(1) France: Political History and Notable Political and Military Figures

Sources: DK Chronicle, AP World

987 - 996 - Hugh Capet (All Facts)

• First (French) King and Founder of (pre-Napoleonic modern-day) France (French Monarchy)

  • He was the first ruler of France to definitively break with the German language and Frankish culture, and was thus the first ruler of (pre-Napoleonic modern-day) France

  • He was the most powerful of French lords, and was crowned King of France, bringing a new dynasty to power (which would last until the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte)

  • He and his namesake dynasty replaced the preceding Carolingian (and Merovingian, before that) dynasty (his dynasty lasted until the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte) and succeeding Louis V “The Do-Nothing” upon that ruler’s death

  • Upon his assumption to the throne, Duke Charles of Lotharingia (Lorraine) threatened to dispute the namesake’s coronation, claiming right of descent belonged to him

• From Paris, he sought the support of wealthy landowning bishops in the quest for his kingship

  • Despite his recent triumph, he still did not create unity in France, which was divided into numerous effectively independent principalities

  • However, he did establish the dynasty or hereditary male line that would come to politically rule France (as we know it today), and thus was the first King of France in this respect

• He thus reasserted royal authority over the nobility, pope, and emperor

1031 - 1060 - Henry (All Facts)

• 3rd King of France

1060 - 1108 - Philip (All Facts)

• 4th King of France

  • He was nicknamed “The Amorous”

  • He was the son of his predecessor

  • He was placed under the guardianship of Baldwin V, the Count of Flanders at the time

• Under his reign, there was a succession dispute concerning the counts of Flanders

  • When Baldwin VI died, his widow Richilda ruled on behalf of his son as regent

  • However, her rule was opposed by Robert the Frisian, the son of Baldwin V, the predecessor of Baldwin VI

  • Robert the Frisian defeated Arnulf III (backed by Richilda) in the Battle of Cassel

  • The namesake king recognized Robert the Frisian as the new count of Flanders upon his victory

1108 - 1137 - Louis VI (All Facts)

• 5th King of France

  • He was nicknamed “The Fat”

• During his reign, he

  • Granted urban charters to many French towns

• Under his reign, Under his reign, there was a succession dispute concerning the counts of Flanders

  • When Charles “The Good” was murdered as the childless count of Flanders, the namesake king attempted to impose William Clito, son of Robert Curthose of Normandy, but was overruled by the towns who elected Thierry of Alsace

  • When William Clito died in a civil war, the namesake king agreed to the accession of Thierry of Alsace as count of Flanders

1137 - 1180 - Louis VII (All Facts)

• 6th King of France

  • He secured the dissolution of his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine on the grounds of their consanguinity, so Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry of Anjou after

• He led the Christian Crusaders in the Second Crusade along with King Conrad III of Germany

1180 - 1223 - Philip II / Philip Augustus (All Facts)

• 7th King of France

  • He was the first king of France to develop a real bureaucracy

• He led the French forces during the Third Crusade in which he

  • Helped assemble the troops for the Third Crusade along with Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire and Henry II of England

  • Eventually fell ill and abandoned the crusade to return to France

• During his reign, he seized the Vexin, part of the English territory in France

• He and his forces were eventually defeated by Richard Lionheart and his English forces in the Battle of Freteval, in which they lost the previously regained French territory of England

• He confiscated the fiefs of England within French territory including Aquitaine, Anjou, and Poitou from King John of England and granted them to King John of England’s nephew Arthur of Brittany

  • As a result, he and his forces were defeated by John of England and his forces in the Battle of Mirabeau

• He took the duchy of Normandy from John of England

• He and his forces fully conquered Anjou

• During his reign, English barons opened negotiations with him and his son / successor for support against their king John who had annulled the Magna Carta which would have given them more rights and privileges, and thus he and his son / successor resolve to invade England as a result

1162 - 1192 - Hugh of Burgundy (All Facts)

• Led the French Army in the Third Crusade after the death of Philip II / Philip Augustus

1175 - 1218 - Simon de Montfort (All Facts)

• French Knight and Nobleman

  • Before his military campaigns, he was an obscure and minor noble from northern France

  • He eventually became Pope Innocent III’s supreme commander

• He sacked and massacred thousands, including Catholics, in the Massacre of Beziers, during the Cathar Crusade

