58 Facts About Louis XI

Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent", was King of France from 1461 to 1483.

Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis XI fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles's greatest enemy.

When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis XI left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom.

However, Louis XI was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny with Edward IV of England.

Louis XI took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy itself and Picardy.

Louis XI died in 1483, and was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII.

Louis XI was the grandson of Yolande of Aragon, who was a force in the royal family for driving the English out of France, which was at a low point in its struggles.

In 1429, young Louis XI found himself at Loches in the presence of Joan of Arc, fresh from her first victory over the English at the Siege of Orleans, which initiated a turning point for the French in the Hundred Years War.

Nevertheless, Louis XI grew up aware of the continuing weakness of France.

Louis XI regarded his father as a weakling, and despised him for this.

Several historians think that Louis XI had a predetermined attitude to hate his wife, but it is universally agreed that Louis XI entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting.

The 12-year-old Louis XI clearly looked more mature than his 11-year-old bride, who was said to resemble a beautiful doll and was treated as such by her in-laws.

Margaret continued her studies, and Louis XI went on tour with Charles to loyal areas of the kingdom.

The beautiful and cultured Margaret was popular at the court of France, but her marriage to Louis XI was not a happy one, in part because of his strained relations with her father-in-law, who was very attached to her.

The uprising failed, and Louis XI was forced to submit to the king, who chose to forgive him.

Louis XI was forced to retreat to Paris, but was "by no means trounced".

Louis XI never acted on pure impulse, without reflection, though to his life's end he was constantly tempted to take such a risk.

In 1444, Louis XI led an army of "ecorcheurs" against the Swiss at the Battle of St Jakob an der Birs where he sought to reconquer territories of his future brother-in-law, Sigismund of Austria-Tyrol.

Louis XI won only one victory before suing for peace.

Louis XI lived mainly in Grenoble, in the tour de la Tresorerie.

In Dauphine, Louis XI ruled as king in all but name, continuing his intrigues against his father.

Louis XI fled to Burgundy, where he was granted refuge by Duke Philip the Good and settled in the castle of Genappe.

Louis XI hurried to Reims to be crowned, in case his brother, Charles, Duke of Berry, should try to do the same.

Louis XI 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 XI suppressed many of his former co-conspirators, who had thought him their friend, and he appointed to government service many men of no rank, but who had shown promising talent.

Louis XI particularly favored the associates of the great French merchant Jacques Coeur.

Louis XI allowed enterprising nobles to engage in trade without losing their privileges of nobility.

Louis XI eliminated offices within the government bureaucracy, and increased the demand on other offices within the government in order to promote efficiency.

Louis XI spent a large part of his kingship on the road.

Louis XI wore rough and simple clothes and mixed with ordinary people and merchants.

Louis XI made a habit of surrounding himself with valuable advisers of humble origins, such as Commines himself, Olivier Le Daim, Louis XI Tristan L'Hermite, and Jean Balue.

Louis XI was anxious to speed up everything, transform everything, and build his own new world.

In recognition of 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 his reforms were in the interests of the rising trading and mercantile classes that would later become the bourgeoisie of France.

Louis XI involved himself in the affairs of the Church in France.

Philip III was the Duke of Burgundy at the time that Louis XI came to the throne, and was keen to initiate a Crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

Louis XI gave him 400,000 gold crowns for the Crusade in exchange for a number of territories, including Picardy and Amiens.

Louis XI joined a rebellion called the League of the Public Weal, led by Louis's brother Charles, the Duke of Berry.

Louis XI fought an indecisive battle against the rebels at Montlhery and was forced to grant an unfavourable peace as a matter of political expediency.

Louis XI gave up many of the lands he had acquired from Philip the Good, turned on his erstwhile allies in Liege and swore to help Charles put down the uprising in Liege.

Louis XI then witnessed a siege of Liege in which hundreds were massacred.

However, once out of Charles's reach, Louis XI declared the treaty invalid, and set about building up his forces.

Louis XI's aim was to destroy Burgundy once and for all.

In 1469, Louis XI founded the Order of St Michael, probably in imitation of the prestigious Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Charles's 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.

Louis XI had an interest in this war, for the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was allied with the Yorkists who opposed King Henry VI.

Now the undisputed master of England, Edward invaded France in 1475, but Louis XI was able to negotiate the Treaty of Picquigny, by which the English army left France in return for a large sum of money.

Just as his father had done, Louis XI spent most of his reign dealing with political disputes with the reigning Duke of Burgundy, and for this purpose he employed the Swiss, whose military might was renowned.

Louis XI had admired it himself at the Battle of St Jakob an der Birs.

Louis XI was thus able to see the destruction of his sworn enemy.

Additionally, Louis XI had his attention drawn away from Italy by disagreements with the rulers of England and his struggles with Maximilian of Austria, who married the heir of Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy, and wanted to keep her territorial inheritance intact.

However, the death of the Duke of Burgundy in 1477, which conclusively settled the issue of Burgundy's position under the French throne, the conclusion of the Treaty of Picquigny with England in 1475 and the peaceful resolution in 1482 of the disposition of the "Burgundian inheritance" left to Mary of Burgundy finally allowed Louis XI to turn his attention to Italy.

Louis XI opened new friendly relations with the Papal States, forgetting the past devotion of the popes for the Duke of Burgundy.

Louis XI was succeeded by his son Charles VIII, who was thirteen years of age.

Eager to obtain information about his enemies, Louis XI created, from 1464, a net of postal relays all over France, which was a precursor to the modern French postal service.

Louis XI 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.

Louis XI was very superstitious and surrounded himself with astrologers.

Louis XI was a secretive, reclusive man, and few mourned his death.