&06 FRA 
With only nine thoufand men the king of France tra- 
verfed the Alps, while the confederates, whofe forces 
amounted to above thirty thoufand men, declined engaging 
him in thofe mountains, but waited in an open plain near 
the village of Fornoua, nine miles from Placentia. The 
courage of the French, animated by the prefence of their 
king, was fuperior to all oppofition ; Charles was among 
the firft to charge the enemy, and in the action was ex- 
pofed to imminent danger. The Italians fled before the 
ardour of the youthful monarch ; who, unable to improve 
the viftory from his inferior numbers, purfued his march, 
reached Aft in fecurity, and foon after relieved the duke 
of Orleans, reduced to extreme diftrefs by famine in the 
city of Novara. A reinforcement of fixteen thoufand 
Svvifs enabled Charles to dictate the conditions of peace 
with Ludovico Sforza ; but while he abandoned himfelf 
to licentious pleafures at Lyons, Ferdinand II. emerging 
from his retreat, and aflifted by the Spanifh troops, and 
guided by the (kill of Gonfalvo Ernandez, furnamed the 
Great Captain, returned again in triumph to his capital. 
The French indeed, under the command of the conftable 
d’Aubigny, gained a partial victory, and maintained their 
reputation for national valour ; the duke of Montpenfier, 
to whom the government of Naples was entrufted, l'ur- 
rendercd after an obftinate defence; Capua, Averfa, and 
Otranto, returned to their allegiance. But before Fer¬ 
dinand could behold the complete reduction of his domi¬ 
nions, he himfelf expired, and was fucceeded by his un¬ 
cle Frederic, who in a tide of uninterrupted fuccefs, 
fwept away the few remaining garrifons of France which 
had eluded the arms of Ferdinand. 
Amidft the pleafures and allurements of a court, 
Charles ftill continued his preparations for war, and kept 
his eyes ftedfaftly fixed on Italy; but the object of his 
arms was changed, and he had determined to lupport the 
pretenlions of the houfe of Orleans to the duchy of Milan. 
Lie had repelled a feeble invafion of Ferdinand king of 
Arragon, and his mind was once more elated with the 
ambition of conqueft, and the hopes of martial giory. 
'Y’et his conftitution feemed but ill to correfpond with 
the lofty defigns he had planned; and his exceftive at¬ 
tachment to women had debilitated a frame naturally de¬ 
licate and weak. So apparent were the fymptoms of his 
approaching diflfolution, that the duke of Orleans, the 
heir apparent to the crown, refufed to take upon him the 
command of the army deflined for the recovery of Milan. 
That prince had before incurred the difpleafure of the 
king, by diverting to the attack on Ludovico Sforza the 
forces deflined to reinforce the Italian army. He had 
more effectually awakened the refentment of the queen, 
by an injury of a domeftic nature ; the death of the dau¬ 
phin, the only fon of Charles and Anne, who expired 
foon after the return of his father from Italy, funk deep 
in the mind of the queen ; and to alleviate her concern, 
Charles advifed his courtiers to procure her daily smufe- 
rnents ; the duke of Orleans with this intention appeared 
at a mafquerade, and exerted himfelf in a dance to a de¬ 
gree of extravagance ; Anne interpreted thefe marks of 
levity to his joy at the dauphin’s death, which opened to 
him the fucceliion, and dilguifed not her refentment. Ilis 
refufal to head the expedition againft Mil,in completed 
his difgrace ; and, in 1496, he indignantly retired from 
court, to a life of privacy in the caftie of Blois. 
On the retreat of the duke of Orleans, all military pre¬ 
parations were lulpended, and the cavalry which had 
paired the Alps were recalled. The king himfelf, con- 
feious of the decline of his health, employed his hours 
in the internal regulations 'of his kingdom, and in alle¬ 
viating the burdens of his fubjeils. He now relinquiftied 
all other purfuits, and retired with his queen to the caftie 
of Amboile, a refidence which he had ever regarded with 
fond partiality. From a gallery in that caftie he was en¬ 
gaged in furveying a game of tennis; and delirous that 
rhe queen might partake of the atnufement, he went to 
her chamber, and conducted her to the gallery ; but m 
N C E. 
