Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/590

 554 FRANCE [HISTORY. tions begin 1488-95. truth, a very remarkable- woman, and history, because she was just and true and successful, has left her on one side, neglected and forgotten. Yet France flourished greatly under her : she solaced the people according to her father s dying wish ; she also with vigorous and triumphant hand overcame the rivalry of Maximilian of Austria, and the selfish opposition of the princes. She it was who enabled Henry of Richmond to seize the throne of England, and to give peace to that troubled realm ; she it was who defeated the allies at the battle of St Aubin du Cormier (1488), thereby asserting the power of France against Brittany ; she it was who compelled Maximilian, in the treaty of Sable&quot;, to close the struggle, and to leave the French monarchy in peace. Finally, it was she who out- manceuvred Maximilian in his wooing of Anne of Brittany, and secured the great prize, the heiress and her lands, for her brother Charles. In 1491 the marriage took place which led to the eventual absorption (in 1515) of Brittany int3 the kingdom of France. After this &quot; Madame la Grande,&quot; as this noble lady was rightly styled, withdrew from public life, leaving the country in a healthier state than it had been in for ages, leaving also to the young king a splendid army and a well-filled treasury. The With her disappearance from the scene, the controlling Italian hand is lost, and France begins the age of her Italian ex- expedi- potions, which, while they introduced her into the general arena of modern politics, and formed the platform on which the rivalry between the houses of France and Austria dis played itself, also influenced the home-life of France dis astrously, and exhausted resources and energies so much needed for the wholesome development of the country. The Italian wars led to the civil wars, and they, in the end, cleared the ground for the despotism of Louis XIV. When the house of Anjou came to an end in 1481, and Anjou and Maine fell in to the crown, there fell in also a far less valuable piece of property the claim of that house, descended from Charles the youngest brother of St Louis, on the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. There was much to tempt an ambitious prince in the state of Italy. Savoy, which held the passage into the peninsula, was then thoroughly French in sympathy ; Milan, under Lodovico Sfor.za, &quot;il Moro,&quot; was in alliance with Charles; Genoa preferred the French to the Aragonese claimants for influence over Italy; the popular feeling in the cities, especially in Florence, was opposed to the despotism of the Medici, and turned to France for deliverance ; the misrule of the Spanish kings of Naples had made Naples thoroughly discontented ; Venice was, as of old, the friend of France. Tempted by these reasons, in 1494 Charles VIII. set forth for Italy with a splendid host. He displayed before the eyes of Europe the first example of a modern army, in its three well-balanced branches of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. There was nothing in Italy to withstand his onslaught ; he swept through the land in triumph; Charles believed himself to be a great conqueror, giving law to admiring subject-lands ; he entered Pisa, Florence, Rome itself. Wherever he went, his heedless ignorance, and the gross misconduct of his followers, left behind implacable hostility, and t unied all friendship into bitterness. At last he entered Naples, and seemed to have asserted to the full the French claim to be supreme in Italy, whereas at that very time his position had become completely untenable. A league of Italian states was formed behind his back; Lodovico il Moro, Ferdinand of Naples, the emperor, Pope Alexander VI., Ferdinand and Isabella, who were now welding Spain into a great and united monarchy, all combined against France; and in presence of this formidable confederacy, Charles VIII. had to cut his way home as promptly as he could. At Fornovo, north of the Apennines, he defeated the allies in July 1495 ; and by November the main French army had got safely out of Italy. The forces left U96 behind in Naples were worn out by war and pestilence, 1501 and the poor remnant of these, too, bringing with them the seeds of horrible contagious diseases, forced their way back to France in 1496. It was the last effort of the king. His health was ruined by debauchery in Italy, repeated in France ; and yet towards the end of his reign he not merely introduced Italian arts, but attempted to reform the state, to rule prudently, to solace the poor ; wherefore when he died in 1498 the people lamented him greatly, for he had been kindly and affable, brave also on the battle-field ; and much is forgiven to a king. His children died before him, so that Louis of Orleans. Lou his cousin, was nearest heir to the throne, and succeeded XII. as Louis XII. By his accession in 1498 he reunited the fief of Orleans county to the crown ; by marrying Anne of Brittany, his predecessor s widow, he secured also the great duchy of Brittany. The dispensation of Pope Alexander VI., which enabled him to put away his wife Jeanne, second daughter of Louis XI., was brought into France by Cresar Borgia, who gained thereby his title of duke of Valentinois, a large sum of money, a French bride, and promises of support in his great schemes in Italy. As a younger man Louis XII. had been idle and dis sipated ; and to the end self-indulgence clung to him, as a Nessus-shirt, eating into his bones. Yet he was kindly and humane to his people, friendly and without revenge or malice, even in the case of those who had done him most mischief. His reign was the reversal of all the princi ples of Louis XI. That prince had avoided foreign com plications, and had sternly repressed his nobles at home : Louis XII. began at once to interfere in foreign politics, and desired to strengthen the great nobles round the throne. The days were good for France, with this cheer ful &quot; pater patrire &quot; ruling over it. He tried to govern with economy and care, and to develop the resources of the country: it is said that one-third of the realm was brought under cultivation in his time. His ministers were men of real ability. George of Amboise, archbishop of Rouen, the chief of them, was a prudent and sagacious ruler, who, how ever, unfortunately wanted to be pope, and urged the king in the direction of Italian politics, which he would have done much better to have left alone. Louis XII. was lazy and of small intelligence; George of Amboise and Caesar Borgia with their Italian ambitions easily made him take up a spirited foreign policy which was disastrous at home. Louis XII. had different aims in Italy from those of Charles VIII. His grandfather Louis had married, in 1 389, Valentina Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo, duke of Milan; and it had been agreed that if the duke had no male heirs, Milan should pass to the descendants of Valentina. This had now taken place; and Louis XII., as Valentina s grandson, claimed the duchy; he also asserted his rights to the Two Sicilies. Utterly as the last Italian expedition had failed, the French people were not yet weary of the adventure, and preparations for a new war began at once. In 1499 the king crossed the Alps into the Milanese, and carried all before him for a while. The duchy at first accepted him with enthusiasm; but in 1500 it had had enough of the French and recalled Lodovico, who returned in triumph to Milan. The Swiss mercenaries, however, be trayed him at Novara into the hands of Louis XII. , who carried him off to France. The triumph of the French in 1500 was also the highest point of the fortunes of their ally Caesar Borgia, who seemed for a while to be completely successful. In this year Louis made a treaty at Granada, by which he and Ferdinand the Catholic agreed to despoil Frederick of Naples; and in 1501 Louis made a second ex pedition into Italy. Again all seemed easy at the outset, and he seized the kingdom of Naples without difficulty;