Marriages of King Louis XII of France

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Anne of Brittany, Joan of Valois, Louis XII of France, Mary (Tudor) of England, Pope Alexander VI

In 1476 Louis of Orléans was forced by King Louis XI (his second cousin) to marry his daughter Joan of France. Charles VIII (son of Louis XI) succeeded to the throne of France in 1483, but died childless in 1498, when the throne passed to Louis XII. Charles had been married to Anne, Duchess of Brittany, in order to unite the quasi-sovereign Duchy of Brittany with the Kingdom of France. To sustain this union, Louis XII had his marriage to Joan annulled (December 1498) after he became king so that he could marry Charles VIII’s widow, Anne of Brittany.

The annulment, described as “one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age”, was not simple. Louis did not, as one might have 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, he had perforce to bring forward other arguments.

Accordingly, Louis (much to the dismay of his wife) claimed that Joan was physically malformed (providing a rich variety of detail precisely how) and that he had therefore been unable to consummate the marriage. Joan, unsurprisingly, fought this uncertain charge fiercely, producing witnesses to Louis’s boast of having “mounted my wife three or four times during the night”. Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft.

Joan responded by asking how he was able to know what it was like to try to make love to her. Had the Papacy been a neutral party, Joan would likely have won, for Louis’s case was exceedingly weak. Pope Alexander VI, however, had political reasons to grant the annulment, and ruled against Joan accordingly. He granted the annulment on the grounds that Louis did not freely marry, but was forced to marry by Joan’s father Louis XI. Outraged, Joan reluctantly submitted, saying that she would pray for her former husband. She became a nun; she was canonized in 1950.

Louis married the reluctant queen dowager, Anne, in 1499. Anne, who had borne as many as seven stillborn or short-lived children during her previous marriage to King Charles, now bore a further four stillborn sons to the new king, but also two surviving daughters. The elder daughter, Claude (1499–1524), was betrothed by her mother’s arrangement to the future Emperor Charles V in 1501.

But after Anne failed to produce a living son, Louis XII dissolved the betrothal and betrothed Claude to his heir presumptive, Francis of Angoulême, thereby insuring that Brittany would remain united with France. Anne opposed this marriage, which took place only after her death in 1514. Claude succeeded her mother in Brittany and became queen consort to Francis. The younger daughter, Renée (1510–1575), married Duke Ercole II of Ferrara.

After Anne’s death, Louis married Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII of England, in Abbeville, France, on October 9, 1514. This represented a final attempt to produce an heir to his throne, for despite two previous marriages the king had no living sons. Louis died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after he married Mary, reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber, but more likely from the effects of gout. Their union produced no children, and the throne passed to François I of France, who was Louis’s first cousin once removed, and also his son-in-law.

June 27, 1462: Birth of Louis XII, King of France

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Charles of Orléans, Charles VIII of France, King of Naples, Louis XII of France, Pope Alexander VI

Louis XII (June 27, 1462 – January 1, 1515) was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the time, Charles VIII, who died without direct heirs in 1498.

Before his accession to the throne of France, he was known as Louis of Orléans and was compelled to be married to his disabled and supposedly sterile cousin Joan by his second cousin, King Louis XI. By doing so, Louis XI hoped to extinguish the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois.

Louis of Orléans was one of the great feudal lords who opposed the French monarchy in the conflict known as the Mad War. At the royal victory in the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in 1488, Louis was captured, but Charles VIII pardoned him and released him. He subsequently took part in the Italian War of 1494–1498 as one of the French commanders.

When Louis XII became king in 1498, he had his marriage with Joan annulled by Pope Alexander VI and instead married Anne of Brittany, the widow of his cousin Charles VIII. This marriage allowed Louis to reinforce the personal Union of Brittany and France.

Louis persevered in the Italian Wars, initiating a second Italian campaign for the control of the Kingdom of Naples. Louis conquered the Duchy of Milan in 1500 and pushed forward to the Kingdom of Naples, which fell to him in 1501. Proclaimed King of Naples, Louis faced a new coalition gathered by Ferdinand II of Aragon and was forced to cede Naples to Spain in 1504.

Louis XII did not encroach on the power of local governments or the privileges of the nobility, in opposition with the long tradition of the French kings to attempt to impose absolute monarchy in France. A popular king, Louis was proclaimed “Father of the People” (French: Le Père du Peuple) in 1506 by the Estates-General of Tours for his reduction of the tax known as taille, legal reforms, and civil peace within France.

