CHARLES VIII, King of France. — Son of Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy, born at Amboise on 30 June 1470, died there on 7 April 1498. Frail and in poor health, at the age of thirteen he succeeded his father under the regency of his sister Anne, wife of Peter of Beaujeu; this regency lasted seven years and succeeded in overcoming and defeating the revolt of the feudal lords. Charles’s marriage to Anne, heiress of the duchy of Brittany, in 1491, reunited that duchy to the French crown. In the same year Charles personally took up the government of the kingdom, and to the prudent wisdom of the regent there succeeded the reckless enterprises of the king.
Under the pretext of his rights to the crown of Naples, after having secured Germany by the cession of Artois and Franche-Comté, and Spain by that of Roussillon and Cerdagne, he descended into Italy. He passed through Florence and Rome, where at the end of 1494 he forced Alexander VI to come to terms. At the beginning of 1495 he was in Naples and thought he had conquered the kingdom. Meanwhile, however, a league of Italian princes formed against him behind his back. Charles quickly turned back. At Fornovo he barely managed to force a passage through the troops of the confederates (6 July). Once back in France, he lost his only son Charles. He was planning another expedition to Italy when death overtook him.
Luigi Michelini Tocci