an alliance with his bitter enemy, Margaret of Anjou, in order to restore her husband Henry VI to the throne. The plan worked and Edward was forced into exile, but he later returned and Warwick the Kingmaker was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. King Henry was murdered soon afterwards.

Now the undisputed master of England, Edward invaded France in 1475, but Louis was able to negotiate the Treaty of Picquigny by which the English army left France in return for a large sum of money. The English renounced their claim to French lands such as Normandy and the Hundred Years War could be said to be finally over. Louis bragged that although his father had driven the English out by force of arms, he'd driven them out by force of pâté, venison and good wine.

Settling with Charles the Bold

Louis still had to take care of the Duke of Burgundy and for this he employed the Swiss, whose military might was renowned and which he had admired at Birs.

War broke out between Charles and the Swiss, but it was a disastrous campaign for the Duke and he was finally killed at the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477, ending the Burgundian Wars.

Louis had destroyed his sworn enemy. Other lords who still favoured the feudal system gave in to his authority. Others like Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours were executed.

Legacy

Louis then started developing the Kingdom. He encouraged trade fairs and the building and maintenance of roads. He is seen as one of the first modern Kings of France, taking it out of the Middle Ages.

Louis XI was very superstitious. He surrounded himself with astrologers. Interested in science, he once pardoned a man sentenced to death on condition that he serve as a guinea pig in a gallstone operation.

By war, by cunning and with sheer guile, Louis XI overcame France's feudal lords, and at the time of his death in the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours, he had united France and laid the foundations of a strong monarchy. He was however a secretive, isolated and reclusive man and few mourned his passing.

Despite his cunning and overall policy of Realpolitik, Niccolò Machiavelli actually criticized Louis harshly in The Prince, calling him shortsighted for degrading France's ability and prestige by abolishing his own infantry in favor of Swiss mercenaries.

Louis XI died in August 1483 and was interred in the Notre-Dame de Cléry Basilica [1] in Cléry-Saint-André in the Arrondissement of Orléans. His wife Charlotte died a few months later and is interred with him. Louis XI was succeeded by his son, Charles VIII, who was thirteen, and his eldest daughter Anne of France became Regent.

In popular culture

Louis XI is a central character in Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel Quentin Durward. Balzac gives a plausible and somewhat favourable picture of the king in his story "Master Cornelius". Louis XI appears as a character in several film versions of the stage melodrama If I Were King , a fictitious play about real-life poet François Villon. He is also an important character in Victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as its film adaptations. He also appears in the operetta The Vagabond King, which is based on If I Were King. Among the actors who have played him onscreen are Robert Morley, Basil Rathbone, Conrad Veidt, Harry Davenport, Walter Hampden, and O. P. Heggie. In addition, Louis XI is also a minor character in Henry VI, Part III by William Shakespeare, where he is stylised as Lewis; he is depicted as, after choosing to support the Yorkist faction, switching allegiance to the Lancastrians, led by Margaret, following Edward IV's refusal to marry a French noblewoman.

Children with Charlotte of Savoy

Louis's marriage with Charlotte of Savoy would not be consummated until she was fourteen. Their children included:

Ancestors

References

  1. ^ Kendall,Paul Murray. Louis XI "...the universal spider...". New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1971.
  2. ^ a b c d Cleugh,James. Chant Royal The Life of King Louis XI of France (1423–1483). Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970.
  3. ^ a b Tyrell, Joseph M. Louis XI. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.
  4. ^ a b Le Roy Ladurie,Emmanuel. The Royal French State 1460–1610. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1987.
  5. ^ France Capetian Kings
  6. ^ Roglo.eu
Louis XI of France
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 3 July 1423 Died: 30 August 1483
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Charles VII		 King of France
22 July 1461 – 30 August 1483		 Succeeded by
Charles VIII
Dauphin of Viennois
3 July 1423–1461		 Annexation by France
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