Table of Contents

Preface - Maps - At Last a Son - Prince of Blood - Rebel Prince - Le Roi Est Mort! Vive Le Roi! - The Reign Begins - Matters Matrimonial - Monarchy, Ministers, and Money - Vive Le Duc de Milan! - A Kingdom Won, A Kingdom Lost - Father of Claude, Father of the People - The Springtime of the French Renaissance - Head of the Gallican Church - Back to Italy - Ministers and Money in the Late Reign - Pere du Peuple versus Papa Terribile - Last Acts - Legacy - Appendix: The French Monetary System - Notes - Bibliography - Index

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About the Author

FREDERIC J. BAUMGARTNER is Professor of History at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia

Reviews

King of France from 1498 to 1515, Louis XII is portrayed in the Cloisters' Unicorn Tapestries with Anne of Brittany. Baumgartner, in the first English biography of Louis, omits this fact, but his account of their marriage (the second for each) makes very interesting reading, as does Louis's early life and reign generally. Responsible for justice, prosperity, and tranquillity in France, for invasions of Italy, and for the Renaissance transformation of the Château de Blois, this king, called "Father of the People," has been neglected by historians. Baumgartner (history, Virginia Polytechnic & State Univ., and the author of Henry II, Duke Univ. Pr., 1988) gives a strong case for Louis in this work. Recommended for all French history collections.-R. James Tobin, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Milwaukee