Charles now had time to direct his industry and judg ment, to remove the numerous and oppressive evils to which France had been so long exposed. He restored the regular course of public justice ; introduced order into the finances ; established discipline among his troops ; repress ed faction in his court ; revived the languid state of agri culture and the arts ; and in the course of a few years, rendered the kingdom flourishing within itself, and for midable to its neighbours. In the midst of his prosperity and wise administration, Charles was extremely troubled by the conduct of the Dauphin. This young prince was possessed of spirit and courage ; but his good qualities were tarnished by the roughness of his manners, and the savageness of his disposition. Discontented at court, he retired into his province of Dauphiny ; but understanding that his father wished to bring him back to Paris, he took refuge with Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who willingly gave him an asylum, but would by no means encourage hint in the seditious projects which he enter tained against his father. When the latter heard of the place where his son had taken refuge, he observed, " The Duke of Burgundy is nourishing a fox, that will eat out his entrails." But in fact, the Dauphin was the cause of the death of the king ; for the latter being apprehensive that he would poison him, refused for several days to taste any food, and being thus overcome with hunger and cha grin, he died in 1461.
The Dauphin, under the name of Louis XI. succeeded his father. His first and leading object was to aggrandize the monarchy, by depressing the power of the nobles ; but the latter took the alarm, and armed to defend their privi leges. The King also armed. The battle of Monteleri was fought 1465, which decided nothing; but a peace was concluded on terms advantageous to the nobles. These terms, however, Louis never meant to fulfil ; for having gained over many of his opponents, he used his influence with the Assembly of the States, to declare those articles of the treaty void which were most disadvantageous to him. Scarcely, however, had he succeeded in reducing his no bles to subjection these dishonourable means, when he was again involved in trouble by his own rapacity, and be came the dupe of his own artifice. For on the death of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, who succeeded him, made preparations against Louis. To these he was prompted, from a thorough knowledge of his character, and a strong suspicion that Louis would soon attack him. Louis also armed ; but as he was always averse to war, he agreed to pay the Duke a large sum of money, and he appointed a personal into view at a place in Picardy, then in the possession of the Duke. Louis went to the place with only a few attendants, in the hope that Charles would come with as few ; but at the same time, his emissaries persuaded the inhabitants of Liege to revolt against the Duke. The latter was at first pleased with the apparent confidence of Louis in coming with so few at tendants ; but intelligence arriving, during the conference, that a rebellion had broken out in Liege, and that it had been instigated by the emissaries of Louis, Charles order ed the King into confinement. In this state Louis remain
ed three days, when he was released by the Duke, on con dition, that he should march along with him, and assist him in bringing the inhabitants of Liege back to their duty. Liege was reduced, and Louis was permitted to depart for his own dominions. During the remainder of his reign, this monarch continued to act with his habitual duplicity. Ile first excited his people to rebel, and then having crush ed them, divided with his ministers, who were equally in famous with himself, their possessions. At last even his ministers conspired against him ; but being defeated in their schemes, they suffered those punishments which they had so often inflicted on others. Il is hrother Charles was poisoned ; the Constable St Paul, his brother-in-law the Count of Armagnac, and the Dukes of Alencon and Ne mours, were beheaded ; and the children of the last named nobleman were sprinkled with the warm blood of their father, and sent in that condition to the Bastile. With England he formed an ignominious truce for seven years, engaging to pay annually 50,000 crowns of gold ; and sub sequently, he concluded a treaty at London with Edward IV. by which he stipulated, that the truce should be kept for 100 years after the death of each of the parties, under the original conditions. On the death of the Duke of Burgundy in 1477, Louis proposed a marriage between his son Charles, then only seven years old, and the heiress to the large possessions of that duchy, comprehending not only Burgundy, but Franche Comptc, Artois, Flanders, and nearly all the rest of the Netherlands; but he was overreached by his rapacity, for having, even after he pro posed marriage, seized on Burgundy as a male fief, the Princess Mary of Burgundy was alarmed, and, by the ad vice of her Flemish subjects, she married the Archduke Maximilian, son of the Emperor Frederic III. Hence arose those wars, which so long desolated the Low Countries, and created an implacable hatred between the houses of France and Austria.
Notwithstanding this marriage, Louis retained those places in Burgundy of which he had taken possession ; and, by the further acquisition Of Anjou, Maine, Provence, Bar, Bousillen, and Boulogne, he greatly augmented the kingdom of France. Soon after he had succeeded in these objects, he was suddenly seized with a fit of apoplexy, and, after enduring dreadful torments both of body and mind, died A. D. 1483. The character of Louis XI. is not easily understood ; he was undoubtedly a man of considerable talents, which would have been more useful to him, had he not, in so many instances, trusted rather to his artifice than to them. Ile was absolute, yet not dignified ; popular with the great mass of his subjects, by humbling the great ; but not generous. The system on which he acted was unjust ; yet, where his own views were not to be served, he was zealous for the administration of justice. Such a charac ter, so composed of contradictions, must always be extra ordinary ; but, considering the age in which he lived, it is not surprising that he violated every moral principle, and yet resigned himself to the most ridiculous superstition. Yet to this king, the l'ope gave the title of Most Chris tian.