March 5th 1471: Affairs in France
Louis XI: ‘The Ugliest Man in Christendom’
(From an image in Angers Castle)
The French king, Louis XI, had inherited a chaotic kingdom in 1461. A chaos created in no small part by the ravages of English armies through the Hundred Years War. His father, Charles VII, was the Dauphin, who was famously persuaded to fight back against English domination by Joan of Arc. Louis was strong minded and rebellious from a very young age, but understood that France needed reunification and the powers of its many Dukes and Counts curbing. His major target was the over-mighty and ambitious Duke of Burgundy.
He was unusual among rulers of the age in having a ‘hands on’ approach to his task. He eschewed the sort of courtly ritual which Burgundy was famous for and spent much of his time on the road, auditing local government, establishing fairs, promoting trade and building his nation. He established a system of roads and country-wide communication, understanding that information is power. It gave him a level of knowledge about his domains that earned him the nickname of the ‘Universal Spider’.
In England, after the overthrow of King Henry and a failed campaign in the North, Queen Margaret fled to France with her son, where they lived quietly in exile until Louis saw an opportunity to use them to further his own cause.
When Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, arrived in France, a fugitive from England, King Louis met him as an old friend. The two were indeed well known to each other. They had corresponded at great length over a potential royal marriage and had met to negotiate a peace treaty. Louis had the ability to put people at their ease and talk to them as equals, and he had certainly won Warwick’s trust. His only objective, though, was to further the interests of France and his every action was to this end.
He saw an opportunity with Warwick’s arrival, and summoned Margaret to his court at Amboise, in the Loire Valley, where there was an uncomfortable reconciliation with Warwick. Put simply, Louis agreed to support a campaign by Warwick to recover the throne of England for the Lancastrians in return for Warwick’s support in his own campaign against Burgundy. To cement Warwick’s conversion from being kingmaker for the Duke of Clarence to the saviour of the Lancastrian cause it was arranged that Prince Edward, the Lancastrian heir, would marry Anne, his youngest daughter. This was all agreed, and put in hand.
Warwick invaded England, restoring Henry to the throne. Edward fled to the Burgundian lands in Flanders. Margaret and Prince Edward had waited in France until England was safe, and until Louis was sure that Warwick was keeping his side of the bargain, but then was long delayed in crossing from Honfleur by extremely bad weather and contrary winds.