  • French southerners claimed he had perverted the crusade against the Cathars for his own gain

• Many of the lands he seized in his sweep for heretics in the dioceses of Carcassonne and Albi technically came within King Peter’s fief

• He defeated Raymond VI of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon in the Battle of Muret

  • This left him in unchallenged control of southern France

1194 - 1222 - Raymond VI (All Facts)

• Count of Toulouse

• His conflicts with Pope Innocent III over the Pope’s tolerance of the Cathars led to his excommunication and the beginning of the Cathar Crusade

• A vassal of his had killed Pierre de Castelnau, a Frenchman who was sent by Pope Innocent III to wipe out the Cathar heresy in Languedoc in modern-day southern France

1223 - 1226 - Louis VIII (All Facts)

• 8th King of France

1226 - 1270 - Louis IX (All Facts)

• 9th King of France

  • His mother Queen Blanche of Castile ruled as regent until he was old enough to rule on his own

  • She served as his trusted advisor until her death

• He left on a crusade and disembarked in Egypt in which he took Damietta before advancing onto Cairo

• He and his forces were defeated and he was taken prisoner in the Battle of Mansurah

• He was later freed, having walked to freedom after handing over the keys of the city of Damietta and a record ransom of one million dinars to Turanshah and the Ayyubid Sultanate

• He sent the Franciscan William of Rubruck to Mongke Khan of Mongolia to conclude an anti-Muslim alliance

• Under his reign,

  • The Sainte-Chapelle was constructed and completed

    • It served as the namesake king’s palace chapel and housed the “Crown of Thorns” relic

• During his reign,

  • He annulled the Provisions of Oxford after he had arbitrated the dispute between Henry III of England and the English barons

  • He signed the Treaty of Paris / Treaty of Abbeville with King Henry III of England

    • In it, he gave the Agenais, Saintonge, and parts of Quercy, Limousin, and Perigord to King Henry III of England

      • In return, he received all claims to the Plantagenet fiefs of Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, and Poitou from King Henry III of England

    • This treaty marked a turning point in European politics; leading to new political dynamics, cultural exchanges, and social changes

• On his way to the Eighth Crusade, he died at Tunis

  • Some say on the way to his Ninth and Final Crusade, he died

• He was considered the most powerful and respect monarch in Europe at the time

1270 - 1285 - Philip III (All Facts)

• 10th King of France

  • He was nicknamed “The Bold”

  • He inherited Poitou, the Auvergne, and the county of Toulouse

• Under his reign,

  • Northern and Southern France were unified

• He died and was succeeded by his son and namesake successor

1246 - 1285 - Charles of Anjou (All Facts)

• Count of Anjou, Maine, and Provence

  • He

    • was the younger brother of King Louis IX of France

    • subjugated Piedmont

    • was groomed by Pope Urban IV for the role of papal champion against Holy Roman influence in Italy

    • was elected Senator for life by the Romans

  • He and his forces defeated and killed his namesake predecessor and his forces in the Battle of Benevento

• He was then invested with the crown of Sicily by Pope Clement IV

  • From there, he entered the Kingdom of Naples

• He founded his namesake dynasty in Sicily, of which he was the sole ruler; but which derives from the Capetian Dynasty of France

1285 - 1314 - Philip IV (All Facts)

• 11th King of France

  • He was nicknamed “The Fair” (based on his looks)

• His challenging of the papacy and attack on Pope Boniface VIII ultimately contributed to the Papacy’s decision to move from Rome to Avignon

• Under his reign,

  • The Estates General convened for the first time

    • He called the first Estates General meeting to appeal for national support over a conflict over papal authority

  • The Papacy moved from Rome in Italy to Avignon in France

    • Beginning under the namesake’s reign, French influence over the papacy marked the beginning of the decline in the papacy’s temporal power

• During his reign,

  • The Jews were expelled / banished from France and he confiscated their property in order to seize their wealth

  • He replenished the empty royal coffers by arresting all the Jews and seizing their money

• During his reign,

  • He and his forces fought in the Gascon War against King Edward I and his English forces, which ended with the retainment of Gascony by the English

    • He signed the Treaty of Paris with Edward I, ending the Gascon War

  • He ordered Guillaume de Nogaret and Nogaret’s band of mercenaries to attack Pope Boniface VIII and his palace in the hill town of Anagni in Rome

