Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (French: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon until 1491, when the young king turned 21 years of age. During Anne's regency, the great lords rebelled against royal centralisation efforts in a conflict known as the Mad War (1485–1488), which resulted in a victory for the royal government.
Charles VIII
30 August 1483 – 7 April 1498
30 May 1484 (Reims)
Anne of France and Peter II, Duke of Bourbon (1483–1491)
30 June 1470
Château d'Amboise, France
7 April 1498 (aged 27)
Château d'Amboise, France
1 May 1498
In a remarkable stroke of audacity, Charles married Anne of Brittany in 1491 after she had already been married by proxy to the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in a ceremony of questionable validity. Preoccupied by the problematic succession in the Kingdom of Hungary, Maximilian failed to press his claim. Upon his marriage, Charles became administrator of Brittany and established a personal union that enabled France to avoid total encirclement by Habsburg territories.
To secure his rights to the Neapolitan throne that René of Anjou had left to his father, Charles made a series of concessions to neighbouring monarchs and, due to his revolutionary artillery, conquered the Italian peninsula without much opposition. A coalition formed against the French invasion of 1494–98 attempted to stop Charles' army at Fornovo, but failed and Charles marched his army back to France.
Charles died in 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door at the Château d'Amboise, his place of birth. Since he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law at the time, Louis XII, from the Orléans cadet branch of the House of Valois.
Youth[edit]
Charles was born at the Château d'Amboise in France, the only surviving son of King Louis XI by his second wife Charlotte of Savoy.[1] His godparents were Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (the godchild's namesake), Joan of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon, and the teenage Edward of Westminster, the son of Henry VI of England who had been living in France since the deposition of his father by Edward IV. Charles succeeded to the throne on 30 August 1483 at the age of 13.[2] His health was poor. He was regarded by his contemporaries as possessing a pleasant disposition, but also as foolish and unsuited for the business of the state. In accordance with the wishes of Louis XI, the regency of the kingdom was granted to Charles' elder sister Anne, a formidably intelligent and shrewd woman described by her father as "the least foolish woman in France".[3] She ruled as regent, together with her husband Peter of Bourbon, until 1491.[2][1]
Charles and Anne had:
Media[edit]
The 1671 English play Charles VIII of France by John Crowne depicts his reign.
Charles VIII's invasion of Italy and his relations with Pope Alexander VI are depicted in the novel The Sultan's Helmsman.
In the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias, Charles VIII is portrayed by French actor Michel Muller.
In the 2011 French-German historical drama Borgia, Charles VIII is played by Simon Larvaron.
The event of the king's death is depicted in the TV series Borgia with a small twist: in the episode, Charles himself plays a game of jeu de paume with Cesare Borgia and loses; while leaving the game, Charles strikes his head on the lintel of a door.
The 2012 Spanish TV series Isabel also depicts the death of Charles VIII. In that series, Charles was played by the actor Héctor Carballo.[30]
In the 2017 German-Austrian historical drama Maximilian, a young Charles when he was Dauphin is portrayed by French actor Max Baissette de Malglaive. Made available by American cable network Starz in 2018.