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
Born	(1423-07-03)3 July 1423 Bourges, Berry, France
Died	Château de Plessis-lez-Tours, France
Burial	Notre-Dame de Cléry Basilica, Cléry-Saint-André, near Orléans
Spouse	Margaret of Scotland Charlotte of Savoy
Issue Detail	Anne, Duchess of Bourbon Joan, Queen of France Charles VIII, King of France
House	Valois
Father	Charles VII of France
Mother	Marie of Anjou
Religion	Roman Catholic

Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called the Prudent (French: le Prudent), was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father Charles VII.

A devious and disobedient Dauphin of France, Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie (1440). The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné, then a province in southeastern France.

Louis' ceaseless intrigues, however, led his father to banish him from court. From the Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles' greatest enemy.

When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames the Cunning (Middle French: le rusé) and the Universal Spider (Middle French: l'universelle aragne), as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies.

In 1472, the subsequent Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, took up arms against his rival Louis. However, Louis was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny (1475) with Edward IV of England. The treaty formally ended the Hundred Years' War. With the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. Louis took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy proper and Picardy.

Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, and strengthen the economic development of his country. He died in 1483 and was succeeded by his son Charles VIII.

Biography

Early life

Engraving of Louis XI of France

Louis was born in Bourges on 3 July 1423 the son of King Charles VII of France. At a time when the English held northern France, Louis' father, Charles VII, was restricted to the centre and south of the country. At the time, the city of Paris was located in the part of continental Europe controlled by the English. This was a situation that abused French pride and caused a longstanding series of wars called the "Second Hundred Years War" (1337–1453) (The "First" Hundred Years War is defined as that series of wars between the French and the English which started at the beginning of the reign of King Louis VI in about 1108 and ended during the reign of Louis IX (1226-1270)). The Second Hundred Years War was aimed at driving the English from the continent of Europe. Louis was the grandson of the strong-willed Yolande of Aragon, the princess who was the moving spirit in the royal family to drive the English out of France. At that time, France was suffering a low point in the war against the English. Indeed, just a few days after Louis' christening at the Cathedral of St. Étienne on 4 July 1423, the French army had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the English at Cravant. Shortly after this defeat, a combined Anglo-Burgundian army would be threatening Bourges itself.

During the reign of Louis' grandfather, Charles VI (1380–1422), the Duchy of Burgundy was very much connected with the French throne. However, because of the absence of any real concentrated power in a central government, all the duchies of France tended to act independently. Also, during the reign of King Charles VI, Duke Phillip II (The Bold) was reigning as Duke of Burgundy. Phillip was an uncle of King Charles VI and Phillip was actually serving on a council of regents for King Charles. The Dukes of Anjou, Berry and Bourbon, all uncles of Charles VI, also served on this council of regents. Therefore, all effective power over King Charles VI actually lay with this council of dukes. Accordingly, the real power in France lay with these duchies.

In its position of independence from the French throne, Burgundy had grown in size and power. By the reign of Louis' father, Charles VII, Phillip III, the Good (1419-1467) was reigning as Duke of Burgundy and the Duchy had expanded its borders to include all the territory in France from the North Sea in the north to the Jura Mountains in the south and from the Somme River in the west to the Moselle River in the east. The duchy had also grown in political power. During the Hundred Years War, the Burgundians actually allied themselves with England against the French crown. Indeed, the Burgundians were responsible during that war for the capture of and burning at the stake of Joan of Arc on 31 May 1431.

In 1429, young Louis found himself in the presence of Joan of Arc at Loches. Joan was fresh from her first victory over the English at the Battle of Orléans. Joan's victories on the field of battle proved to be the turning point for the French in the Hundred Years War. Joan led troops in other victories at the Battle of Jargeau and the Battle of Patay. Although, Joan was unable to liberate Paris during her lifetime, Paris was liberated from English rule after her death and Louis and his father Charles VII were able to ride in triumph into the city on 12 November 1437. Nevertheless, Louis grew up aware of the continuing weakness of the French nation and he despised his father for this weakness. He regarded his father, Charles VII, as a weakling.

On 24 June 1436 Louis met Margaret of Scotland, daughter of James I of Scotland, the bride his father had chosen for diplomatic reasons. 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 that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting.

In this painting by Jean Fouquet, Louis' father Charles VII is depicted as one of the three magi and it is assumed that Louis, then Dauphin, is one of the other two.

