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From: "Gary J. Khusidman" <>
Subject: Louis XII and Charles de Valois
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 10:12:58 GMT

I assume that you are talking about Charles VIII of France who
became the king after the death of his father Louis XI in 1483. He
and Louis duc d'Orleans (future Louis XII) were both descendants of
Charles V. Here is their truncated family tree:

Charles V (1364-1380)
/ \
Charles VI (1380-1422) Duc d'Orleans
/ \
Charles VII (1422-1461) Charles duc d'Orleans
/ \
Louis XI (1461-1483) Louis duc d'Orleans (Louis XII)
/ | \
Anne Jeanne Charles VIII (1483-1498?)
/ / / \
d d d s

The numbers in parenthesis are the reign dates ( unfortunately
I can't remember their birth years of the top of my head). The first
duke of Orleans was one of the regents during Charles VI's senile
years. His rivalry with his brother (or was it a cousin?) duke of
Burgundy started the war between Burgundians and supporters of
Armagnacs. I believe that he was killed in 1413. His son Charles (a
famous poet of his time) was taken prisoner at Azincourt in 1415 and
spent quite a few years in England. When he finally returned to
France in 1450's he got married and that's why Louis (XII) was born so
late (1462).
Until the birth of Charles (VIII), Louis d'Orleans was
heir-apparent, as the main line of Valois had no male descendants.
After Charles was born (I think in 1471), Louis became 2nd in line.
To make Louis even lesser threat to Charles' right to the throne,
Louis XI made his little cousin (Louis was in his early teens) marry
the king's younger daughter Jeanne who was crippled and could not have
children. After Louis XI's death, his oldest daughter Anne became a
regent. When Charles VIII was old enough to rule, the first thing he
did was to start Italian wars which lasted until 1559. At first,
French were successful, but their maradeuring set the local population
against them and they had to withdraw from Italy. (As a footnote,
Louis XII made exactly the same mistake when he became the king).
To further the main line of Valois and to finally annex
Brittany, Charles VIII married the heiress of Brittany Anne. They had
three or four daughters and a son who died before Charles did. When
Charles died, his cousin Louis was again the 1st in line and he
assumed the French throne (the beginning of Valois-Orleans line). He
quickly divorced Jeanne and married Anne of Brittany. Unfortunately,
they only had two daughters: Claude and Renee. The older one married
her cousin Francois d'Alencon (son of Louis XII's first cousin) who
became Francis I and started Valois-Orleans-Alencon line which ended
in 1589 with the death of Henry III.
I hope, this answered some questions you had. Unfortunately,
I don't remember who was Charles VIII's mother (I think that she was
Louis XI's second wife). If you have any futher questions, e-mail me
for a much more elaborate database on French royal genealogy.

Gary J. Khusidman

This thread:

• Louis XII and Charles de Valois by "Gary J. Khusidman" <>