Louis XII entering Genoa in 1507. Miniature by Jean Bourdichon

Biography

Early life

Louis was born on June 27 1462, in the Château de Blois, Blois, Touraine (in the contemporary Loir-et-Cher département). The son of Charles, duc d'Orléans and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his father as Duke of Orléans in the year 1465.

In the 1480s Louis was involved in the so-called Mad War against royal authority. Allied with Francis II, Duke of Brittany he confronted the royal army at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, but was comprehensively defeated and captured. Pardoned three years later, Louis joined his cousin King Charles VIII, in campaigns in Italy. He succeeded to the throne on the king's death.

Domestic and foreign policies

Although he came late (and unexpectedly) to power, Louis acted with vigour, reforming the French legal system, reducing taxes and improving government, much like his contemporary Henry VII did in England. He was also skilled in managing his nobility, including the powerful Bourbon faction, which greatly contributed to the stability of French government. In the Ordinance of Blois of 1499 and the Ordinance of Lyon of 1510, he extended the powers of royal judges and made efforts to curb corruption in the law. Highly complex French customary law was to be codified and ratified by royal proclamation.

In an attempt to take control of the Duchy of Milan, to which he had a claim in right of his grandmother Valentina Visconti, Louis embarked on several campaigns in Italy. He successfully secured Milan itself in the year 1499 from his enemy, Ludovico Sforza, and it remained a French stronghold for twelve years. His greatest success came in his war with Venice, with the victory at the Battle of Agnadello in 1509. Things became much more difficult for him from 1510 onwards, especially after Julius II, the great warrior Pope, took control of the Vatican and formed the "Holy League" to oppose the ambitions of the French in Italy. The French were eventually driven from Milan by the Swiss in the year 1513.

Louis also pursued the claim of his immediate predecessor to the Kingdom of Naples with Ferdinand II, the King of Aragon from the House of Trastámara. They agreed to partition the Neapolitan realm in the Treaty of Granada (1500), but were eventually at war over the terms of partition, and by the year 1504 France had lost its share of Naples.

Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes. He had duly earned the title of Father of the People ("Le Père du Peuple"), conferred upon him by the Estates in 1506.

Marriages

In 1476, Louis was required to marry the pious Joan of France (1464?1505), the daughter of his second cousin, Louis XI, the middle-aged "Spider King" of France. After Louis XII's predecessor Charles VIII died childless, Louis' marriage was annulled in order to allow him to marry Charles? widow, the former Queen-Consort, Anne of Brittany (1477?1514), who was the daughter and heiress of Francis II of Brittany, in a strategy meant to integrate the duchy of Brittany into the French monarchy.

The annulment was not simple, however. Described as "one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age", Louis did not, as might be expected, argue the marriage to be void due to consanguinity (the general allowance for the dissolution of a marriage at that time). Though he could produce witnesses to claim that the two were closely related due to various linking marriages, there was no documentary proof, merely the opinions of courtiers. Likewise, Louis could not argue that he had been below the legal age of consent (fourteen) to marry: no one was certain when he had been born, with Louis claiming to have been twelve at the time, and others ranging in their estimates between eleven and thirteen. As there was no real proof, however, he was forced to make other arguments.

Flamboyant Gothic: an equestrian Louis above the main door of the Château de Blois

Had the Papacy been a neutral party, Jeanne would likely have won, for Louis's case was exceedingly weak. Unfortunately for the Queen, Pope Alexander VI (the former Roderic Borja) was committed, for political reasons to grant the divorce, and accordingly he ruled against Jeanne, granting the annulment. Outraged, she reluctantly stepped aside, saying that she would pray for her former husband, and Louis married the equally reluctant former Queen, Anne.

Louis XII occupies an ambiguous position in history, being both a late Medieval and a Renaissance monarch.

After the death of Anne, Louis then married Mary (1496?1533), the sister of Henry VIII, the King of England in Abbeville, France, on October 9, 1514, in an attempt to conceive an heir to his throne and perhaps to further establish a future claim for his descendants upon the English throne as well. He was ultimately unsuccessful. Despite two previous marriages, the king had no living sons and sought to produce an heir; but Louis died on January 1 1515, less than three months after he married Mary, reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber. Their union produced no children.

Children

The Louis XII wing at the Château de Blois

• Claude of France (1499?1524), later married her relative Francis, the count of Angoulême and future King of France.
• Renée of France (1510?75), later married Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.

There were also two boys, who died shortly after birth:

• The elder son, lived and died 21 January, 1508
• The younger son, lived and died 21 January, 1512

Death

Louis died on January 1 1515, and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. Due to the tradition of Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne of France, he was succeeded by his first cousin's son Francis I Valois-Angoulême (who was also his son-in-law), who founded his own line of French kings.

Ancestors

Issue

References

• Baumgartner, Frederic J., Louis XII, New York: St.Martin's Press, 1996. ISBN 0-312-12072-9

• Hochner, Nicole, Louis XII: Les dérèglements de l?image royale, collection «Époques» Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2006 http://www.champ-vallon.com/

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