Louis's marriage with Margaret resulted from the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy at the time. The wedding ceremony — very plain by the standards of the time — took place on the afternoon of 25 June 1436 in the chapel of the castle of Tours and was presided over by the Archbishop of Reims. The 13-year-old Louis clearly looked more mature than his eleven-year-old bride, who was said to resemble a beautiful "doll", and was treated as such by her in-laws. Charles wore "grey riding pants" and "did not even bother to remove his spurs". The Scottish guests were quickly hustled out after the wedding reception, as the French royal 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.

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 was traditional for the eldest son of the king. The beautiful and cultured Margaret was popular at the court of France, but her marriage to Louis was not a happy one, in part because of his strained relations with her father-in-law, who was very attached to her. She died childless at the age of 20 in 1445.

In 1440, Louis, aged 17, took part in an uprising known as the Praguerie, which sought to neutralize Charles and install Louis as Regent. The uprising failed and Louis was forced to submit to the King, who chose to forgive him. In this revolt, Louis came under the influence of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, whose troops were in no condition to mount such a serious threat to royal authority. Louis was forced to retreat to Paris, but was "by no means trounced." 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." 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.

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 quarreled with his father, however, and his objectionable scheming, which included disrespectful behavior directed against his father's beloved mistress Agnès Sorel, caused him to be ordered out of court on 27 September 1446 and sent to his own province of Dauphiné. He lived mainly in Grenoble, in the tour de la Trésorerie. 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. This marriage was to have long-ranging effects on the foreign policy of France. It was truly the beginning of French involvement in the affairs of the Italian peninsula.

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 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".

The Entry of Louis XI into Paris. – Facsimile of a Miniature in the "Chroniques" of Monstrelet, Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris).

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, tried to do the same. Louis XI became King of France on 25 July 1461.

Louis pursued many of the same goals that his father had, such as limiting the powers of the dukes and barons of France, with consistently greater success. Louis instituted tax reforms to make the tax system more efficient. He suppressed many of his former co-conspirators, who had thought him their friend. He appointed to government service many men of no rank, but who had shown promising talent. He particularly favored the associates of the great French merchant, Jacques Coeur. He allowed enterprising nobles to engage in trade without losing their privileges of nobility. He eliminated offices within the government bureaucracy and increased the demand on other offices within the government in order to promote efficiency in government. Louis spent a large part of his kingship on the road. Travelling from town to town in his kingdom, Louis would surprise local officials, investigate local governments, establish fairs and promote trade regulations. Perhaps Louis XI's most significant contribution to the organization of the modern state of France was his development of the system of royal postal roads. In this system relays at instant service to the king operated on all the high roads of France. It was this network of communications which spread all across France that led to King Louis XI's nickname of the "Universal Spider".

As king, he became extremely prudent fiscally, 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 recorded by the courtier, Philippe de Commines, in his memoirs of the period. It was his habit to surround himself with valuable advisers of humble origins, such as Commines. Others include Olivier Le Daim, Louis Tristan L'Hermite, and Jean Balue. Louis burned to speed up everything, transform everything and build his new world. For all the changes that Louis XI made to the government of France, he has the reputation of a leading "civil reformer" in French history and Louis' reforms were in favor of the interests of the rising trading and mercantile classes which would later become the bourgeoisie classes of France.

Louis XI also involved himself in the affairs of the Church in France. In October of 1461, Louis abolished the Pragmatic Sanction which his father had instituted in 1438 to establish a French (Gallican) Church free of Rome.

Feud with Charles the Bold

Philip III (The Good) (1419–1467) was reigning as Duke of Burgundy at the time that Louis XI came to the throne of France. Phillip was keen to start a Crusade to the Holy Lands. However, he needed funds to organize the Crusade. Louis XI gave him 400,000 gold crowns for the Crusade in exchange for a number of territories, including Picardy and Amiens. However, Philip's son, the future Charles I, Duke of Burgundy, but currently the Count of Charolais, was angry about this transaction, 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, the Duke of Berry who was also named Charles. Although the rebels were largely unsuccessful in battle, Louis had no better luck. Louis XI fought an indecisive battle against the rebels at Montlhéry and, thus, was forced to grant an unfavourable peace as a matter of political expediency.

Upon becoming Duke of Burgundy in 1467, Charles I (The Bold) seriously considered declaring an independent kingdom of his own. However, progress toward a strong centralized government had already advanced to the point, thanks, in part, to the continuous efforts of Louis XI, that Burgundy could no longer act as independently as the Duchy had done in the past. The Duchy now faced many problems with his territories, especially with the people of Liège, who conducted the Liège Wars against the Duke of Burgundy. In the Liège Wars, Louis XI, at first, allied himself with the people of Leige.