    • He did this because he had arrested the bishop of Palmiers and Pope Boniface VIII threatened to excommunicate him as a result

• During his reign,

  • He took refuge for three days in the Paris temple when the mob was howling for his blood after repeated devaluations

  • He ordered his officers to arrest members of the Order of the Knights Templar throughout France, a carefully coordinated operation that came as a complete shock to the people, and accused them of sodomy and other vile practices

    • In reality, most considered him doing this to justify crushing the Order of the Knights Templar for financial and political reasons in order to seize the riches of the Order of the Knights Templar

1311 - 1313 - Guillaume de Nogaret (All Facts)

• French Statesman and Minister and “Keeper of the Seal” of Philip IV of France

• He led a band of mercenaries, 300 on horse and 1,000+ on foot to attack the palace of Pope Boniface VIII in the hill town of Anagni near Rome upon which he declared a truce with the pope and had him consider a demand that he renounce the papacy and hand over all treasure, but the pope refused

  • Thus, he and his attackers broke through, finding Pope Boniface VIII seated on his throne, clutching the papal cross

  • While one of his co-attackers Sciarra Colonna insisted on killing the pope, the namesake insisted on taking him to France as a prisoner

1284 - 1325 - Charles, Count of Valois (All Facts)

• Founder of the Capetian House of Valois, which ruled France until 1589

  • He was the fourth son of King Philip III of France

• He and his French troops, called in by the pope, connive at the return of the extreme Guelph faction known as the “Blacks” involved in a power struggle with the moderate Guelph “Whites” in Florence, in the “Whites” fled

• He invaded the Kingdom of Sicily with papal backing, in which he agreed to terms with King Frederick III of Sicily, thus ending the War of the Sicilian Vespers

1314 - 1316 - Louis X (All Facts)

• 12th King of France

  • He was nicknamed “The Quarreler” and "The Headstrong”

1328 - 1350 - Philip VI (All Facts)

• 16th King of France and First King and Founder of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Fortunate”

• He and the royalist forces of the count of Flanders suppressed the Flemish artisan and peasant rebels in the Battle of Cassel during the Flemish Revolt

• He supported King David II (The Bruce) of Scotland against the English during the Second Scottish War for Independence

• During his reign,

  • King Edward III of England declared war on him and his kingdom of France, which essentially initiated the Hundred Years’ War against England

    • King Edward III of England claimed the French throne to be his, despite the namesake’s clear succession to the French throne, from the House of Valois, thus prompting the conflict, which initially was fought over that succession crisis

  • He made the Truce of Esplechin with King Edward III of England during the Hundred Years’ War

    • He was prompted to do this because he was unable to further pay his troops

  • He supported Charles de Blois, the duke’s stepfather to succeed the duke of Brittany after the duke’s death against the nomination of John de Montfort, the half-brother of the duke, by King Edward III of England, prompting the War of the Breton Succession during the Hundred Years’ War

  • King Edward III of England invaded and conquered and took Normandy from him and the French, via the Crecy Campaign and Battle of Crecy, in which the French forces under his rule were defeated by King Edward III and his English forces

• He and his forces were defeated by King Edward III and his English forces in the Battle of Crecy and Crecy Campaign during the Hundred Years’ War

1340s - 1350s - Jean de Vienne (All Facts)

• Governor of the port city of Calais who offered to surrender if King Edward III of England would spare their lives

1350 - 1364 - John II (All Facts)

• 17th King of France and 2nd King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Good”

• During his reign,

  • He instituted the “Order of the Star,” the French equivalent / imitation of England’s “Order of the Garter”

• Under his reign,

  • The Jacquerie Revolt occurred

• Under his reign,

  • Edward the Black Prince of England, son of King Edward III of England, conducted a devastating raid in Languedoc in France during the Hundred Years’ War

  • Edward the Black Prince of England, son of King Edward III of England, organized a great expedition in which he launched a series of raids across Limousin and Berry in southwestern France during the Hundred Years’ War, which he did in order to take advantage of the unrest throughout the French realm at the time

• During his reign,

  • He and his French forces were defeated by Edward the Black Prince and his English forces in the Battle of Poitiers during the Hundred Years’ War

