BIRTH OF KING LOUIS XI OF FRANCE

 

 On this day ~ 3rd July 1423 

 BIRTH OF KING LOUIS XI OF FRANCE 

.

 Louis XI was born on the 3rd of July 1423, in Bourges, Berry, France.

The firstborn and heir to his father King Charles VII's throne, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He grew up spoilt and pampered, the apple of his mother's eye, in a luxurious environment.

 His mother, Queen Marie of Anjou babied him far more than any child should be babied, and they were incredibly close.

Louis and his father, on the other hand, were far from close.

By the age of thirteen, Louis proved to be a volatile and extremely smart teenager.

This seemed to have made his father somewhat terrified of him.

 Louis was not only mean but very temperamental.

He would take his anger out on his father and the two ended up hating each other.

His hatred towards his father, however, went much deeper than this.

With King Charles being so famous and having accumulated many enemies during his reign - as any royal does - he locked Louis up in Touraine castle, for much of his youth.

The king did this out of fear that someone might hurt Louis, to get at his father.

 With Louis locked away in the castle, it robbed him of his youth and ability to socialise with other kids.

By the time Louis was barely a teenager his father also forced him into an arranged marriage to Princess Margaret of Scotland, who was only 11 at the time.

The wedding was utterly doomed right from the start.

 The wedding took place one day after they met for the first time, on 25th of June 1436.

The marriage was somewhat disturbing, as both the bride and groom were dressed-up like children's dolls.

Right after the wedding ceremony was over, King Charles proceeded to kick out all the Scottish guests, due to not having funds to house them after the ceremony.

 The day was a disaster, and Louis and his child bride were miserable.

Louis, to prove a point to his father, made sure to enter his marriage with hatred and a bad attitude.
Poor Margaret!!

To make things even worse, King Charles was hiding a secret.

France was, in actual fact, bankrupt.

When the Scottish family found out about this sad truth, they were horrified, but it was too late, the marriage was done.

 King Charles took a major liking to the young Margaret.
Their close friendship made Louis want to hate his father, and his new bride, even more.

Margaret started to despise Louis, which led to her often taking the side of her father-in-law.

Obviously, this just made everything worse!

 Due to their young ages, the medieval doctors asked them to refrain from consummation.

Louis didn't care much about consummating their marriage as he had other, darker things on his agenda.

Sources confirmed that Margaret also tied her corsets as tight as she could, to avoid getting pregnant.

 In 1440, things reached an all-time low between father and son - all hell broke loose.

16-year-old Louis launched a rebellion against his father, after gathering noble supporters to rebel.

Unfortunately for Louis, this thirst for power and desire to move against the King, completely backfired.
It ended up with Prince Louis getting beaten to a pulp by his father.

 King Charles not only beat his son, but he made a very big mistake - he forgave him.

King Charles was clearly under the impression that his son would back down, but this was very far from Louis' plans.

Louis despised his father now more than ever.

Not only was Louis appalled by his father, but he also resented him for leaving his mother, Queen Marie of Anjou, to run off with his mistress Agnes Sorel.

 When Louis' wife Margaret turned 20 in 1445, she got a terrible fever that inflamed her lungs.

On 16th August 1445, between ten and eleven at night, she passed away.

Seemingly unbothered by his wife's death, Louis carried on as normal.

Nothing else could satisfy Louis more than power.
He was a power-hungry young man who would stop at nothing to get it.

 With such a desire to rule, Louis only made a menace out of himself.

Louis started making scandalous remarks about the Kings mistress, Agnes Sorrel.
His father banished him from court.

Louis continued trying to get his revenge, and in 1450, Louis got the ultimate revenge on his father's mistress-turned-Queen wife, Agnes.

 Agnes, suddenly died.....

Though there is no concrete evidence proving that Louis was behind Agnes' death, many suspected it was due to poisoning by Louis.

Agnes Sorel passed away at the age of 28, when she was pregnant with Louis's half-brother.

 Louis, being single and ready to mingle, went on to exact his next plot of revenge against his father.

This plan came in the form of Charlotte of Savoy, who had a great influence in Italy.

Against his fathers wishes, Louis married Charlotte of Savoy, and in a world of royalty, this was as blasphemous as murder.

Their marriage wasn't even the worst part, Louis seemed to have repeated history when it came to a child bride.

His new wife was only eight years old when they met, and nine when they got married!

 They walked down the aisle in February 1451, and again, his bride was nothing but a powerful chess piece in the royal realms of backstabbing, revenge, and hostile takeovers.

After the wedding, Louis was entitled to everything Charlotte had, which is all he wanted in the first place.

He went right back to being classic Louis, and neglected his wife almost immediately after their marriage.

 In 1456, King Charles VII sent out an entire army to help put a stop to his son's power-hungry, disrespectful, and extremely rebellious tactics.

Louis was clearly scared off by the vast number of men, and fled to the home of his father's greatest enemy, Philip, Duke of Burgundy.

 Finally, Louis got everything he wanted, fought for and killed for, when his father King Charles VII, passed away on the 25th of July, 1461.

Louis showed no compassion for the death of his father.
Everything revolved around the throne, power, victory, and double-crossing other alliances in order to get to the top.

Unfortunately for Louis, his way to the top was as conniving as the soul he possessed, making everyone around him despise him.

 This led to a great deal of paranoia for the newly made King Louis XI, thinking that everyone around him wanted to take him out.

The paranoia soon took its toll on his mental health, and it began to show.

Louis needed to have eyes and ears on the ground, at all times.
Just in case anyone was conspiring against him.

 By 1464, Louis had his very own postal service developed, and up and running.
He now knew exactly what was going on around the whole Kingdom.

He then started consolidating all of France under his absolute rule.

 After the passing of his fathers enemy, Philip, the Duke of Burgundy, his son Charles took over.

The new Duke came to town, and was definitely not there to make friends.

For many years, Louis had been curtailing Duke Charles' territories, and it infuriated him in a big way.

Louis became obsessed with destroying Duke Charles of Burgundy.
This led to a great battle filled with much bloodshed.

 By 1472 King Louis XI released all wrath and fury on Duke Charles.
He came at him with all his might at full force, anger blazing.

It was utter chaos as King Louis XI laid siege to a smattering of towns.

He unleashed all his wrath on Duke Charles and his people, forcing Charles to retreat and beg for mercy.
Duke Charles begged for King Louis' forgiveness and swore his obedience to the King.

 With so many years of brutality and bitterness locked inside his body, soon the King of France stared death in the face.

In the 1470s' King Louis's health took a turn for the worst.
He suffered from severely high temperatures, pounding headaches, and hemorrhoids.

 By the age of 50, his years of evil started showing in his face and his body, and plagued his mind and emotional state.

It was his brain that left him first, when he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage.

King Louis XI was no longer the threat, he imposed on all of those who crossed paths with him.

 When he suffered a second cerebral haemorrhage, he called for a priest to come and forgive all his sins.

Louis knew that death was near, and after the priest performed his ceremony, King Louis XI died.

He passed away on the 30th of August 1483.

Louis was interred in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Cléry.

His widow, Charlotte, died a few months later, and was interred with him.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)
.

 Source - redshirtsalwaysdie. com

.

 Louis XI wearing his Collar of the Order of St Michael c. 1469

Attributed to Jacob de Littemont.