pafling through a door, he (truck his head with violence 
againft the top, which was very low. He felt no imrae. 
diate bad confequences from the accident, and wa§ con¬ 
vening with the bifhop of Angers, when he fuddenly fell 
hack in an apopledtic fit. The attendants, alarmed at 
his danger, laid him on a couch which flood in the cor¬ 
ner of the gallery ; thrice he recovered his voice, and as 
quickly loft it again ; his expreffions were folely thofe of 
devotion ; and, notwithftanding every effort of medicine, 
he expired at eleven o’clock the fame night, A.D. 1498, 
in the fifteenth year of his reign, and twenty-eighth of 
his age. 
The amiable qualities of Charles acquired him the fur- 
names of the Affable , and the Courteous ; and his charadter 
has been delineated by Comines with ftrength and fimpli- 
city; “ a man of fmall ftature, and (lender ur.derftanding; 
but fo fiveet and amiable in his difpofition, that it was 
impoftible to inherit a better temper.” His funeral ob- 
fequies were performed with uncommon magnificence ; 
two of his domeftics are faid to have died of grief for the 
lofs of their beloved lord ; and Anne of Brittany, his wi¬ 
dow, abandoned herfelf to every excefs of forrow. In 
Charles VII. terminated the male line of the houfe of 
Valois ; and the fceptre palled over to Louis duke of 
Orleans, fon to the firft duke, who was aflaflinated at the 
inftigation of John duke of Burgundy. 
From the ACCESSION of the HOUSE of OR- 
LEANS, to the EXTINCTION of that RACE 
ON THE DEATH OF HENRY III. 
Louis XII. the firft of the houfe of Orleans, was in 
poffeflion of mature vigour of body and mind, when he 
afeended the throne. He had attained his thirty-fixtbi 
year ; the fire of youth was tempered by experience ; and 
in the fevere fchool of adverfity he had learned to feel 
for the diftreffes of others. The firft adts of his admini- 
ftrarion difplayed the mild and magnanimous features of 
his character: he repealed the taxes mo ft obnoxious to 
the people ; and when reminded by his courtiers that la 
Tremouille had made him prifoner at the battle of St. 
Aubirt du Cormier, he returned the juftly celebrated an- 
fwer, “ It becomes not the king of France to revenge the 
quarrels of the duke of Orleans.” He had been early, 
but reludtantly, married to Jane, the youngeft daughter 
of Louis XI. a princefs of an amiable difpofition, but 
deformed, and fuppofed to be incapably of bearing chil¬ 
dren ; on the oath of the king of France that he had never 
confummated his marriage, pope Alexander VI. declared 
the union void and illegal ; Jane fubmitted with decent 
refignation to a fentence which deprived her of a crown ; 
and retiring to a nunnery, in which (he took the veil, 
clofed a life of humble virtue. In 1499, Loui_s fet on foot 
a treaty of marriage with Anne of Brittany, widow of the 
late king. She received the propofals without hefitation, 
and Louis haftened to Nantz, celebrated in that city his 
marriage, and conducted his new confort to Blois. 
The hereditary claim of Louis to the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, ftill tifurped by Ludovico Sforza, determined, in 
the year 1400, his expedition into Italy. He had allured 
the republic of Venice by the promile of part of his 
fpoils; lie Itad terminated by a recent treaty all diffeiences 
with the emperor Maximilian; and had renewed the 
peace with Henry VII. of England. His army, compoled 
of twenty thou land men, was commanded by Louis of 
Luxemburgh count of Ligni, by Robert Stuart lord d’Au¬ 
bigny, and by John Trivuizio, a native of Milan, who 
had proved his fidelity in the fervice of his predecelTor. 
The cities of Milan were impatient to open their gates, 
and throw oft the yoke of the ufurper. The Venetians, 
in lefs than a week, made themfelves mafters of the coun¬ 
try beyond the Adda; the French entered Piedmont, and 
purfued their conquefts with equal rapidity; the caftie of 
Milan, provided with every requifite for a long and o'd- 
ftinate defence, was betrayed by its governor. Ludovico 
himfelf, uncertain in whom to confide, and incapable of 
relifting 
