King Louis XI of France, reigned from 1461 to 1483 AD, through a series of diplomatic means and intrigues, he annexed the princes in France, strengthened the centralization of power, and was known as the "concoctor" of the French territory, and because he was extremely good at using intrigue and had excellent ability to spy on the activities of espionage organizations, he was called a person
"The Almighty Spider"
。
Louis XI was born in 1423 and was the son of King Charles VII of France. At this time, the Hundred Years' War between England and France was in a critical period, and France was in tatters, with British invaders entrenched in the north and southwest of France. The eastern northeast was controlled by Burgundy, a rebellious prince allied with the British.
Louis XI, who grew up in an almost isolated castle, led him
Suspicious, taciturn, sinister and vicious by nature
。 In 1436, he married a Scottish princess, purely a political marriage, when he was not yet 13 years old. In 1439, King Charles VII of France sent him to Languedoc to defend against the British army, Louis XI wolf ambitions, just arrived, immediately instigated the local nobles to launch a rebellion against his father Charles VII, but at this time he was too young, the rebellion was immediately suppressed.
Under his ingenuity, he was tolerated by Charles VII, who not only continued to command his troops, but also appointed him to administer the royal territory. After that, he plotted several more plots against his father, and in 1446 Louis XI instigated an uprising to force the king to surrender power. Ten years later, their father-son relationship was completely broken, and Louis XI fled to the Duchy of Burgundy to seek refuge with Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. In July 1461, Louis XI sent poisoners to kill King Charles VII, and as soon as he heard the news, he rushed back to France to take the throne.
It is noteworthy that in 1453 the Hundred Years' War between England and France ended and France recovered all but Calais
At this time, although France's external troubles were eliminated, its internal worries could not be underestimated
。 Due to the decline of royal authority, the major feudal lords attempted to gain de jure independence of their territories. For example, the ducals of Burgundy stretched from eastern France to the northeast to the Netherlands. In terms of feudal etiquette in the European Middle Ages at that time, the Duke of Burgundy was a vassal of the King of France and a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor. In fact, it is equivalent to an independent country, and no one listens to it.
Cutting the domain, whether in China or Western Europe, has never been an easy task
。 Burgundy, in particular, was almost as strong as France. Louis XI began to implement a policy of restricting the power of the various feudal lords in the country, which made the dukes of Anjou, Brittany, Andi, Bourbon and others resentful of the king. In order to fight Burgundy, he supported the urban rebellion under Burgundy.
During the reign of Charles VII, the old king signed an agreement with Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, to sell several cities on the banks of the Somme to the King of France
The bold Charles, the new Duke of Burgundy, believed that his father, Philip III, was forced to sign the agreement, while being annoyed by the French king's support for his subordinate rebellion. So he easily gathered the lords who opposed the king and formed a military alliance, with Louis XI's brother Charles as the ally.
A group of French princes led an army to the city of Paris, and the scheming Louis XI pretended to return to Burgundy unconditionally, and divided Normandy to his brother Charles as a fief. Two months later, Louis XI's younger brother Charles had infighting with the Duke of Brittany and took the opportunity to reclaim Normandy.
This led the bold Charles of Burgundy to reorganize his alliance against the King of France, this time the bold Charles united with England and prepared to launch an attack on France, Louis XI was afraid of being attacked on both sides, so he used force to coerce the Duke of Brittany to break the covenant, and then he expressed his willingness to go to Burgundy to make peace with the bold Charles, but was arrested by the bold Charles, forcing him to sign a series of unequal treaties.
Immediately after louis XI was released, he tore up the treaty and then instigated civil unrest in England. Charles, the bold Duke of Burgundy, organized a third alliance against King Louis XI, but unfortunately, Louis XI's younger brother Charles died suddenly in 1472, after which Louis XI broke the other members of the alliance and reclaimed their territory.
King Edward IV of England landed in France, and Louis XI knew that he could not single-handedly deal with two powerful enemies, Burgundy and England, so he decided to bribe Edward IV with a large sum of money to make peace with him, and let his son marry Edward's daughter.
In this way, through his cross-cutting, the bold Charles of Burgundy became the only enemy, Louis XI used money to fund the Swiss and the Duke of Lorraine, killed Charles with a knife, and in 1477 the bold Charles fought with the Duke of Lorraine, killed in the Battle of Nancy, Louis XI immediately marched into Burgundy, unifying the territory of France.
At the end of the article, it has to be said that Louis XI was able to succeed in large part thanks to him
Excellent diplomacy and intrigue
。 But such a dark-hearted man could not avoid living in darkness all the time, and from 1481 onwards, he feared the rebellion of his men and the fear of being poisoned. In 1483, he died in utter fear.
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