    • After the namesake had surrendered to him, however, in a true act of chivalry, a tradition highly cultivated in England during that time, Edward the Black Prince of England invited the namesake to a banquet where Edward the Black Prince humbled himself by refusing to sit at the same table as the namesake and left with him and his captured booty for London after the banquet

• During his reign,

  • He signed the First Treaty of London with King Edward III of England, in which the namesake was to be held by him until

    • A ransom of 4M ecus was paid by the French to King Edward III of England, who would then release the namesake

    • Extensive French territories were ceded to King Edward III and the Kingdom of England

    • This Treaty triggered the Jacquerie Revolt

  • He signed the Treaty of Bretigny, in which the namesake was released by King Edward III of England, allowing him to return to France

    • However, when he learned that his son Louis of Anjou, whom he had previously agreed to deliver to the English as a hostage, had escaped from the English, he kept his word of honor and went back to London as a prisoner under King Edward III of England

• When his son, Louis of Anjou, who was a hostage in his place after the namesake’s defeat and capture by Edward the Black Prince and his English forces in the Battle of Poitiers, escaped, the namesake returned to captivity in England to uphold his word, hence his nickname “The Good”

  • He died in captivity at the Tower of London upon which he returned

1364 - 1380 - Charles V (All Facts)

• 18th King of France and 3rd King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Wise”

• He denounced the treachery of John IV de Montfort of Brittany and confiscated his duchy

• Under his reign,

  • The Treaty of Guerande was passed

1360 - 1391 - Merigot Marches (All Facts)

• French English-Routier mercenary who operated in the south of France during the reign of King Charles VI of France, ostensibly in the names of the English king and the counts of Armagnac and Foix

• He was tried in Paris and claimed (after being tortured) that he had sworn loyalty to England despite being French

1363 - 1404 - Philip II (All Facts)

• Duke of Burgundy

  • He was nicknamed “The Bold”

  • He was the brother of and ruled under King Charles V of France

• He became Count of Flanders, inheriting Flanders as well as Antwerp, Artois, and Malines

  • He had his daughter married to Louis de Male

• He worked to establish Flanders’ independence from France, but came into increasing conflict with the English, who were expelled from Flanders under his reign

  • The native population of Flanders, who had no share in the bonanza of trade taking place, experienced hardship as a result of the intermittent warfare between Flanders, France, and England during the Hundred Years’ War

• He renewed the Hanseatic League’s trading privileges, ending on the embargo on its trade with Flemish towns

1336 - 1407 - Olivier de Clisson (All Facts)

• Led the French nobility and suppressed the Flemish Revolt during the reign of King Charles VI of France

• He and his forces defeated Philip van Artevelde and his rebels in the Battle of Roosebeke during the Revolt of Ghent

1340 - 1416 - John of Berry (All Facts)

• He was the Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier

• He was brothers with King Charles V of France

• He was a collector of important illuminated manuscripts and other works of art commissioned by him including the “Tres Riches Heures” and “Tres Belles Heures”

• His personal motto was “the time will come” or “Le temps Venra”

• He commissioned the construction of twelve elegant castles

1404 - 1419 - John (All Facts)

• Duke of Burgundy

  • He was nicknamed “The Fearless”

  • He was an ally of the English

  • He ruled under King Charles VI of France

• He had Louis, the Duke of Orleans, murdered

  • He had done this to compete for the French throne given that King Charles VI of France was preventing from governing due to the madness that had overtaken him

  • A deadly struggle thus broke out over the French throne between him and Louis

    • His supporters were known as the Burgundian Party and Louis’s supporters were known as the Armagnac Party and a civil war ensued

• He managed to raise the people of Paris and impose a Burgundian Party reform called the “Cabochien ordinance”

  • However, this utopian measure was overturned by the Armagnac Party as soon as they seized control of Paris

• He allied with the English and seized control of the French government in the name of the French Queen Isabel of Bavaria

  • Upon doing so, the dauphin (eldest son of King Charles VI) Charles (soon to be Charles VII) escaped and set up his base to Bourges, where took the title of regent

  • After a bad-tempered meeting with the dauphin Charles, he was murdered by supporters of the dauphin Charles on the bridge of Montereau and succeeded by his son

1366 - 1421 - Jean II Le Maingre Boucicaut (All Facts)

