Valois Dynasty

Philippe VI, the Fortunate 1328-1350

Philippe VI, the Fortunate, (1293 – August 22, 1350) was King of France from 1328 to 1350. He was the son of Charles of Valois and would become the first king of the Valois Dynasty.

In 1328, King Charles IV of France died without a direct descendant. Philippe was one of the two chief claimants to the throne along with King Edward III of England whose mother, Isabella of France, was the late King Charles’ sister. Philippe ascended to the crown based on Salic law which forbade females and those descended in the female line to succeed to the throne. He was crowned on May 27, 1328 at the Cathedral in Reims.

In July, 1313, Philippe VI married Jeanne of Burgundy. In an ironic twist to his ascendancy to the throne, the intelligent, strong-willed Jeanne was said to be the brains behind the throne and the real ruler of France.

Their children were:

1. Jean II (April 26, 1319 – April 8, 1364)
2. Marie (1326 – 1333)
3. Louis (January 17, 1328 – January 17, 1328)
4. Louis (June 8, 1330 – June 23, 1330)
5. Jean (1333 – 1333)
6. Philippe (1336 – 1375)
7. Jeanne (1337 – 1337)

After Jeanne died in 1348, Philippe VI married Blanche d’Evreux on January 11, 1350. They had one daughter: Jeanne (1351 – 1371).

The reign of Philippe VI was punctuated with crises, many of which were the result of defeats on the battlefield, in particular at the Battle of l’Ecluse in 1340 and again at Crécy in 1346. In 1348 the bubonic plague struck, killing one-third of the entire population. The labor shortage caused inflation to soar and the king attempted to fix prices, further de-stabilizing the country. On his death, France was still very much a divided country filled with social unrest.

King Philippe VI died at Nogent-le-roi, Eure-et-Loir on August 22, 1350 and is interred with his wife, Blanche de Navarre (1330 – 1398) in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by the son of Jeanne of Burgundy, Jean II.

Jean II, the Good 1350-1364

Jean II the Good (Jean le Bon) (April 16, 1319 – April 8, 1364) was a King of France (1350 – 1364) and a member of the Valois Dynasty. He was the son of Philippe VI of France and Jeanne of Burgundy.

On July 28, 1332, at the age of 13, he was married to Bona (Bonne) of Luxemburg (May 20, 1315 – September 11, 1349), daughter of John the Blind of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia.

Their children were

1. Charles V le Sage (January 21, 1338 – September 16, 1380)
2. Philippe II (January 17, 1342 – April 27, 1404)
3. Jeanne (June 24, 1343 – November 3, 1373)
4. Louis (July 23, 1339 – September 20, 1389)
5. Isabelle (October 1, 1348 – September 11, 1372)
6. Jean de Berry (November 30, 1340 – June 15, 1416)
7. Marie (September 12, 1344 – October, 1404)
8. Agnès (1345 – 1349)
9. Marguerite (1347 – 1352)

He was crowned King of France in 1350 in the cathedral at Reims. As king, Jean surrounded himself with poor administrators, preferring to enjoy the good life his wealth as king brought. The men he relied on to administer his kingdom were brutal thieves but eventually King Jean changed.

In the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 against Edward, the Black Prince (son of King Edward III of England), Jean suffered a humiliating defeat and was taken as captive back to England. While negotiating a peace accord, he was at first held in the Savoy Palace, then at Windsor, Hertford, Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire and finally in the Tower of London. As a prisoner of the English, the King of France was granted royal privileges, permitted to travel about, and to enjoy a regal lifestyle. A local tradition in St Albans is that he was also held in a house in that town, at the site of the 15th century Fleur de Lys inn, before he was taken to Hertford Castle. There is a sign on the inn to that effect, but apparently no evidence to confirm the tradition

The treaty of Brétigny signed in 1360 set his ransom at 3,000,000 crowns. In keeping with the honor between himself and the English King Edward III, and leaving his son Louis of Anjou in English-held Calais as a replacement hostage, Jean was allowed to return to France to raise the his ransom funds.

While King Jean tried to raise the money, his son, accorded the same royal dignity, easily escaped from the English. An angry King Jean, believing his son had broken royal honor, and unable to raise his ransom, surrendered himself again to the English. He arrived in England in early 1364, looked upon by ordinary citizens and English royalty alike with great admiration. Accordingly, he was held as an honored prisoner in the Savoy Palace but died a few months later.

