CHARLES VIII. (147o-1498), king of France, was the only son of Louis XI. On the death of Louis XI. in 1483 Charles, a lad of 13, was absolutely incapable of governing. Until 1492 he abandoned the Government to his sister Anne of Beaujeu. In 1491 he married Anne, duchess of Brittany. Urged by his favour ite, Etienne de Vesc, he threw off the yoke of the Beaujeus, and at the same time discarded their wise and able policy. He pro posed at first to claim the rights of the house of Anjou, to which Louis XI. had succeeded, on the kingdom of Naples, and to use this as a stepping-stone to the capture of Constantinople from the Turks and his own coronation as emperor of the East. He sacrificed everything to this adventurous policy, signed disastrous treaties to keep his hands free, and set out for Italy in On May 12, 1495, he entered Naples in great pomp, clothed in the imperial insignia. A general coalition was, however, formed against him, and he was forced to return to France. He was pre paring a fresh expedition when he died on April 8, 1498.
See Histoire de Charles VIII., roy de France, by G. de Jaligny, Andre de la Vigne, etc., edit. Godefroy (1684) ; C. De Cherrier, Histoire de Charles VIII. (1868) ; H. Fr. Delaborde, Expedition de Charles VIII. en Italie (1888) ; Anne de Beaujeu, roi de France (1926) . For a complete bibliography see H. Hauser, Les Sources de l'histoire de France, 1494-1610, vol. i. (1906) ; and E. Lavisse, Histoire de France, vol. v., part 1., by H. Lemonnier (1903) .