Louis, who remained Duke of Milan after the second Italian War, was interested in further expansion in the Italian Peninsula and launched a third Italian War (1508–1516), which was marked by the military prowess of the Chevalier de Bayard.

Louis XII died in 1515 without a male heir. He was succeeded by his cousin and son-in-law Francis from the Angoulême cadet branch of the House of Valois.

From the Emperor’s Desk: Tomorrow I’ll do an indepth look at the three marriages of Louis XII.

June 30, 1470: Birth of King Charles VIII of France.

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Anne of Brittany, Duchy of Brittany, King Charles VIII of France, King Louis XI of France, King Louis XII of France, Kings of france, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Innocent VIII

Charles VIII, called the Affable (June 30, 1470 – April 7, 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He was the eldest son of King Louis XI of France and his second wife Charlotte of Savoy daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne of Cyprus. Her maternal grandparents were Janus of Cyprus and Charlotte de Bourbon-La Marche. Her maternal grandmother, for whom she was probably named, was a daughter of Jean I, Count of La Marche, and Catherine de Vendôme. She was one of 19 children, 14 of whom survived infancy.

Charles VIII, King of France

Prince Charles succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491 when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne’s regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in a conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government.

Charles was betrothed on July 22, 1483 (a month before he succeeded to the throne) to the 3-year-old Archduchess Margaret of Austria, daughter of the Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I) and Mary, Duchess of Burgundy. The marriage was arranged by Louis XI, Maximilian, and the Estates of the Low Countries as part of the 1482 Peace of Arras between France and the Duchy of Burgundy. Archduchess Margaret brought the counties of Artois and Burgundy to France as her dowry, and she was raised in the French court as a prospective queen.

In 1488, however, François II, Duke of Brittany, died in a riding accident, leaving his 11-year-old daughter Anne his daughter by his second wife Margaret of Foix, Infanta of Navarre, as his heir. Anne, who feared for the independence of her duchy against the ambitions of France, arranged a marriage in 1490 between herself and the widower Archduke Maximilian.

Anne of Brittany, Queen Consort of France

The regent Anne of France and her husband Peter refused to countenance such a marriage, however, since it would place Maximilian and his family, the Habsburgs, on two French borders. The French army invaded Brittany, taking advantage of the preoccupation of Maximilian and his father, Emperor Friedrich III, with the disputed succession to Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Anne of Brittany was forced to renounce Maximilian, whom she had only married by proxy in a ceremony of questionable validity and agreed to be married to Charles VIII instead.

Preoccupied by the problematic succession in the Kingdom of Hungary, Maximilian failed to press his claim. Upon his marriage, Charles became administrator of Brittany and established a personal union that enabled France to avoid total encirclement by Habsburg territories.

The official marriage between Anne and King Charles VIII of France was celebrated in the Great Hall of the Château de Langeais on December 6, 1491 at dawn. The ceremony was concluded discreetly and urgently because it was technically illegal until Pope Innocent VIII, in exchange for substantial concessions, validated the union on February 15, 1492, by granting the annulment of the marriage by proxy with Maximilian, and also giving a dispensation for the marriage with Charles VIII, needed because the King and Anne were related in the forbidden fourth degree of consanguinity.

To secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne that René of Anjou had left to his father, Charles made a series of concessions to neighbouring monarchs and conquered the Italian peninsula without much opposition. A coalition formed against the French invasion of 1494–98 finally drove out Charles’ army, but Italian Wars would dominate Western European politics for over 50 years.

Charles died on April 4, 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door at the Château d’Amboise, his place of birth. Since he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his cousin Louis XII from the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois. Louis XII the son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, and cousin Charles VIII.

Louis XII, King of France

When Charles VIII, Anne of Brittany was 21 years old and without surviving children. Three days after her husband’s death, the terms of her marriage contract came into force; however, the new King, Louis XII, was already married, to his cousin Jeanne, daughter of Louis XI and sister to Charles VIII. On August 19, 1498, at Étampes, Anne agreed to marry Louis XII if he obtained an annulment from Joan within a year. Days later, the process for the annulment of the marriage between Louis XII and Joan of France began. In the interim, Anne returned to Brittany in October 1498.