King Jean died in London in 1364 and his body was returned to France, where he was interred in the royal chambers at Saint Denis Basilica.

Charles V, the Wise 1364-1380

Charles V (January 31, 1338 – September 16, 1380), called the Wise, was king of France (1364 to 1380) and a member of the Valois Dynasty.

Born at Vincennes, Ile-de-France, France, son of King Jean II and Bonne of Luxembourg.

He was the first French heir to use the title dauphin after the region of Dauphine was acquired by his father. He was crowned King of France in 1364 at the cathedral at Reims, France.

His reign was marred by the Hundred Years’ War, but Charles’ army scored some victories and defeated the army of the King of Navarre. Despite the influence of his advisor, Philippe de Mézières, he declined to be drawn into a crusade. Nonetheless, dissatisfaction with his rule was such that at one point the Mayor of Paris, Etienne Marcel, led a revolt against Charles that forced the king to flee the city.

This matter was resolved but to protect Paris from the English, Charles V rebuilt the Left Bank wall and built a new wall on the Right Bank that extended to a new fortification called the Bastille. A strong supporter of the arts, Charles had the Louvre restored and improved and in 1367 created the first royal library in France.

Charles V died on September 16, 1380 at Beauté-sur-Marne, France and was interred with his wife, Jeanne de Bourbon in Saint Denis Basilica

Charles VI, the Well-Beloved 1380-1422

Charles VI (December 3, 1368 – October 21, 1422) was a King of France (1380 – 1422) and a member of the Valois Dynasty.

He was born in Paris, the son of King Charles V and Jeanne de Bourbon. At the age of eleven, he was crowned King of France in 1380 in the cathedral at Reims. Until he took complete charge as king in 1388, France was run by his uncle, Philip the Bold.

Charles VI was known both as Charles the Mad and as Charles the Well Beloved, since, beginning in his mid twenties, he experienced bouts of psychosis. These fits of madness would occur periodically for the rest of his life. Doctors today believe, based on his ups and downs, that he may in fact have suffered from bipolar disorder.

He married:

Isabeau de Bavière (1371-September 24, 1435) on July 17, 1385.

Children:

1. Charles (September 26, 1386 – December 28, 1386)
2. Jeanne (June 14, 1388 – 1390)
3. Isabella of Valois (November 09, 1389 – September 13, 1409), married Richard II of England
4. Jeanne (January 24, 1391 – September 27, 1433), married John VI, Duke of Brittany
5. Charles (February 06, 1392 – January 13, 1401)
6. Marie (August 24, 1393 – August 19, 1438), an abbess
7. Michèle (January 11, 1395 – July 08, 1422)
8. Louis, Duke of Guyenne (January 22, 1396 – December 18, 1415), married Marguerite of Burgundy
9. Jean, Duke of Touraine (August 31, 1398 – April 04, 1417), married Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut
10. Catherine (October 27, 1401 – January 03, 1437), married Henry V of England and Owen Tudor
11. King Charles VII (February 22, 1403 – July 21, 1461)
12. Philippe (November 10, 1407 – November 10, 1407)

Charles VI’s reign was marked by the continuing war with the English (the Hundred Years’ War), culminating in 1415 when the French army was defeated at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1420, Charles signed the Treaty of Troyes which recognized Henry V of England as his successor and meant his own son could not succeed him. Many citizens, including Joan of Arc, believed that the king only agreed to such disastrous and unprecedented terms, under the mental stress of his illness and that as a result France could not be held to them.

Charles VI died in 1422 at Paris and is interred with his wife, Isabeau de Bavière in Saint Denis Basilica.

Charles VII, the Victortius 1422-1461

Charles VII (February 22, 1403 – July 22, 1461) was king of France from 1422 to 1461, a member of the Valois Dynasty.

Born in Paris, Charles was the eldest surviving son of Charles VI of France and Isabeau de Bavière. On the death of his father in 1422, the French throne did not pass to Charles but to his infant nephew, King Henry VI of England in accordance with his father’s Treaty of Troyes signed in 1420. The English right to the throne of France was part of the Treaty in an effort to put an end to the war that had been raging for decades. Under the Treaty, King Henry of England ruled Northern France through a regent in Normandy and southern France by the Dauphin Charles from his fortified castle at Chinon.

Without any organized French army, the English strengthened their grip over France until March 8, 1429 when Joan of Arc, claiming divine inspiration, urged Charles to declare himself king and raise an army to liberate France from the English.