• French Knight and Military Leader and Marshal of France during the reign of King Charles VI of France

• With western troops, he helped hold Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire against the Ottoman Empire

1380 - 1422 - Charles VI (All Facts)

• 19th King of France and 4th King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Mad”

    • He was nicknamed so because he suffered serious attacks of madness throughout his reign

• He supported the anti-pope (Benedict XIII) at the beginning of his reign

  • He does not accept Henry of Langerstein’s arguments regarding ending the Western Schism and forces him to leave France

  • He was eventually persuaded by the University of Paris to withdraw his obedience to the anti-pope (Benedict XIII), depriving the pope of much of his income

• He was appealed to for help by Louis de Male, count of Flanders, during the Flemish Revolt

• During his reign,

  • He and his forces defeated Philip van Artevelde and his rebels in the Battle of Roosebeke during the Revolt of Ghent

• During his reign,

  • He issued a decree of general expulsion of Jews from France, citing gradual complaints made about them by Christians over time

• Under his reign,

  • The armies of English Routiers and French Echorcheurs, or “Free Companies,” terrorized France

    • With an improved treasury, however, there was no way in which he could mount a royal expedition to clear France of these armies

    • Even so, most local people preferred to pay their ransom to the freebooters and stay quiet rather than complain and face punishment for the crime of paying it

  • He pardoned many of the English Routiers and French Echorcheurs, or “Free Companies,” many of which were bought for cash

• Under his reign,

  • The French were defeated by King Henry V and the English in the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War

• When he died, the dauphin assumed the title of “king of France” as his successor

1412 - 1431 - St. Joan of Arc (All Facts)

• French Military Leader and “Savior of France”

  • Voices had told her that it was the will of heaven that the English should be thrown out of France and that she was in some way to be instrumental in their eviction

• She insisted that Charles VII be appointed King of France to the point where she told the dauphin that he must be anointed with holy oil at Rheims and that after that the English would not be able to stand against him

  • She succeeded in reaching the dauphin near Tours and convinced him of her devoutness and sincerity

• She and her French forces defeated the Earl of Salisbury Thomas Montagu and his English forces in the Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years’ War

  • She and her army were elated, ecstatic, and crusading as they had forsworn swearing and harlots and attended Mass at which they vowed to follow her “voices”

  • In a full suit of armor, this young peasant girl prayed as her victorious army celebrated their defeat of the besieging English

  • This proved to be the turning point in the Hundred Years’ War, in which the French began to win more victories and regain territories they lost to England

  • In this battle, the English army of 5K had initially sought to established a foothold on the Loire River and open up Anjou to occupation

    • However, they clearly failed to reckon with a revitalized, well-disciplined French army, spiritually transformed by the namesake’s voices of conviction

• She was proclaimed the heroine of Orleans and many saw her as an inspired leader, a saint, and/or a mascot of the French people at the time

  • She inspired a new French national unity in support of Charles VII

• She proceeded to play a major role in the attempted recapture of Paris from the Burgundian Party (allied with the English)

  • She initially made a triumphant entry into Paris

  • However, she was wounded and eventually after fighting other minor engagements she was taken prisoner by them and sold her to the duke of Bedford for 10K gold crowns

  • Then, an English escort took her to Rouen, where she faced the hostile questioning of Bishop Cauchon, a Burgundian (also allied with the English), who conducted a secret trial of her according to the rites of the Inquisition

• When confronted by Bishop Cauchon and the English-allied Burgundian Party, she conducted her own defense and stressed her purity and devotion to France, but to no avail

  • The English-allied Burgundian bishops sentenced her to life imprisonment

  • When she continued to wear men’s clothes (possibly because that was all she was given while in prison), this was taken as evidence of her relapse and she was condemned to the stake

  • She was tried and convicted as a witch, due to her having cross-dressed

  • She spent over a year of suffering from inquisition, torture, and imprisonment

  • When taken to the stake in the market square of Rouen in France she was once again condemned and executed by being burnt to death

    • She asked for a cross to be held before her to see through the flames

    • Her last word was “Jesus”

  • Even in her own time, most did not doubt that this was a politically motivated trial and execution by the English-allied Burgundians fighting off the French-allied Armagnacs during the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War

1405 - 1440 - Gilles de Laval / Gilles de Rais (All Facts)

