[A characteristic bust; evidently a true portrait, pourtraying the well-known bigotry and cruelty of the man.]
298. Louis XII. King of France.
[Born at Blois,in France, 1462. Died in Paris, 1515. Aged 53.]
The son of Charles, Duke of Orleans, and heir presumptive to the throne, during the minority of Charles VIII. Disputing the Regency with the mother of Charles VIII, he was defeated, and suffered severe imprisonment for the space of three years. Liberated by King Charles in person, he conceived a warm friendship for the young monarch, which was never broken. In 1498, when Charles died without issue, Louis succeeded to the French throne. His reign was fruitful of good to his country. He forgave his enemies, re-established discipline and order in his army, economized the resources of the state, and made the army of France victorious abroad. He appointed the judges of the land for life, in order to secure their integrity, encouraged literature and science, and liberally rewarded men of talent. He was three times married, his last wife being Mary, sister of Henry VIII. of England. During his reign, Gaston de Foix fell at Ravenna, and the authority of the Pope was suspended in France. Louis was of a frank and generous nature, and was called “the Father of his People.”
[From the bronze half-figure in the Louvre.]
299. Francis I. King of France.
[Born at Cognac, in France, 1494. Died at Rambouillet, 1547. Aged 53.]
The son of Charles of Angoulême, and cousin-german of Louis XII. of France, whose daughter he married, and whom he succeeded on the French throne. A libidinous king, with many knightly qualities, and with all the bigotry and self-absorption that characterized too many of the despotic rulers of his time. He was a great encourager and patronizer of letters and the fine arts: but he had no mercy towards the heretic, and, in 1535, he forbade printing in France under pain of death. Not a successful warrior; he was taken prisoner at Pavia, during a war with Spain, and detained at Madrid for the space of a twelvemonth. His meeting with our own Henry VIII. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, in 1520, is known to every reader of history. A lustre is shed upon the reign of this monarch in consequence of his magnificent patronage of art, but his life otherwise presents as little for admiration as the satyr-looking bust which no doubt faithfully records the lineaments of the man. His passions were violent and gross: and though he received the dignity of knighthood from the hands of a subject, yet even the sword of a Bayard could not endow him with virtue enough to protect him from wilful prodigality, selfish follies, and open debaucheries.
[From the bronze in the Louvre by Jean Cousin, representing the king in complete armour, interesting as a work of the time, but far less real as a portrait than the head 299A, which is from the celebrated monument at St. Denis, by P. Bontemps, where the king is sculptured lying dead, and perfectly naked.]
299A. Francis I. King of France.