p7RENAISSANCE

Louis XI: the spider and the construction of the modern state (1461-1483) · 1461 à 1483

The accession of Louis XI , in 1461 , opened a decisive phase in the history of the French monarchy. Son of Charles VII , from whom he inherited a kingdom alrea

Charles VIII: the Italian adventure and the end of the direct dynasty (1483–1498) · 1483 à 1498

The reign of Charles VIII opened under paradoxical conditions. At the death of Louis XI , on 30 August 1483 , the crown passed to a ruler who was still a minor,

Louis XII: The Father of the People and the Italian Wars (1498–1515) · 1498 à 1515

On 7 April 1498, the accidental death of Charles VIII placed on the throne of France his cousin Louis d’Orléans, crowned as Louis XII. This reign of nearly seve

Francis I: The Knight King and the French Renaissance (1515–1547) · 1515 à 1547

The reign of Francis I opened with a brilliance few French sovereigns had known at their outset. Crowned at Reims three weeks after the death of Louis XII , the

Henry II: The Chivalrous King and the Wars of Religion (1547-1559) · 1547 à 1559

The death of Francis I , on 31 March 1547 , brought to the throne a man whom nothing, in the imagination of the court, destined to resemble his father. Crowned

Francis II: the ephemeral king and the beginnings of the Wars of Religion (1559-1560) · 1559 à 1560

Francis II became king on 10 July 1559 , barely fifteen years old, the day after the accidental death of his father Henry II, wounded in a tournament three mont

Charles IX: the Regency of Catherine de' Medici and the First Wars of Religion (1560-1574) · 1560 à 1574

Charles IX was only ten years old when the death of his brother Francis II, on 5 December 1560, brought him to the throne of France. Too young to rule on his ow

Henri III: The Final Crisis of the Valois and the Wars of the League (1574-1589) · 1574 à 1589

On 14 June 1574 , news of the death of his brother Charles IX reached Henri III in Poland, where he had barely been elected king a few months earlier. Forced to

Henry IV, King of France and Navarre: the pacification of the kingdom and the Edict of Nantes (1589-1610) · 1589 à 1610

On 2 August 1589 , at the bedside of the dying Henry III, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre , became King of France under the name Henry IV — the first sovereig