• French Knight and Lord

  • He was one of France’s most respected and beloved knights in his day

  • He was supposedly a man of unassailable piety, a friend to beggars and patron of the arts, having appeared to embody the chivalric ideal

• He was a “Marshal of France” during the Hundred Years’ War

  • He was a commander of St. Joan of Arc’s troops who boasted a 200-strong retinue

• He was an illusion - an embodiment of chivalry on the outside and a depravation of humanity on the inside

  • He was a Satanist who experimented in alchemy and black magic

  • He claimed to model himself upon Caligula, the most perverse and cruel of Rome’s emperors

• He was condemned for the murder and/or rape of 200+ children as well as for sodomy, heresy, apostasy, sacrilege, and violation of clerical immunity

  • Some of these children were abducted and some were sold, often for a dress or a loaf of bread, by impoverished parents

  • Once entrapped by him, they were sodomized and slowly tortured to death

  • It is said that he took pleasure in watching his victims’ agonizing to their slow death

  • Throughout his trial, he professed devout Christianity

  • When he confessed, he claimed to see his impending execution as God’s fitting punishment

  • He was thus executed at Nantes, where he was garroted (strangled by wire) and burnt with two of his accomplices

1422 - 1461 - Charles VII (All Facts)

• 20th King of France and 5th King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Victorious”

  • As dauphin, he

    • escaped from Paris once John, Duke of Burgundy, allied with the English and seized control of the French government there

    • setup his base at Bourges, where he took the title of regent

    • had reconsolidated his power after his supporters murdered John, Duke of Burgundy on the bridge at Montereau

  • On the death of his namesake predecessor, he, as dauphin, assumed the title “King of France” although at that point only had control over Touraine, the Orleanais, Berry, Auvergne, and Dauphine

  • He was not officially crowned King of France (at Rheims) until 7 years into his reign

• Under his reign, The French defeated the English in the Battle of Castillon, thus ending, and being victorious in the Hundred Years’ War

• He promulgated the “Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges,” which limited papal authority over French bishops and gave the king a say in the appointment of prelates

• He created a French standing army free from feudal obligations

1390 - 1463 - Jean Bureau (All Facts)

• French artillery Commander

• He and his French forces defeated John Talbot and his English forces in the Battle of Castillon, ending the Hundred Years’ War

  • He succeeded in drawing his enemy, John Talbot, and his forces, between the namesake’s artillery and the Dordogne River during the Battle of Castillon

1419 - 1467 - Philip III (All Facts)

• Duke of Burgundy

  • He was nicknamed “The Good”

  • He was the son of his predecessor

  • He was allied with France, having ruled under the reign of King Charles VII of France

• He signed a Treaty of Troyes, a perpetual peace with King Henry V of England in which

  • They brought France and England under one crown, following King Henry V of England’s victory in the Battle of Agincourt

  • He agreed that King Henry V of England could marry Catherine of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI of France at the time

  • He believed the agreement would bring “perpetual peace” between the two kingdoms despite the customs and kingdoms being completely separate, the union of the two crowns was to be personal

  • He and King Henry V of England failed to tackle the question of succession as no woman could succeed to the French throne

  • Despite this treaty, King Henry V of England continued to conquer France bit by bit until he fell ill and struggled on for three months until he was too weak to ride his horse

• He signed the Treaty of Arras, in which

  • He ultimately broke off the Burgundian Party’s alliance with the English, thus ending the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War in France

  • However, it led to the expulsion of the English from France

• He established the “Order of the Golden Fleece”

• He was the patron of all woodcarvers, metalworkers, and artists like Jan Van Eyck

• He took the “vow of the pheasant” at a grand feast, by which he swore to fight the Ottoman Turks

1467 - 1477 - Charles Martin (All Facts)

• Final Duke of Burgundy

  • He was nicknamed “The Bold”

  • Turbulent duke who wanted to be a king, a general, and a conqueror and who failed in all three ambitions

  • He was a ruthless commander who modelled himself on Julius Caesar and other great Roman conquerors

• He competed with King Louis XI of France for the French throne

  • He triggered the “War of the Public Weal” against King Louis XI, which forced the king to make concessions to the people that were in his favor

• Under his reign, Louis XI declared war on Burgundy and occupied the towns of Picardy

