By 1423, the year that Louis XI, King of France (1461-83) was born, much of France was ruled by the English. To unify France after the Hundred Years War under his rule (I am France he would proclaim to his rebellious vassals) became the idee fixe of Louis' life. The manner in which he largely succeeded accomplishing this is the subject of this book
"The 'Memoirs' of Philippe de Commynes have been celebrated for more than four hundred years both as a remarkable literary work and as a priceless controbution to the history of the fifteenth century. They fall into two quite different parts. The first (comprising Books I-VI) narrates the intense, violent struggle for the dominance of western Europe between Louis XI of France and his greatest vassal, Charles the Rash, Duke of Burgundy, which was resolved by the triumph of the king; it begins with the appearance of Commynes on the political scene in 1464 as a young squire in the service of the House of Burgundy and ends in 1483 with the death of Louis XI, at which Commynes was himself present. In the second part (Books VII-VIII) he recounts the first French invation of Italy in 1494 under Louis XI's feeble son, Charles VIII. He took part in that ill-fated expedition, s a royal councillor and diplomat, and fought at Charles VIII's side in the desperate battle of Fornovo; but the chief adviser and confidant of Louis XI enjoyed little influence in King Charles' frivolous household. The 'Memoirs' conclude in 1498, following the death of Charles VIII, with Commynes' entering the service of that monarch's successor, Louis XII. It is the earlier, and much richer, part of the 'Memoirs' that is here translated." -- introduction, page 7.
The house of Valois ruled France for 250 years, playing a crucial role in its establishment as a major European power. This extremely well-written and structured book will appeal to the general reader.
The reign of Louis XII (1498-1515) has been much neglected by historians. Falling between the conventional end of the French middle ages and Francis I's notional ushering in of Renaissance France, Louis' rule 'belongs' neither to medievalists nor to historians of the the early modern period.
The reading public outside Sweden knows little of that country's history, beyond the dramatic and short-lived era in the seventeenth century when Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus became a major European power by her intervention in the Thirty Years War. In the last decades of the seventeenth century another Swedish king, Charles XI, launched a less dramatic but remarkable bid to stabilize and secure Sweden's position as a major power in northern Europe and as master of the Baltic Sea. This project, which is almost unknown to students of history outside Sweden, involved a comprehensive overhaul of the government and institutions of the kingdom, on the basis of establishing Sweden as a model of absolute monarchy. This 1998 book gives an account of what was achieved under the absolutist direction of a distinctly unglamorous, but pious and conscientious ruler.
Anne of France (1461-1522), daughter of Louis XI and sister of Charles VIII, was one of the most powerful women of the fifteenth century. She was referred to by her contemporaries as Madame la Grande, and remained an activeand influential figure in France throughout her life. As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of enseignements, "lessons", for her daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These instructions represent a distillation of a lifetime's experience, and are presented through the portrait of an ideal princess, thus preparing her daughter to act both circumspectly and politically. Having steered her own course successfully, Anne offers her daughter advice intended to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in the world of politics. This is the first translation into English of Anne of France's Lessons.