In 1468, Louis and Charles met at Péronne, but in the course of negotiations they learned that the Liègois had again risen up and killed the Burgundian governor. Charles was furious. Philippe de Commines, at that time in the service of the duke of Burgundy, had to calm him down with the help of the duke's other advisors for fear that he might hit the king. Louis was forced into a humiliating treaty. He gave up many of the lands he had acquired and Louis XI turned on his erstwhile allies in Liege and swore to help Charles put down the uprising in Liege. Louis XI, then, witnessed the siege of Liège, 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; nothing could be more odious to a centralized monarchy than the existence of an over-mighty vassal such as the Duke of Burgundy. War broke out in 1472. Duke Charles laid siege to Beauvais and other towns. However, these sieges proved unsuccessful and the siege was finally lifted on 22 July 1472. and he finally sued for peace. Philippe de Commines was welcomed into the service of King Louis.

In 1469, Louis founded the Order of St. Michael, probably in imitation of the prestigious Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Charles' father Philip the Good, just as King John II of France had founded the now defunct Order of the Star in imitation of the Order of the Garter of King Edward III of England. 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

At the same time that France and Burgundy were fighting each other, England was going through its own civil conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Louis had an interest in this war, since the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was allied with the Yorkists who opposed King Henry VI. When the Earl of Warwick fell out with Edward IV, who had helped Edward attain the throne, Louis granted Warwick 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 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 had driven them out by force of pâté, venison, and good wine.

Settling with Charles the Bold

Burgundian territories (orange/yellow) and limits of France (red) after the Burgundian War.

Just as his father had done, Louis spent most of his reign dealing with the Duke of Burgundy, and for this he employed the Swiss, whose military might was renowned and which he had admired himself at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs.

War broke out between Charles and the Swiss, when the Duke of Burgundy invaded Switzerland. The invasion of Switzerland proved to be a mistake for the Duke of Burgundy. On 2 March 1476, the Swiss attacked and defeated the Burgundians at Grandson in Switzerland. On 5 January 1477, the Duke was killed at the Battle of Nancy, which ended the Burgundian Wars.

Louis thus succeeded in destroying his sworn enemy. Other lords who still favored the feudal system gave in to his authority. Others, like Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, were executed. The lands belonging to the Duchy of Burgundy, as constituted by Louis' great-great-grandfather John II for the benefit of his son Philip the Bold, reverted to the crown of France.

The Italian Question

As noted above, the marriage on 14 February 1451 between Louis (while still Dauphin of France) and the eight year-old Charlotte of Savoy was the true beginning of French involvement in the affairs of Italy. The Italian peninsula was a tightly compacted and politically competitive space dominated by five powers--Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papacy, and the Kingdom of Naples. Besides these five regional powers, there were about a dozen small states in Italy which were constantly changing policies and shifting alliances between and towards the various regional powers. The city/state of Genoa and the rising state of Savoy which centered on the city of Turin were examples of these lesser powers in northern Italy. Even the League General of Italy – the combination of the five major powers of Italy that had been born out of the Peace of Lodi of 1454 – was constantly undergoing internal realignments.

Both Louis XI and his father, Charles VII had been too busy with their struggles with Burgundy to pay much attention to smoldering affairs in Italy. Additionally, Louis had his attention drawn away from Italy by foreign affairs problems with England and his struggle with Maximilian of Austria. However, the death of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy in 1477 which conclusively and finally settled the issue of Burgundy's position under the French throne and the Treaty of Picquigny of 1475 which led to a peaceful resolution and division of the "Burgundian inheritance" between Louis XI and the Archduke of Austria and, further, the August, 1475 Treaty with King Edward, the Yorkish king of England, finally allowed Louis XI to turn his attention to Italy.

Viewed from Italy, the death of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy in 1477 and the resultant downfall of Burgundy as an independent threat to the French throne was a thunder clap signalling vast changes in their various relationships with the Kingdom of France. Despite his connection by marriage to the royal house of Savoy, Louis XI had continuously courted a strong relationship with the Francesco I Sforza Duke of Milan, who was a traditional enemy of Savoy. As evidence of this growing close relationship between Milan and the King of France, Sforza, the Duke of Milan sent his own son, Galeazzo Maria Sforza at the head of five thousand (5,000) foot and horse soldiers to aid Louis XI in his war against the League of Public Weal in 1465. Recently, differences had arisen between France and Milan, that had cause Milan to seek ways of separating itself from dependence on the French. However, with the downfall of Burgundy in 1476, France was seen in a new light by Milan. Milan now hurriedly scuttered back into its alliance with Louis XI. Likewise, France's old enemy, King Ferrante I of Naples was now actually seeking for a marriage between the Kingdom of Naples and France. Louis XI also opened new friendly relations with the Papal States, forgetting the past devotion of the Pope for the Duke of Burgundy. In January of 1478, Louis XI also signed a favorable treaty with the Republic of Venice.