• In a bid to acquire the title “King of the Romans,” he arranged to meet with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III at Trier, but the emperor gave him the slip and made fun of him; making the namesake the laughing stock of Europe

• He seized Lorraine in response to the Swiss and French seizing the district of Vaud

• When he died, King Louis XI of France invaded Burgundy, France-Comte, and Artois

• He and his forces were defeated by Rene II and his French forces in the Battle of Morat during the Burgundian Wars

• He and his forces were defeated by Rene II and his French forces in the Battle of Nancy, ending the Burgundian Wars

  • After the battle, his body was found naked on a frozen pond, half eaten by wolves, and his skull cloven by a Swiss battle-axe; having been completely unrecognizable and identifiable only by the scars on his body

• After his death, the dukedom of Burgundy collapsed and effectively ended

1461 - 1483 - Louis XI (All Facts)

• 21st King of France and 6th King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Prudent”

• He aided French unification by ending provincial and urban privileges

• He signed an agreement with the league of the “Public Weal,” an anti-royalist alliance of the Houses of Brittany, Bourbon, Burgundy, and Armagnac which ended the “War of the Public Weal” fought against him during his reign that was prompted by the efforts of Charles Martin

• He declared war on Charles Martin, the Duke of Burgundy, thus initiating the Burgundian Wars

  • He thus first occupied the towns of Picardy

  • He then ratified the “Perpetual Peace,” signed by the Habsburgs and the Swiss

    • He thus made an alliance with the Swiss

    • He and the Swiss then opened a military campaign against Charles Martin and Burgundy, having seized the district of Vaud

      • In response, Charles Martin seized Lorraine

  • Upon Charles Martin of Burgundy’s death, the namesake and his French forces invaded Burgundy, Franche-Comte, and Artois

  • However, the namesake’s incursions into Burgundian territories were eventually halted by Maximilian of Austria

  • Eventually, Burgundy was reunited with France, incorporated into it, under his reign, and thus ended as an independent dukedom

• He signed the Treaty of Picquigny with King Edward IV of England

  • He did so after having already bought off King Edward IV of England

• He gained Cerdagne and Roussillon from King John of Aragon

1483 - 1498 - Charles VIII (All Facts)

• 22nd King of France and 7th King of the House of Valois

  • He was nicknamed “The Affable”

  • On the death of his predecessor, he was placed under the guardianship of his elder sister, Anne de Beaujeu

• Under his reign,

  • The French occupied the Duchy of Brittany, and he annulled Anne of Brittany’s marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian of Austria, thus effectively ending the independence of the Duchy of Brittany

  • He made an alliance with Ludovico Sforza and the Republic of Milan which they sought in part to prevent France from exercising a claim to Milan via marriage (of Anne of Brittany, who had ties to Milan)

• During his reign,

  • He signed the Peace of Etaples with Henry VII of England, having learned that the English King was preparing for war against France, in which he

    • Agreed to pay the money due to England in the previous Treaty of Picquigny

    • Promised not to aid anyone who rebelled against Henry VII of England’s rule

  • He signed the Treaty of Barcelona with Ferdinand of Aragon, in which he

    • Returned Cerdagne and Roussillon as they were previously pledged by John of Aragon to Louis XI

• He initiated the Italian Wars

  • He initially entered Rome with the Pope Alexander VI’s consent

  • He invaded and seized Naples (Italy), where his army failed to besiege the city but infected Naples and every country it passed through on the way with the “French Pox” disease

    • He had dreamed of conquering the Kingdom of Naples

    • After much dallying and womanizing, he crossed the Alps and made his way south

    • His entourage included 50K archers, crossbowmen, and other footsoldiers, 36 huge cannons, and several hundred prostitutes; as well as his own baggage train of bedchamber, chapel, chamberlains, cooks, valets, ushers-at-arms, musicians, jesters, jousters, and acrobats

    • After much socializing along the route, he arrived at a castle near Naples where he sent heralds forward demanding its surrender only for them to return without ears or noses

    • In response, he brought his big guns into play, massacring the key city of Naples as it fell

  • After his attempted invasion of Naples (Italy); the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, Spain, Milan, and Venice established a holy league against him in response in order to protect Naples (Italy) from foreign domination, thus igniting the Italian Wars

