The independence of the duke of Burgundy greatly influenced the personality of Louis XI from the time his father Charles VII was king, Louis intrigued with his father and he was sent off to the province of Dauphine and took refuge with Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who received him eagerly. The Death of Charles VII was a result of the poison that was convinced to have been done by his son who was under the refuge of the duke of Burgundy. It is possible that his “good uncle” assisted the son to kill his father because after Charles VII died, Louis XI made his entry into Paris and he was accompanied by his “good uncle” the duke of Burgundy, and immediately on arrival, he dismissed his father’s counselors, only to recall the best of them once his first wave of anger had passed. Even before he took over from his father Charles VII he had defied him by marrying the daughter Duke of Savoy against his father’s loyal will. Because of the influence, he made an achievement as the first modern ruler to be sensitive to economic realities (Calmette 1963: pp.87-98)
Louis XI’s methods; Louis XI was of a composed character, during the battlefield, he preferred to negotiate with his enemies rather than confront them, and in case he would not win the enemies he would try to immobilize them by secret maneuvers, trickery, and even corruption. The network of his secret intrigues, spread throughout Europe which made him a “universal spider” as he was referred to by Charles the Bold. He dismissed his father’s counselors, he was the firm sole master, and he even distrusted the great lords and treated them harshly. Louis XI had constable St. Pol beheaded and cardinal Balue imprisoned in an iron cage and showed great confidence in a small number of associates of lower-class origin like his doctor, Coitier his barber, Olivier le Dain, and Tristan the Hermit, who was the head of a special tribunal charged with summarily judging the king’s enemies. His main concern was to expand taxable wealth and as a result, he took certain measures to encourage trade and industry by encouraging English merchants to return to Bordeaux, tried to secure the Levant trade, sent trade missions abroad, established affairs, and introduced the silk industry to Lyons and Tours www.titeu.com: pp.87-98).
The Salic law; during the Burgundian succession, inheritance fell to Mary, the only child as a result of the great struggle. At this time Louis XI was in a good position, but because of the indecent haste with which he acted, it compromised his efforts, as he hurriedly sought to have Mary marry his son but he was too young and as a result, he seized the duchy of Burgundy, Picardy, and Artois without waiting. But Mary instead gave her hand to Maximiclian of Hapsburg, however, Mary’s accidental death as a result of war made Louis XI retain Picardy and the duchy of Burgundy. At the end, France also received Franc he-Comte and Artios (Calmette 1963: pp.98-106).
Louis XI was succeeded by his cousin Louis XII, who was also caught up in the Italian mirage although his internal government showed some merit. When he took over he hastened to annul the unnatural marriage that had cynically compelled him to marry his own daughter Joan who was a poor little hunchback. He then hurriedly married Anne of Brittany, according to the agreement she had made before she married Charles. As a result of this marriage, their only daughter, Claudia, was destined to wed the heir to the throne, the duke of Angoluene, the future Francis I, and therefore the dutchy of Brittany entered the kingdom permanently and without any tremor. In addition, his reign was a good fortune since it coincided with a period of strong economic growth (www.titeu.com:pp.87-98).
Bourgeois; during the reign of Francis I, humanists and writers enjoyed a constant favor, because publications were prepared and printed rapidly by the Estienne family of humanist scholars and master printers. As a result the royal library, directed by the great scholar Guillaume Bude, was very large since printers were required to send a copy of each of their publications. As a result of this, he exercised a decisive influence on the spread of Italian art in France because he instated a college of royal lecturers where new subjects like Hebrew, Greek, Latin philology were taught.
Francis I’s royal; no opposition was able to develop for a man who might be all-powerful. All Estates-General were rebuked even the parlements. In addition, he impoverished and gradually displaced them from their local functions by acts of royal bureaucrats and the nobles had to rely on the king’s largess, and they congregated at court, and he turned to the immense fortune of the clergy in order to domesticate them. Although strong, tall vigorous, and brave in battle, he was impulsive and tickle, who easily bored by serious affairs of state at the same time he displayed a lot of egotism that no one would help to strengthen royal authority, and he couldn’t bear to have his wishes thwarted by anyone(www.titeu.com:pp.98-106). His royal treasury was wasted in feeding his appetite for pleasure and luxury and in the end, he exhausted his subjects by excessive demands for money. He was a womanizer and had official mistresses.
Francis I and Charles V. of Austria; their main problem of politics was the struggle against the predominance of the house of Astria, due to a series of successions that had bestowed the territorial inheritance of four monarchies on the young prince Charles, born in 1500. However, the inevitable conflict arose from geographical and historical issues, and this was poisoned by the personal dislike between them, for Charles was cold, vengeful methodical, and austere while Francis I was lively, generous, tickle, and prodigal (www.titeu.com:pp.106-125).
Protestantism; Protestantism as a result of Luther’s work in France in 1520, with the first French translation produced in 1526 by Louis Bergain. It spread on urban areas basically and gained access to social classes and to the printed word: jurists, doctors, teachers, city nobles, and middle-class professionals. It is, however, difficult to measure how it spread, because there were no publicly organized groups and many first protestants continued to attend Catholic churches. But an important change affected the social composition of French Protestantism; Nobles flocked in large numbers and among them, two princes of royal blood, the Anthony of Bourbon, king of Navarre and his brother Louis, the Prince of Conde, Plus the three high placed nephews of the powerful constable monarchy; the massive shift of the nobles to Protestantism, brought the newly organized reformed church the dynamic element that made it a political party, that was a virtual state within a state (www.titeu.com:pp.106-125).
Struggle for Henry of Navarre; The first struggle for him, he was ill, and he, therefore, went in person to direct the siege operations for two months. Although he resisted all assaults his imperial army’s strength was drained away by disease and supply problems and on January 1, 1553, it finally beat a retreat, having lost two-thirds of its effectiveness. His success lied after he formed an alliance with Francis I.
Role of Catherine de Medicis; Catherine de Medicis was indifferent in matters of religion yet was so much given to magicians and astrologers, she was also exceptionally intelligent and cultivated woman realistic and unscrupulous in keeping with the teachings of her fellow Italian Niccolo Machiavelli, she had preservation of royal power which was what she all cared for since she had no morality than the preservation of royal power
The main suppressions of the Protestants were subjections to the massacre, which was intended to eliminate them because the royal family was in mortal danger and they would only be saved by the elimination of all Protestants leaders in the city. This made many Protestants abjure their faith under the thread of Death, among was the young King of Narvare Henry of Bourbon (www.titeu.com: pp.87-225).
Work cited
Calmette, J. (1963). The Golden Age of Burgundy: The Magnificent Dukes and their court; 87-125