One of the important factors that aided in the ultimate success of Charles VII wasthe support from the powerful and wealthy family of his wife Marie d’Anjou (1404-1463). Despite whatever affection he had for his wife, the great love of Charles VII’s life, was his mistress, Agnès Sorel.

After the French won the Battle of Patay, Charles was crowned king Charles VII of France on July 17, 1429, in Reims Cathedral. Following this, king Charles VII recaptured Paris from the English and eventually all of France with the exception of the northern port of Calais.

While Charles VII’s legacy is far overshadowed by the deeds and eventual martyrdom of Joan of Arc, he did something his predecessors had failed to do by creating a strong army and uniting most of the country under one French king. He established the University of Poitiers in 1432 and his policies brought some economic prosperity to the citizens. Although his leadership was sometimes marked by indecisiveness, hardly any other leader left a nation so much better improved than when he came on the scene.

King Charles VII died on July 22, 1461 at Mehun-sur-Yèvre, but his latter years were marked by an open revolt by his son who succeeded him as Louis XI.

Louis XI 1461-1483

Louis XI (July 3, 1423 – August 30, 1483) was a King of France (1461 – 1483). He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou. He was a member of the Valois Dynasty and was one of the most successful kings of France in terms of uniting the country. His 22-year reign was marked by political machinations, resulting in his being given the nickname of the “Spider King”.

Born at Bourges, Cher, Louis despised his father and attempted to depose him on several occasions. However, it was only on his father’s death in 1461 that he was able to take the throne.

His marriage on June 24, 1436 to Margaret, daughter of King James I of Scotland, gave Louis XI an interest in English affairs, and he schemed to restore King Henry VI of England and his Lancastrian heir to the throne – partly because his arch-enemy, Charles the Bold of Burgundy was allied with the Yorkists. Louis gained the upper hand in his feud with Charles, and brought about his death in 1477. A candid account of some of Louis’ activities is given by the courtier, Philippe de Commines, in his Memoires of the period.

King Louis XI married strategically a second time on February 14, 1451 to eight-year-old Charlotte of Savoy (1445- December 1, 1483). Their marriage would not be consummated until she was fourteen and their children were:

1. Anne (April, 1461 – November 14, 1522)
2. Jeanne (April 23, 1464 – February 4, 1505)
3. Charles VIII (June 30, 1470 – April 8, 1498)

By war, by cunning and with sheer guile, Louis XI overcame France’s feudal lords and at the time of his death in the chateau at Plessis-lez-Tours, he had united France and laid the foundations of a strong monarchy.

Louis XI was a superstitious man who surrounded himself with astrologers. Interested in science, he once pardoned a man sentenced to death on condition that he serve as a guinea pig in a gallstone operation.

Charles VIII , the Affable 1483-1498

On December 6, 1491 Charles married Anne de Bretagne, heiress to the duchy of Brittany, in an elaborate ceremony at Chateau Langeais. The fifteen-year-old Duchesse Anne, not happy with the politically arranged marriage, arrived for her wedding with her entourage carrying two beds. However, Charles’s marriage brought him independence from his relatives, and thereafter he managed affairs according to his own inclinations. Queen Anne would live at the Clos Lucé in Amboise.

Having inherited a vague claim to the kingdom of Naples through his paternal grandmother, Marie of Anjou (1404 – 1463), and encouraged by Ludovico Sforza of Milan, he imagined himself capable of seizing that realm, and he thereupon set France’s resources toward that goal – starting the Italian Wars. He contracted several unfavourable treaties with Austria, England, and Aragon, in order to free himself of distractions, and then commenced a massive buildup of forces.

He entered Italy in 1494, and marched across the peninsula, reaching Naples on February 22, 1495. Crowned king of Naples, he then found himself the subject of an opposing coalition from the League of Venice, involving that republic with Austria, the Papacy, and Ludovico Sforza of Milan. Defeated at Fornovo in July 1495, he escaped to France at the cost of the loss of most of his forces.

He attempted in the next few years to rebuild his army, but was hampered by the serious debts incurred by the previous one – he never succeeded in recouping anything substantive. He died two-and-a-half years after his retreat, of an accident – striking himself on the head while passing through a doorway, he succumbed to a sudden coma several hours later.

