5. EMBLEM OF Louis XII. 



CHAPTER I. 



STYLE OF LOUIS XII. (1495-1515). 



KINGS. 



CHARLES VIII. (1483-1498). Initial 

 K. Motto "Si deus pro nobis, 

 quis contra nos ? " 



Louis XII. (1498-1515). Initial 

 L. Emblem Porcupine. Motto 

 " Cominus et eminus." 



QUEENS. 



ANNE OF BRITTANY. Initial A. 

 Emblem (i) Ermine. Motto 

 " Malo mori quam f cedar i." (2) 

 Rope girdle. Motto "J'at le corps 



ANNE OF BRITTANY. 

 MARY TUDOR. 



CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS. 

 HENRY VII. (1485-1509). HENRY VIII. (1509-1547). 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



REIGN OF CHARLES VIII. Charles VIII. succeeded his father 

 Louis XI. in 1483 at the age of thirteen. By the extinction of the 

 House of Anjou and his marriage with Anne of Brittany, two large 

 semi-independent fiefs were added to the Crown. He found himself 

 on his majority at the head of a nation at one with itself, newly 

 conscious of its power, and ripe for expansion, with a nobility eager 

 for adventure and glory. He had at command overflowing coffers 

 and a well-found army. In Charles' weakly frame there breathed a 

 spirit full of romantic ambitions. His ill-balanced mind had received 

 no better training than a course of romances of chivalry. The claim 

 to the crown of Naples, bequeathed by his kinsman Rene of Anjou, 

 and the invitation of Florence and other Italian states to chastise local 

 tyrants, gave Charles an opportunity, eagerly seized by himself and his 



