Louis XII

Louis XII. was born in 1462, and succeeded Charles VIII. in 1498. The year after his accession he reunited Brittany to the French crown by marrying the widow of his predecessor. He claimed Milan, and possessed himself of it by the help of the Pope and Venice, but was deprived of it in 1513 by the Holy League and the Swiss. He also revived the claims of Charles VIII. on Naples, and obtained it by an alliance with Ferdinand of Aragon, but lost it in 1503. Five years later he joined the League of Cambray against Venice. An invasion of France by England, as one of the members of the Holy League, was followed by the "Battle of the Spurs" (Guinegate), and the marriage of Louis to Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. Louis XII. died in 1515.