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 654 LOUIS XI. (FKANCE) LOUIS XII. (FEANCE) from John II. of Aragon, thus preparing the ultimate annexation of Roussillon and Oerdagne to France ; and he had in 1475 concluded with Edward IV. of England the treaty of Pecqui- gny. But above all he had crushed the most troublesome feudal houses ; the count of Ar- magnac fell in 1473, treacherously murdered ; the duke of Alencon was in 1474 thrown into prison, wnere he died; the great constable Louis de Luxembourg, count of St. Pol, deliv- ered up to Louis by the duke of Burgundy him- self, was beheaded in 1475 ; and finally in 1477 Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, met the same fate, after being previously subjected to confinement in an iron cage. By treaties and inheritance Louis secured the rich patri- mony of the house of Anjou, including the provinces of Anjou, Maine, and Provence, be- sides its claims to the crown of the Two Sicilies. He had thus considerably enlarged the royal domain, and prepared the way for the territorial unity of France. More than any of his predecessors, he strengthened roy- al authority and made his government re- spected at home; he had a standing army more numerous than any before in existence, and greatly improved the fortified towns. He tried to give regularity to the civil administra- tion, and in order to secure the punctual trans- mission of orders to all parts of his kingdom, he established in 1464 a permanent service of despatch carriers, which was the founda- tion of the postal system of France. He im- proved the administration of justice, especially by creating three new parliaments, those of Grenoble (1453), Bordeaux (1462), and Dijon (1477). He increased public taxes, but part of the revenue was expended in a way to benefit the nation itself ; he gave particular attention to improving public roads and canals ; fostered the commercial marine ; opened new markets for commerce ; brought skilful workmen from Greece and Italy, and encouraged manufactures and mining. He favored the great invention of the 15th century by establishing printing offices at Lyons, Angers, Poitiers, Caen, &c. ; and contributed to the diffusion of learning by the establishment of universities at Valence, Bourges, Caen, and Besancon. But notwith- standing the services thus rendered to France, and his comparatively mild treatment of the middle classes, he never gained popularity; his craftiness, his perfidious and cruel temper, and his total want of royal dignity, inspired the whole nation with feelings of fear and dis- gust, amounting to unmitigated hatred. He spent his later years at the castle of Plessis-les- Tours, under the absolute control of his physi- cian Cottier ; and shortly before his death he summoned St. Francis of Paula to come to him and intercede for the prolongation of his life. He is said to be at least partly the author of the Cent nouvelles nouvelles, a collection of novels mostly borrowed from Boccaccio, and of the Rosier des guerres. The Memoires of Oomines give the full history of this extraor- dinary prince. He has also been well described in Barante's Histoire des dues de Bourgogne / while Sir Walter Scott in his " Quentin Dur- ward," and Victor Hugo in his Notre Dame de Paris, have portrayed him at two different periods of his life. LOUIS XII., king of France, the eighth of the house of Valois, born in Blois in 1462, died Jan. 1, 1515. The son of Duke Charles of Orleans, and great-grandson of Charles V., he was left an orphan when scarcely two years old, and was educated under the supervision of Louis XL, whose second daughter Jeanne he was con- strained to marry in 1476. He disputed the re- gency of Anne of Beaujeu during the minority of Charles VIII., and succeeded in having him- self appointed lieutenant general of the king- dom by the states general held in 1484. After- ward resorting to arms, he formed a power- ful league among the nobles, and even secured an alliance wiibh Richard III. of England ; but he was defeated at St. Aubin-du-Cormier in 1488, and imprisoned in the castle of Bourges, where it is said he was confined at night in an iron cage. At the end of three years he was released by Charles VIIL, and proved a faith- ful servant to his liberator. In 1494 he accom- panied Charles in his expedition to Italy, and was put in command at Asti. He rashly took advantage of this circumstance to enforce his claims to the duchy of Milan, in right of his grandmother, Valentina Visconti ; but Ludo- vico Sforza defeated his plans and besieged him in Novara. The return of Charles VIII. from Naples and the victory of Fornovo (1495) extricated him from his difficult position, and he returned to France with the king. The lat- ter dying without issue in 1498, the crown de- volved by right upon Louis, now 36 years of age. On his accession, he generously declared that " the king of France would not avenge the wrongs done to the duke of Orleans," and wel- comed even those who had previously opposed him. He gave his confidence to George of Amboise, a "well-meaning but short-sighted minister ; and while their common efforts tended to promote the internal welfare of France, their foreign policy was injurious to it. Louis, having in 1499 obtained a divorce from his first wife, married Anne of Brittany, the widow of Charles VIIL, thus securing the reunion* of that duchy to France. He was now in close alliance with Pope Alexander VI., who had granted the divorce, and he undertook to make good his claims upon Mi- lan. At the head of his army, he achieved the conquest of the duchy in a few weeks, took Ludovico Sforza and sent him a prisoner to France, and assisted the pope and his son Cesare Borgia in their territorial aggressions. He concluded in 1500 a secret treaty at Grana- da with Ferdinand of Aragon, and, sending his army to Naples, shared that kingdom with his ally. But quarrels soon arose between the conquerors, and Gonsalvo de Cordova defeat- ed the French at Seminara, Cerignola, and on