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 88 HISTORY OF FKA.WCE. [ruAr. Peter of Beaujeii. As his health failed, he clung des- perately to life, surrounding himself with astrologers, and all who could seem concerned with fate. His' religion had always been grossly superstitious, and almost fetish- worship of different images of our Lady. He made vows, gifts, and pilgrimages for his recovery, even forcing the Pope to send him a poor, pious, peasant hermit, Francis of Paula, whom he received crawling on his knees ; but the Hermit only told him that kings must die, and that nothing could do him good but repentance, of which he never seems to have seen the need. He died on the 30th of August, 1483, recommending himself to " his good mistress, our Lady of Embrun." Thus, step by step, the dominions of the French kings had been increased by the annexation of the territories of their own vassals, and their kingdom itself had been increased by large accessions from the Empire. France now stood incontestably among the greatest powers of Europe, and was now ready to use its forces in expedi- tions to more distant lands. CHAPTER VL THE ITALIAN WARS. I, Regency of Anne of Beaujeu, 14S3. — ■ Lewis XL left an only son, Cliarlcs Vllf., only thirteen years of age, who was entrusted to the care of his eldest sister Anne, Lady of Beaujeu, a keen, clever woman of twenty-two, whom her father had instructed in all his plans. She could only act through her husband, and there was great jealousy on the part of her brother-in- law, Lewis, Duke of Orleans, who claimed the chief influence as first prince of the blood, though he was too idle and dissipated to attend to business. Anne had the support of Ren(f, Duke of Lorraine, and showed much of her father's skill, though not his cruelty. She dismissed his hated advisers, and released his captives, and made her government generally acceptable.