lligence saw in an alliance with the common people a means of absorbing to himself supreme power. Not since Tiberius had there been a more blood-thirsty monster on a throne. B

ands, that chivalric host, which was slaughtered at Agincourt, not one in twenty could write his name. All alike were cruel and had the instincts of barbarians. While the Duke of Burgundy, the richest prince in E

f truth, justice, and spotless honor, and the ideal of divine love and mercy. Even the semblance of truth and justice and honor had departed from the one; and unspeakable corruption had crept into the other. From the day of the Albigensian cruelties, the heart of the Church had turned to stone, and the spark of life divine within

were overweighting the ship at a time when it was bei

disbanding of all military organizations existing without the king's commission, at one sweeping blow completed the wreck of feudalis

mpatience to assume the crown so alarmed him that it is said he shortened his own life by abs

old man died in 1461. And

look for a parallel to this monster on a throne. And yet, to no other king does France owe such a debt of gratitude. His remorseless

d. So inscrutable and so tortuous was the policy of this strange being, so unexpected his changes of direction, so false and inconsistent his words and acts

this king could look out upon an avenue of gibbets upon which hung the bodies of his enemies. The humorous spirit in which he disposed of obstructive nobles is illustrated by a note to an u

su, with the humiliation of the noble came the elevation of the bourgeois. A nameless adventurer

es and the central purpose of his cold-blooded reign. If a patent of nobility was a pretty

ms deep and then stamped them down with remorseless feet. He demolished the political structure of mediaevalism in his kin

hat of his son, Charles VIII., was made memorable by one event, an invasio

ke of Anjou, of Sicilian fame, or infamy, and brother of Louis th

in especial for him to do at home, and as his new army, created and equipped by his father, was a very splendid affair for tha

lorence, Rome, were successively occupied, and finally Cha

, and all that had been gained by the enterprise was a wide-open door between France and Italy at the very time when it might better have been kept closed, and the discovery by Europe that the Italian pe

cely and noble blood of Italy began to be mingled with hers,

which the ruling class had only recently learned to read and write was naturally dazzled by this sister nation, saturated with the learning and culture of the ages, mistress of every brilliant art and accomplishment; who after having run the whole g

recting the intellectual currents of Europe; Angelo and Raphael creating the world's sublimest masterpieces in art; her great Genoese son uncovering another hemisphere; Savonarola, like an inspired prophet of old, calling upon men to "repe

t patron of art, Julius II., creator of the Vatican Museum, with the recently found Apollo Belvedere, and the Lao

in's crusade of seven hundred years was over. We must search in vain for any struggle to match this in singleness and persistence of purpose. Commencing one

e assembling for the great modern drama, in a cent

these two kings, Charles and Louis, were respectively grandsons of those two ambitious dukes whose personal feud brought France to the verge of ruin a few decades earlier: Louis XII. being the descendant of that Duke

for Louis, who, when all was done, found that he had been simply aiding that artful diplomatist, Ferdinand, in securing the whole prize for Spain. The disagreement growing out

o still another collateral branch of the main Capetian line. The Co

nly at being the greatest of military heroes, but also the splendid patron of art and letters, and wisest of men! The role he had set for himself being, in fact, a Charlemagne and a Lorenzo de' Medici in one. All that was needed for success in this large field was ability. Personal valor Francis certainly possessed. His reign opened brilliantly with a campaign in the Italian peninsula, which left him after the battle of Marignano, master of the Milanese and of northern Italy. He need not troubl

called the Pragmatic Sanction; its object being the limitation of the papal power in France. The pope by this ordinance was cut off from cer

ease his revenues, and Francis, because he desired to use appointments to rich vacancies as rewards for his friends. Leo's tastes, as we know, wer

Charles, a youth not yet twenty. The mother of this boy was Joanna, the insane daughter of Fe

l grandfather there was now added Spain, the kingdom of Naples, Mexico, and Peru. A heavy enough burden, one would think, for young sho

of America. For none was this so alarming as for France, which would in fact be enveloped upon almost every side by this giant among the nations. A French king would indeed have been dull and spiritless not to realize the magnitude of the danger, and Francis was neither. There was only a youth of nineteen standing between him and the greatest dignity in Europe. It was not alone an opportunity to save

rs for a great stake: Francis lavishly bribing and dazzling by theatrical displays of splendor; Henry arrogant, ostentatious, vain, and Charles silent, inscrutable, cold-blooded, and false, whispering to Woolsey that he m

gave the crown to Charles V. Leo X. died soon after. Woolsey wait

t of Italy. The attempt quickly ended in the defeat of the French, and for Francis capture, and a year's imprisonment in Madrid; his release only obtained by abandoning all cl

efiance at the Church of Rome, arraigning Leo X. for corrupt practices; especially the enrichment of the Church by the sale of indulgences. Germany was shaken to i

. England was openly and avowedly Protestant, whi

divided meant nothing except at he could use it in his duel with the emperor. He was in turn the ally of Henry VIII. or the willing tool of Charles V. If

r Charles V. had laid down his crown and carried his weary, unsatisfied heart