Spain
Spain the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula, its territory includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country. Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are part of Spanish territory; the country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar. With an area of 505,990 km2, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population, Spain is the fifth in the European Union. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Spn or Spania.
At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe, invaded the Iberian peninsula and established independent realms in its western provinces, including the Suebi and Vandals. The Visigoths would forcibly integrate all remaining independent territories in the peninsula, including Byzantine provinces, into the Kingdom of Toledo, which more or less unified politically and all the former Roman provinces or successor kingdoms of what was documented as Hispania. In the early eighth century the Visigothic Kingdom fell to the Moors of the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate, who arrived to rule most of the peninsula in the year 726, leaving only a handful of small Christian realms in the north and lasting up to seven centuries in the Kingdom of Granada; this led to many wars during a long reconquering period across the Iberian Peninsula, which led to the creation of the Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre as the main Christian kingdoms to face the invasion.
Following the Moorish conquest, Europeans began a gradual process of retaking the region known as the Reconquista, which by the late 15th century culminated in the emergence of Spain as a unified country under the Catholic Monarchs. Until Aragon had been an independent kingdom, which had expanded toward the eastern Mediterranean, incorporating Sicily and Naples, had competed with Genoa and Venice. In the early modern period, Spain became the world's first global empire and the most powerful country in the world, leaving a large cultural and linguistic legacy that includes more than 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. During the Golden Age there were many advancements in the arts, with world-famous painters such as Diego Velázquez; the most famous Spanish literary work, Don Quixote, was published during the Golden Age. Spain hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state.
It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization and many other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation" to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes Spain a de facto member of the group; the origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name España was derived, are uncertain due to inadequate evidence, although it is documented that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians referred to the region as Spania, therefore the most accepted etymology is a Semitic-Phoenician one.
Down the centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean "the land where metals are forged", it may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean. The word in question means "Hyrax" due to Phoenicians confusing the two animals. Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia
Barcelona
Barcelona is a city in Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of, 512 metres high. Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia.
Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and many international sport tournaments. Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, trade fair and cultural centres, its influence in commerce, entertainment, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities, it is a major cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world and a financial centre. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with GDP amounting to €177 billion. In 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion. In 2009 the city was ranked one of the world's most successful as a city brand.
In the same year the city was ranked Europe's fourth best city for business and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year, the city has been experiencing strong and renewed growth for the past three years. Since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. Barcelona is a transport hub, with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles over 50 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network, a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe; the name Barcelona comes from the ancient Iberian Barkeno, attested in an ancient coin inscription found on the right side of the coin in Iberian script as, in ancient Greek sources as Βαρκινών, Barkinṓn. Some older sources suggest that the city may have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC, but there is no evidence that Barcelona was a Carthaginian settlement, or that its name in antiquity, had any connection with the Barcid family of Hamilcar.
During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as Barchinona, Barçalona and Barchenona. Internationally, Barcelona's name is wrongly abbreviated to'Barça'. However, this name refers only to the football club; the common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna. Another common abbreviation is'BCN', the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport; the city is referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan, Ciudad Condal in Spanish, owing to its past as the seat of the Count of Barcelona. The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear; the ruins of an early settlement have been found, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends; the first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who named the city Barcino after his family in the 3rd century BC, but there is no historical or linguistic evidence that this is true.
In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum centred on the "Mons Taber", a little hill near the contemporary city hall. Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Pomponius Mela mentions it among the small towns of the district as it was eclipsed by its neighbour Tarraco, but it may be gathered from writers that it grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour, it enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins. Important Roman vestiges are displayed in Plaça del Rei underground, as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum; some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have been founded in 343; the city
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. The city is on the Iton river. In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe inhabiting the area. Mediolanum was a small regional centre of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. Julius Caesar wintered eight legions in this area after his third campaigning season in the battle for Gaul: Legiones VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII and XIV; the present-day name of Évreux originates from the Gallic tribe of Eburovices Those who overcome by the yew?, from the Gaulish root eburos. The first known members of the family of the counts of Évreux were descended from an illegitimate son of Richard I, duke of Normandy; the county passed in right of Agnes, William's sister, wife of Simon de Montfort-l'Amaury to the house of the lords of Montfort-l'Amaury. Amaury VI de Montfort-Évreux ceded the title in 1200 to King Philip Augustus, whose successor Philip the Fair presented it in 1307 to his brother Louis d'Évreux, for whose benefit Philip the Long raised the county of Évreux into a peerage of France in 1317.
Philip d'Évreux, son of Louis, became king of Navarre by his marriage to Joan II of Navarre, daughter of Louis the Headstrong, their son Charles the Bad and their grandson Charles the Noble were kings of Navarre. The latter ceded his counties of Évreux and Brie to King Charles VI of France in 1404. In 1427 the county of Évreux was bestowed by King Charles VII on Sir John Stuart of Darnley, the commander of his Scottish bodyguard, who in 1423 had received the seigniory of Aubigny, in February 1427/8 he was granted the right to quarter the royal arms of France for his victories over the English. On Stuart's death the county reverted to the crown, it was again temporarily alienated as an appanage for Duke François of Anjou, in 1651 was given to Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, in exchange for the Principality of Sedan. The most famous holder of the title is son of Marie Anne Mancini. Évreux was damaged during the Second World War, most of its centre was rebuilt. The nearby Évreux-Fauville Air Base was used by the United States Air Force until 1967, since by the French Air Force.
