Louis XI

BIRTH OF KING LOUIS XI OF FRANCE

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

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

Louis grew up the apple of his mother's eye, very spoiled in a well-cushioned environment.

His mother, Queen Marie of Anjou babied him far more than any child should be nurtured, and that was probably why they were so incredibly close.

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

Louis proved to be a volatile and extremely smart teenager by the time he was only 13 years of age.

This seemed to have made his father, King Charles VII, 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 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 ~ out of fear that someone might hurt him to get at his father.

Louis spent until the age of 10 years old locked away in that castle, robbing him of his youth and ability to socialize 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 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.

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 the match with hatred.

To make things even worse, King Charles was hiding a secret, and that was the truth about their wealth, the wealth of France.

France was, in actual fact, bankrupt.

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.

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

Not only that, but poor Margaret had another brutal surprise in store for her.

King Charles took a major liking to the young Margaret.

This made Louis want to hate his father, and eventually hate his new bride even more.

The wedding was utterly doomed right from the start.

Their young age was such a matter of concern, that even the medieval doctors asked them to refrain from consummation.

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

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

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

In 1440, things reached an all-time high between father and son and 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 his father, their King, completely backfired.

It ended up with Prince Louis getting beaten to a pulp by his father.

The men behind Louis' movement were not prepared for the magnitude of men who stood with their King.

Charles not only beat his son, but he made a very big mistake.

The mistake was that he forgave his son.

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 Margeret 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 unfased 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.

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

Louis continued trying to get his revenge, and in 1450, Louis got the ulimate 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 execute his next plot of revenge against his father.

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

Again, it was all for selfish gain.

Against his fathers wishes, Louis married Charlotte of Savoy without his father's consent, 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 happened to be only eight years old when they met, and nine when they got married that next year.

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 Charlotte's political connections, 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, the independent rebel Philip, the 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, and everything revolved around the throne, power, claiming 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 drastically.

King Louis VI wanted to have eyes and ears on the ground, just in case anyone was conspiring anything against him.

King Louis XI certainly lived up to his reputation, and his title.

By 1464, he had his very own postal service developed and up and running, and he was very capable of knowing exactly what was going on around the whole Kingdom.

There was no balance in his constant struggle to be in charge.

King Louis XI started consolidating all of France under his absolute rule, doing almost what his father did to him, and to the rest of his country.

After the passing of his fathers enemy~Philip, the late 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, King Louis XI had been curtailing Duke Charles' territories, and it infuriated him in a big way.

This led to a great battle filled with blood, and much brain power behind it.

King Louis XI now became obsessed with destroying Duke Charles of Burgundy.

He made it his life goal to ruin, yet another, Charles.

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 the wrath of God on Duke Charles and his people, forcing Charles to retreat and beg for mercy.

On the 22nd of July that year, 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, things took a turn for the worst, and soon the King of France, King Louis XI himself, stared death in the face.

In the 1470s' King Louis's health took a turn for the worst.

It got so bad that he was unable to ride his horse.

He suffered from severely high temperatures, pounding headaches, and hemorrhoids.

Louis was completely bald by the age of 50, and his years of evil started showing in his face and his body, and it plagued his mind and emotional state.

It was his brain that left first, when he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, and then experienced another one that following year in September 1481.

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

When he suffered that final haemorrhage to his brain, he called for a priest to come and forgive all his sins.

Louis XI 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 is interred with him.

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https://en.redshirtsalwaysdie.com/view/...

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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

Attributed to Jacob de Littemont.