This then was the very beginning of the involvement of France in the affairs of Italy. French involvement would be carried to new levels by Louis XI's son, Charles VIII in 1493, when answering an appeal for help from Ludovico Sforza, younger son of Francesco Sforza. In answer to this appeal, Charles VIII would lead an invasion of Italy that would become a real watershed and a significant turning point in Italian political history.

Death

Louis XI died in August 1483 and was interred in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Cléry 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. His eldest daughter Anne of France became Regent.

Legacy

Louis XI

Louis developed his kingdom by encouraging trade fairs and the building and maintenance of roads. Louis XI pursued the organization of the kingdom of France with the assistance of bourgeois officials. In some respects, Louis XI perfected the framework of the modern French Government which was to last until the French Revolution. Thus, Louis XI is one of the first modern kings of France who helped take it out of the Middle Ages.

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

Through war, cunning, and 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, reclusive man, and few mourned his death.

Despite Louis XI's political acumen and overall policy of Realpolitik, Niccolò Machiavelli actually criticized Louis harshly in Chapter 13 of the The Prince, calling him shortsighted and imprudent for abolishing his own infantry in favor of Swiss mercenaries.

Children with Charlotte of Savoy

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

• Louis (18 October 1458 – 1460)
• Joachim (15 July 1459 – 29 November 1459)
• Louise (born and died in 1460)
• Anne (3 April 1461 − 14 November 1522), who became Duchess of Bourbon.
• Joan (23 April 1464 – 4 February 1505), who became Queen of France.
• Louis (born and died on 4 December in 1466)
• Charles VIII of France (30 June 1470 – 8 April 1498)
• Francis, Duke of Berry (3 September 1472 or November 1473)

Ancestors

Family of Louis XI of France

16. John II of France               8. Charles V of France                       17. Bonne of Bohemia               4. Charles VI of France                             18. Peter I, Duke of Bourbon               9. Joanna of Bourbon                       19. Isabella of Valois               2. Charles VII of France                                   20. Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria               10. Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria                       21. Elizabeth of Sicily               5. Isabeau of Bavaria                             22. Bernabò Visconti               11. Taddea Visconti                       23. Beatrice Regina della Scala               1. Louis XI of France                                         24. John II of France (= 16)               12. Louis I, Duke of Anjou                       25. Bonne of Bohemia (= 17)               6. Louis II of Naples                             26. Charles of Châtillon, Count of Blois               13. Marie of Châtillon                       27. Jeanne of Penthièvre               3. Marie of Anjou                                   28. Peter IV of Aragon               14. John I of Aragon                       29. Eleanor of Sicily               7. Yolande of Aragon                             30. Robert I, Duke of Bar               15. Violante de Bar                       31. Marie of Valois

In popular culture

• Louis XI is a central character in Sir Walter Scott's 1823 novel Quentin Durward, where he is presented as an utter villain, who fatally undermined "the knightly code of chivalry", "ridiculed and abandoned the self-denying principles in which the young knight was instructed" and "did his utmost to corrupt our ideas of honour at the very source".
• In the opinion of Scott, inspired by the 19th-century Romanticism, Louis XI's being "purely selfish" and concerned solely with "his ambition, covetousness and desire of selfish enjoyment" merited his being considered "almost an incarnation of the devil himself", comparable to Goethe's Mephistopheles. Coincidentally, Sir Henry Irving had long-running stage successes playing both Louis XI and Mephistopheles.
• Conversely, 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 an important character in Victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as in most of its film adaptations.
• He 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, Holbrook Blinn, Walter Hampden, and O. P. Heggie.
• In addition, Louis XI is a minor character in the play Henry VI, Part 3, 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.
• A character called the Spider King in Christopher Stasheff's 1994 novel The Witch Doctor goes by different names in different worlds, one of which being Louis XI.

References

Louis XI of France House of Valois Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty Born: 3 July 1423 Died: 30 August 1483
Regnal titles
Preceded by Charles VII	King of France 1461-1483	Succeeded by Charles VIII
	Dauphin of Viennois 1423–1461	Annexation by France