Charles bequeathed a meagre legacy – he left France in debt and in disarray as a result of an ambition most charitably characterized as unrealistic. On a more positive side, his expedition did broach contacts between French and Italian humanists, energizing French art and letters in the latter Renaissance.

Charles proved the last of the elder branch of the House of Valois, and upon his death at Amboise the throne passed to a cousin, the duc d’Orleans, who reigned as King Louis XII of France.

Louis XII, the Father of His People 1498-1515

Louis XII, father of the people (June 27, 1462 – January 1, 1515) was King of France from 1498-1515, the last French king from the Orleanist branch of the Valois Dynasty.Louis-XII of the Valois Dynasty

Born Louis d’Orléans in the Royal Chateau Blois on June 27, 1462, son of Charles, duc d’Orleans, Louis was required by royal command to marry Jeanne, the daughter of his second cousin King Louis XI.

Later, he was part of a rebellion against King Charles VIII of France and was imprisoned from 1487 to 1490. After regaining the King’s trust, he led some troops in Charles’ invasion of Italy. He ascended to the throne when Charles VIII died childless; Louis had the Pope annul the marriage to Jeanne so that he could marry Charles’ widow, Queen Anne de Bretagne (1477-1514). This marriage had nothing to do with love, but was a strategy designed to securely link her region of Brittany to Louis’ kingdom of France.

Louis XII proved to be a popular king, introducing reforms in the judicial system and reducing taxes. These reforms and his caring nature earned him the epithet Father of the People. However, like his predecessor, he led several invasions of Italy. He successfully secured Milan in 1500, and then partitioned the Kingdom of Naples with Ferdinand of Aragon.

Soon the two partitioning powers fell out with one another, and Spanish forces led by Hernandez Gonzalo de Cordoba drove the French from Southern Italy. The French grip on Milan remained strong, however, until 1511 when Pope Julius II formed the Holy League to oppose French ambition in Italy. The French were driven from Milan by the Swiss in 1513. In an attempt to divert English troops from the war, he encouraged the Scots to attack the English, leading the Scots to disaster at the Battle of Flodden Field.

After his wife Anne’s death in 1514, a deal was struck with King Henry VIII of England, and 52-year-old King Louis married King Henry’s 18-year-old sister, Mary Tudor (1496-1533), on October 9, 1514.

Less than three months later, Louis XII died on January 1, 1515 and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica.

François I — 1515-1547

Francis I (François I in French) (September 12, 1494 – July 31, 1547) was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547.

Francis I, a member of the Valois Dynasty, was born at Cognac, Charente, the son of Charles d’Angoulême (1459 – January 1, 1496) and Louise of Savoy (September 11, 1476 – September 22, 1531).

Francis is considered to be France’s first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances. He was a contemporary of King Henry VIII of England, his great rival.

When young Francis ascended the throne in 1515 he was a king with unprecedented humanist credentials. While his two predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, had spent much of their reigns concerned with Italy they did not much embrace the new intellectual movements coming out of it.

Both monarchs continued in the same patterns of behaviour that had dominated the French monarchy for centuries. They were the last of the medieval French monarchs, but they did lay the groundwork for the entry of the Renaissance into France.Francis1 of the Valois Dynasty

Contact between the French and Italians in the long running series of wars under Charles and Louis had brought new ideas to France by the time the young Francis was receiving his education. Thus a number of his tutors, such as Desmoulins, his Latin instructor, and Christophe de Longeuil were schooled in the new ways of thinking and they attempted to imbue Francis with it.

Francis’ mother also had a great interest in Renaissance art, which she passed down to her son. One certainly cannot say that Francis received a humanist education; most of his teachers had not yet been affected by the Renaissance. One can, however, state that he clearly received an education more oriented towards humanism than any previous French king.

By the time Francis ascended the throne in 1515 the Renaissance had clearly arrived in France, and Francis was an important supporter of the change. Francis became a major patron of the arts. He lent his support to many of the greatest artists of his time and encouraged them to come to France.

Some did work for him, including such greats as Andrea del Sarto, and Leonardo da Vinci, who Francis convinced to leave Italy in the last and least productive part of his life. While Leonardo did little painting in his years in France, he brought with him many of his great works, such as the Mona Lisa, and these stayed in France upon his death.

Other major artists who Francis employed include the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, and the painters Rosso and Primaticcio, all of whom were heavily employed in decorating Francis’ various palaces. Francis employed a number of agents in Italy who endeavoured to procure artworks by Italian masters such as Michelangelo, Titian, and Raphael and ship them to France.

