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LOUIS XII, FATHER OF THE PEOPLE

(1498-1514)

Born in Blois in 1462, Louis XII was the son of Charles d'Orléans and Marie de Clèves. As Duke of Orléans, he had led the opposition to the Beaujeu. When he came to the throne, Louis XII was thirty-six years old.. He took Georges d'Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, as his principal adviser, who, until his death in 1510, remained at the head of the affairs. The king's marriage to Jeanne de France was annulled for non-consummation and Louis remarried Anne de Bretagne, in order to keep the duchy under the monarchy (January 1499). The queen had more influence in this second marriage than in the first and was able to preserve the autonomy of Brittany.. Immediately king, Louis XII had taken the title of Duke of Milan, as heir to Valentine Visconti. He renewed the Treaty of Étaples with England, received the homage of Philippe le Beau for Artois and Charolais (1499) and concluded a treaty with the Swiss cantons to raise troops on the territory of the Confederation.. The king allied with Venice against Ludovico le More. In 1499, the Duchy of Milan was invaded by a French army, placed under the command of the Milanese Trivulce. First taking refuge with Maximilian, Ludovico retook Milan in 1500. At Novara in April the Swiss betrayed the Moor, who was taken and remained a prisoner until his death in 1508. In Milan, a half-French, half-Italian Senate was set up. France helped Caesar Borgia to carve out a duchy in Romagna, it allied itself with Poland, Bohemia and Hungary against the Habsburgs and sent a fleet to the East to rescue the knights of Rhodes. In 1501, the French set out from Milan to reconquer the Kingdom of Naples. Frederick was dethroned, but as early as 1502 hostilities began against the Spaniards. Despite the prowess of the French knights, Naples was lost in 1504 (capitulation of Gaeta). Isabella of Castile having died in 1504, Philip the Handsome, husband of her daughter Joan, took the title of King of Castile. The kingdom of France would find itself caught in a pincer movement between Spain and the remnants of the Burgundian state.. The king, however, pursued his Italian dream. The French army set out from Milan in April 1509. She defeated the Venetians of Agnadel on the Adda in May. Julius II then turned against France, formed a Holy League to drive it out of the Peninsula and brought the Swiss into Italy.. The battle of the French of Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, against the allies took place in front of Ravenna in April 1512. The French were victorious but Gaston remained on the battlefield. Maximilian joined the Holy League the following year. The Swiss put Maximilian Sforza on the throne of Milan. Finally, in Novara (June 1513), they crushed the French. Italy was lost a second time. In the North, Maximilian of Habsburg and Henry VIII were victorious at Guinegatte (August 1513). The Swiss reached Dijon. Anne of Brittany died, François d'Angoulême, heir to the throne, married Claude de France, daughter of Louis XII. Reconciled with Henry VIII, the king remarried Mary of England. This second union was not fruitful and Louis XII died three months later, leaving the throne to his cousin from Angoulême.. A political failure, the Italian expeditions of Charles VIII and Louis XII nevertheless brought France into contact with the Italian Renaissance.. For a century, novelties from the Peninsula would stimulate the French Renaissance.