Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/682

 626 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE into accepting Guienne in place of Champagne and thus separated him by the breadth of France from his Burgundian ally. This brother had previously exchanged the Duchy of Berri for Normandy, so that it is evident that he had no particular attachment to any one locality, nor had any locality much love for him. In 1472 he died so opportunely for the schemes of Louis that the king was suspected of having poisoned him. The next year Louis caught and im- prisoned Armagnac; the year following, Alencon. In 1475 Saint- Pol, who had played fast and loose with both Bur- gundy and France, was captured by Charles the Bold, who annexed his lands, but gave Louis the pleasure of executing him. In 1477 Nemours was beheaded and Louis's numer- ous schemes against Charles the Bold at last bore fruit in the latter's defeat and death at the hands of the Swiss. Louis then attempted to annex various Burgundian prov- inces, but Maximilian had married Charles's daughter and fought for her heritage, so that at Louis's death only the Duchy of Burgundy and the Somme towns were actually in his possession, although other territories were still in dis- pute. Louis also spirited Savoy away from the heirs of his feeble-minded father-in-law. Rene of Anjou (1409-1480), titular King of Naples and Sicily and Duke of Anjou and Maine, after many misfortunes and the loss of his other possessions, had retired in 1473 to his County of Provence and devoted the remainder of his life to art and literature. When he died in 1480 and his nephew, Charles of Maine, died in 1481, Maine and Anjou reverted to the Crown, while Provence for the first time in its history was incorporated in the Kingdom of France. Except for Brittany, Artois, and the County of Burgundy, France had now very nearly reached its modern boundaries, and in 1491 the son of Louis, Charles VIII, added Brittany by marrying its heiress. Artois and the County of Burgundy, however, he ceded to Maximilian to compensate him for having nullified Maximilian's previ- ous marriage by proxy with the same heiress, and for other reasons. Savoy also regained its independence. These very great acquisitions of territory under Charles