The initial marriage contract with Charles VIII provided that the spouse who outlived the other would retain possession of Brittany; however, it also stipulated that if Charles VIII died without male heirs, Anne would marry his successor, thus ensuring the French kings a second chance to annex Brittany permanently.

If Anne was gambling that the annulment would be denied, she lost: Louis’s first marriage was dissolved by Pope Alexander VI before the end of the year. Anne’s third marriage contract, signed the day of her marriage (Nantes, January 7, 1499), was concluded.

Louis XII and Anne of Brittany left only two daughters, the eldest Claude of France (1499-1524), who succeeded her mother as Duchess of Brittany and later also became Queen consort of France as wife of François I, who was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. François I was first cousin once removed from Louis XIII who was also his and father-in-law.

The Honours of Scotland

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James IV King of Scots, James V King of Scots, James VII King of Scots, kings and queens of Scotland, Oliver Cromwell, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Julius II, Roderic de Borja, The Honours of Scotland

The Honours of Scotland

I wanted to continue my examination of regalia. There are so many more examples of regalia that I like that I will feature more in the coming weeks. This week I wanted to view the Honours of Scotland. Many people know of the crown jewels of England that are sitting in the Jewel House in the Tower of London. However, those are not the only Crown Jewels in the British Isles. Up in the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle are the regalia of Scotland known as the Honours of Scotland. They consist of the Crown of Scotland, the Scepter, and the Sword of State. These three elements also are depicted on the crest of the Royal coat of arms of Scotland. The red Lion representing the King of Scots wears the Crown while holding both the Sword and the Scepter. The regalia in this collection is older than the ones in London.

The Crown of Scotland.

The Crown of Scotland was made in 1540 for James V, King of Scots (1515-1542) and was made from an existing crown built in 1503. The original crown was damaged and falling apart. The King ordered e royal goldsmith, John Mosman to fashion a new crown. The old crown was dismantled and the gold was melted down and used for the new crown. Made from solid gold, the crown has a base that is set with four alternating fleur-de-lis and four strawberry leaves. Four arches that cap the crown are decorated with gold and red oak leaves. Where the four arches intersect at the top of the crown is a a gold monde that is painted blue with gold stars. On top of the monde is a large cross decorated in gold and black enamel and pearls. The crown is bejeweled with 22 gemstones, ranging from arnets and amethysts and 68 Scottish freshwater pearls. James V had included a purple and ermine bonnet from inside the crown but James VII changed the bonnet from purple to red. I personally would like the purple bonnet which has been changed though the centuries as they have worn out. The present bonnet was made in 1993. The crown weighs 3 lb 10 oz.

This crown was used during the reign of James V (he wore it for the coronation of his second wife Mary of Guise the year the crown was manufactured) and subsequent coronations including Charles II as King of Scots in 1651. While the English regalia was destroyed during the Commonwealth period after the abolition of the monarchy in 1649 some resourceful and smart thinking Scot had the regalia buried until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In 1707 the Honours of Scotland were packed away in Edinburgh Castle where they were forgotten for over a century. They were found in 1818 by Sir Walter Scott and since 1819 they have been placed on display in the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle. The crown has been used from time to time on State occasions such as the first opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

The Sword of State

The Sword of Sate was a gift to James IV, King of Scots (1473-1513) from Pope Julius II (1443-1513). The blade of the sword is 4 ½ feet long and carved with the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul along with the name of Pope Julius II. The handle is made of silver is carved with figures of oak leaves and acorns. The sword was broken in half in order to be hidden from Cromwell’s men in 1652 and was repaired afterward.

The Scepter.

The Scepter was also a gift to James IV, King of Scots by Pope Alexander VI (the infamous Roderic de Borja) (1431-1503). The scepter was given as a gift in 1494, and has gone through some renovations and remodeling such as in 1536 when it was lengthened. The scepter is made of silver gilt and contains many Christian symbol, ranging from dolphins which are symbols of the Church, images of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. Also depicted are St. James the Great and St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) holding a saltire. The head of the rod is topped by a finial with polished rock, experts theorize it is a Cairngorm, and a Scottish pearl.

This simple yet elegant collection of regalia is simply beautiful. If ever Scotland achieves independence and shares a monarch once again with England (or perhaps a monarch of their own) I would love to see the crown once again sit atop the head of a King or Queen of Scots.