Louis XI. began his reign with the same high-handed treat ment of the nobles which had marked his rule in Dauphine, going so far as to forbid them to hunt without his permission. He forced the clergy to pay long-neglected feudal dues, and intrigued against the great houses of Anjou and Orleans in Italy. The mal content nobles soon began to plan revolt. Discharged officers of Charles VII., like Jean Dunois and John II. duke of Bourbon, stirred up hostility to the new men of the king, and Francis II. duke of Brittany was soon embroiled with Louis over an attempt to assert royal control over that practically independent duchy. The dissatisfied nobility found their greatest ally in Charles the Bold, afterwards duke of Burgundy, and in 1465 formed a "league of public welfare" and declared war on their king. The nominal head was the king's brother Charles, duke of Berry, then eighteen years old, a weak character, the tool of the rebels as he was later the dupe of the king. Every great noble in France was in the league, except Gaston de Foix—who kept the south of France for the king—and the counts of Vend8me and Eu.
The whole country seemed on the verge of anarchy. It was saved by the refusal of the lesser gentry to rise, and by the alliance of the king with the citizen class. After a successful cam paign in the Bourbonnais, Louis fought an indecisive battle with Burgundians who had marched on Paris at Montlhery, on July 16, 1465, and then stood a short siege in Paris. On Sept. 28, he made a truce with Charles the Bold, and in October the treaties of Conflans and Saint Maur-les-Fosses ended the war. The king yielded at all points ; gave up the "Somme towns" in Picardy, for which he had paid 200,000 gold crowns, to Philip the Good, thus bringing the Burgundians close to Paris and to Normandy. Charles, the king's brother, was given Normandy as an apanage, thus joining the territories of the rebellious duke of Brittany with those of Charles the Bold. The kingdom was plundered both by royal tax gatherers and by unsubdued feudal lords.
Two months after he had granted Normandy to Charles, Louis took advantage of a quarrel between the duke of Brittany and his brother to take it again, sending the duke of Bourbon "to aid" Charles, while Dunois and Chabannes prepared for the struggle with Burgundy. The death of Duke Philip, on June 15, 1467, gave Charles the Bold a free hand. He gained over Edward IV. of England, whose sister Margaret he married; but while he was celebrating the wedding Louis invaded Brittany and detached Duke Francis from alliance with him. Normandy was completely reduced. The king's triumph was followed by his greatest mistake. After an interview between Charles and Louis at Peronne false news of Charles's death was spread, apparently at Louis' insti gation. The king was humiliated and renewed intrigues followed.
He attempted a diversion by assisting the Lancastrians in Eng land. A new revolt was planned in 1471, but came to nothing. The country was saved a desperate civil war by the death of the king's brother, Charles, the nominal head of the coalition, on May 24, 1472. Charles the Bold, who had again invaded France, was obliged to make a lasting truce. Louis then forced the duke of Brittany to make peace, and turned against John V. count of Armagnac, whose death at the opening of March 1473 ended the power of one of the most dangerous houses of the south. The first period of Louis' reign was closed, and with it closed for ever the danger of dismemberment of France. John of Aragon con tinued the war in Roussillon and Cerdagne, where the struggle was protracted for two years. After the capture of Perpignan on March 1o, 1475, the wise and temperate government of Imbert de Batarnay and Boffile de Juge slowly pacified the new provinces. The death of Gaston IV. count of Foix in 1472 opened up the long diplomatic struggle for Navarre, which was destined to pass to the loyal family of Albret shortly after the death of Louis. His policy had won the line of the Pyrenees for France.
The overthrow of Charles the Bold was the second great task of Louis XI. Charles's ally, Edward IV., invaded France in June 1475, but Louis bought him off on Aug. 29, at Picquigny. In Sep tember the invaders recrossed to England. The count of Saint Pol, who had continued to play his double part, was surrendered by Charles to Louis, and executed, as was also Jacques d'Ar magnac, duke of Nemours. Louis subsidized the Swiss and Rene II. of Lorraine in their war upon Charles. The defeat and death of the duke of Burgundy at Nancy on Jan. 5, was the crowning triumph of Louis' diplomacy. But in his eagerness to seize the whole inheritance of his rival, definite peace was not established until after the death of Mary of Burgundy, Charles's daughter, who had married Maximilian of Austria ; but by the treaty of Arras (1482) Louis received Picardy, Artois and the Boulonnais, as well as the duchy of Burgundy and Franche Comte. The Austrians were left in Flanders, a menace and a danger. The unification of France was completed (except for Brittany) and the frontiers enlarged by the acquisition, upon the death of Rene of Anjou in 148o, of the duchies of Anjou and Bar, and in 1481 of Maine and Provence upon the death of Charles II., count of Maine. Of the inheritance of the house of Anjou only Lorraine escaped the king.