These agents had some notable successes, even if plans to try to move Leonardo’s Last Supper to France proved impractical. When Francis ascended the throne the royal palaces were decorated with only a scattering of great paintings, and not a single piece of sculpture either ancient or modern. It is during Francis’ reign that the magnificent art collection of the French kings that can still be seen in the Louvre was truly begun.

Francis was also renowned as a man of letters. When Francis comes up in a conversation among characters in Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier, it is as the great hope to bring culture to the war-obsessed French nation. Not only did Francis support a number of major writers of the period, he was a poet himself, if not one of immense quality. Francis worked hard at improving the royal library.

He appointed the great French humanist Guillaume Budé as chief librarian, and began to expand the collection. Francis employed agents in Italy looking for rare books and manuscripts, just as he had looking for art works. During his reign the size of the library increased greatly. Not only did Francis expand the library, there is also, according to Knecht, evidence that he read the books he bought for it, a much rarer feat in the royal annals. Francis set an important precedent by opening his library to scholars from around the world in order to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge.

Francis was an impressive builder and he poured vast amounts of money into new structures. He continued the work of his predecessors on the Château d’Amboise and also started renovations on the Royal Château de Blois. Early in his reign he also began construction of the magnificent Château de Chambord, very obviously inspired by the styles of the Italian renaissance, and perhaps even designed by Leonardo.

Francis rebuilt the Louvre, turning it from a gloomy medieval fortress into a building of renaissance splendour. Francis financed the building of a new City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) for Paris in order to have control over the building’s design. He constructed the Château de Madrid and rebuilt the Château de St-Germain-en-Laye. The largest of Francis’ building projects was the reconstruction and expansion of Royal Château of Fontainebleau, which quickly became his favourite place of residence. Each of Francis’ projects was luxuriously decorated both inside and outside. Fontainebleau, for instance, had a gushing fountain in its courtyard where quantities of wine were mixed with the water.

Militarily and politically, Francis’ reign was less successful; he tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor, and pursued a series of wars in Italy – see Italian Wars. His most devastating defeat occurred at the Battle of Pavia where he was captured by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis was held captive in Madrid and forced to make major concessions to Charles before he was freed. Upon his return to France, however, Francis argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress and he repudiated it.

As King, in 1524, he assisted the citizens of Lyon to finance the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazano to North America; on this expedition, Verrazano claimed Newfoundland for the French crown. In 1534, he sent Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to find certaines îles et pays où l’on dit qu’il se doit trouver grande quantité d’or et autres riches choses (“certain islands and lands where it is said there are great quantities of gold and other riches”).

In his castle in Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, in 1539, Francis signed the edict which made French the administrative language instead of Latin. The same edict required priests to register births and establish a registry office.

An important change Francis brought to European history was that he came to an understanding with the Ottoman Turks. No formal treaties with the ‘infidels’ were signed, but high-level meetings between the two powers let them collude against Charles V, and in 1543 the two powers even combined for a joint naval assault on Nice.

While Francis left France strewn with magnificent palaces he caused severe harm to the nation’s economic well-being in order to do so. In his old age Louis XII worried that Francis, his successor, “would spoil everything.” Francis’ father-in-law had left France in good shape with the monarchy ascendant over the feudal lords and the economy prospering. While Francis continued to strengthen the crown he succeeded in undermining the nation’s economy. Palaces were extremely expensive, as were wars against the Hapsburgs.

To pay for these efforts Francis undermined the nation’s fiscal security. Taxes went up: the taille, the tax on peasants, more than doubled, while the gabelle, the salt tax, was tripled. Francis also used new ways to raise revenues. He sold many of the crown jewels and began alienating crown lands, disposing of important liquid assets. Francis also began the process of selling offices for quick revenue. While he did not practice the selling of offices extensively he did begin the trend that would eventually undermine the entire French government.

The amorous exploits of François inspired the 1832 play by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Le Roi s’amuse (The King Enjoys Himself), in turn inspiring the 1851 opera of Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901), Rigoletto.

François’ older sister, Marguerite (1492 – 1549), Queen of Navarre, wrote the classic, Heptameron.

François’ legacy is a mixed one. He achieved great cultural feats, but they came at the expense of France’s economic well being.

François I died at the Chateau Rambouillet and is interred with his first wife, Claude de France, Duchess of Bretagne, in Saint Denis Basilica.