• He and his forces were defeated by the Italian-Swiss alliance in the Battle of Fornovo during the First Italian War during the Italian Wars

1473 - 1508 - Rene II (All Facts)

• Duke of Lorraine

• He and his forces defeated Charles Martin and his Burgundian forces in the Battle of Morat during the Burgundian Wars

• He and his forces defeated Charles Martin and his Burgundian forces in the Battle of Nancy ending the Burgundian Wars and effectively ending the dukedom of Burgundy

• Encouraged by his defeats, he reoccupied Nancy and called for Swiss and French help against Burgundy

  • When the army arrived while Charles Martin was besieging Lorraine, Martin lost his life and his army to the namesake duke

1498 - 1515 - Louis XII (All Facts)

• 23rd King of France and 8th King of the House of Valois and King of the House of Orleans

  • He repudiated Jeanne of France and married Anne of Brittany instead

  • He later married Mary Tudor, the younger sister of King Henry VIII of England

• During his reign,

  • He and the Valois (France) defeated the Habsburgs (Spain) in the Second Italian War

    • He claimed that he had the right of succession to the Duchy of Milan, and was supported by the Papacy, Venice, Florence, and Switzerland

    • He seized and conquered the Duchy of Milan, with the help of the mercenary Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and his forces

    • He and his forces defeated Ludovico Sforza and his Italian (Milanese) forces during the Second Italian War

• During his reign,

  • He and the Valois (France) were defeated by the Habsburgs (Spain) in the Third Italian War

  • He and the Valois (France) were defeated by the Habsburgs (Spain and the Holy Roman Empire) in the Fourth Italian War

    • He and the Valois (France) defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello during the Fourth Italian War

    • He supposedly summoned a schismatic council at Pisa whose goal was to depose the “Warrior Pope” Julius II

      • In so doing, he lost France’s ally of Maximilian and alliance with the Holy Roman Empire

      • The resolutions passed at this council were declared null and void by the Fifth Council of the Lateran

    • France defeated Spain and the League of Cambrai / Holy League in the Battle of Ravenna during the Fourth Italian War

  • He was forced to negotiate with Pope Leo X following his failure of the campaigns of the Third and Fourth Italian Wars

• Under his reign,

  • Genoa revolted against and defeated France

• During his reign,

  • He imposed a tax on the “New Christians,” the newly converted Jews from the Iberian peninsula

• He died and was succeeded by his nephew

1440 - 1518 - Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (All Facts)

• Italian (Milanese) Mercenary and General under King Louis XII of France

• He and the French forces of King Louis XII seized and conquered of the Duchy of Milan during the Second Italian War

1515 - 1547 - Francis (All Facts)

• 24th King of France and 9th King of the House of Valois

  • Upon his assumption to the throne, he was determined to continue to prosecute Italy over France’s claims to Italy

  • He was at one point a candidate to be Holy Roman Emperor, but he did not get the position

• He and the Valois (France) defeated the Habsburgs (Spain and the Holy Roman Empire) and Switzerland in the Fourth Italian War / War of the League of Cambrai

  • He and his French forces defeated Cardinal Matthias Schiner and his Swiss forces in the Battle of Marignano during the Fourth Italian War / War of the League of Cambrai

    • He initially tried to bribe the Swiss to avoid fighting them, but that approach failed and cemented the legacy of French kings as bad at bribing

    • He thus planned to fight against the Swiss carefully knowing he was forced to fight

    • He negotiated treaties with England, Austria, and Venice

    • He assembled an army of 40K French artilleryman and German light infantry

    • He and his forces crossed the Alps and drove the Swiss back into Lombardy, where he tried but failed to set up a last-ditch negotiation with the Swiss at Gallarate where he demanded the recognition of French claims to Lombardy and Milan and the withdrawal of the Swiss from Italy

  • He signed the Treaty of Fribourg with Switzerland, ending French-Swiss conflict in the Fourth Italian War / War of the League of Cambrai

  • This occurred despite his predecessor having been defeated in the same war by the Habsburgs (Spain and the Holy Roman Empire) and Switzerland

• Under his reign,

  • Leonardo da Vinci was his last patron and was at his court as an honored guest for two years

  • French cod-fisherman in Newfoundland had been harassing English sailors, a complaint from them which was sent to King Henry VIII of England