Évreux Cathedral has been the seat of the bishops of Évreux since its traditional founder, Saint Taurin of Évreux, most working between 375 and 425. The earliest parts of the present building, Gothic, date from the eleventh century; the west façade and its two towers are from the late Renaissance. Of especial note are the Lady chapel and its stained glass, the rose windows in the transepts and the carved wooden screens of the side chapels; the church of the former abbey of St-Taurin is in part Romanesque. It has a choir of the 14th century and other portions of date, contains the thirteenth-century shrine of Saint Taurin; the episcopal palace, a building of the fifteenth century, adjoins the south side of the cathedral. The belfry facing the hôtel de ville dates from the fifteenth century. In the Middle Ages, Évreux was one of the centres of Jewish learning, its scholars are quoted in the medieval notes to the Talmud called the Tosafot; the following rabbis are known to have lived at Évreux: Samuel ben Shneor, praised by his student Isaac of Corbeil as the "Prince of Évreux", one of the most celebrated tosafists.
Its inhabitants are called Ébroïciens. Évreux is situated in the pleasant valley of arms of which traverse the town. It is the seat of a bishop, its cathedral is one of the largest and finest in France; the first cathedral was built in 1076, but destroyed in 1119 when the town was burned at the orders of Henry I of France to put down the Norman insurrection. He rebuilt the cathedral as an act of atonement to the Pope. Between 1194 and 1198, the conflict between Philippe Auguste and Richard the Lion-hearted damaged the new cathedral; the architecture of the present edifice shows this history, with its blend of Romanesque and Gothic styles. As did many towns in the regions of Nord and Normandy, Évreux and its cathedral suffered from Second World War. At Le Vieil-Évreux, the Roman Gisacum, 5.6 kilometres southeast of the town, the remains of a Roman theatre, a palace, baths and an aqueduct have been discovered, as well as various relics, notably the bronze of Jupiter Stator, which are now deposited in the museum of Évreux.
Évreux Cathedral Hôtel de ville Église Saint-Taurin The communauté d'agglomération Évreux Portes de Normandie has 62 communes. Since 2015, Évreux is part of three cantons: The canton of Évreux-1 includes a part of Évreux and the communes of: Arnières-sur-Iton and Saint-Sébastien-de-Morsent.
Blanche I of Navarre
Blanche I was Queen of Navarre from her father King Charles III of Navarre's death in 1425 until her own death. She served as Regent of Sicily in 1404–05 and in 1408–15. Blanche was the second eldest daughter of King Charles III of Navarre and infanta Eleanor of Castile, she became heir to the throne of Navarre on the death of her elder sister, Joan, in 1413. Blanche married firstly Martin the Younger, King of Sicily and Prince of Aragon, they were married by proxy on 21 May 1402 in Catania. Blanche traveled to meet Martin, they were married in person on 26 December 1402; the bride was about fifteen years old and the groom twenty-eight. Martin had been in need of legitimate heirs, as he had survived his previous wife and former co-ruler, Queen Maria of Sicily, their only son. From October 1404 to August 1405, she served as regent of Sicily during the absence of her spouse in Aragon. From August 1408 to July 1409, she served as regent of Sicily during the absence of her spouse in Sardinia; when Martin died on 25 July 1409, he was succeeded by Martin I of Aragon.
Her former father-in-law allowed her to continue as regent of Sicily, which she did after his death, during the years of succession struggle in Aragon. She was a popular regent in Sicily, where she was seen as a symbol of Sicilian independence against Aragon, a Bernardo Cabrera made an unsuccessful attempt to abduct her to marry Nicolas Peralta, a descendant of the Sicilian royal house, thereby restore the Sicilian royal house with her and Nicolas as king and queen. With the victory of Ferdinand I in Aragon, Blanche lost her regency power in Siciliy, annexed to Aragon in November 1415, left for Navarre. Blanche returned to Navarre where she was sworn in as heir to the throne in Olito the 28 October 1415, was given allegiance by the lords. On 6 November 1419, Blanche married her second husband, duke of Peñafiel, the second son of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque, by proxy in Olite. Ferdinand had succeeded his maternal uncle Martin I in 1412. John travelled to meet her. On 10 June 1420, they were married in person in Pamplona.
The couple first lived in Peñafiel, but were called to live in Navarre by her father in 1422. Charles III died on 8 September 1425 and Blanche succeeded him as Queen regnant of Navarre. John became King of Navarre in her right as John II, the couple were crowned together in Pamplona 15 May 1429. Blanche died in Santa María la Real de Nieva in 1441. After her death, John kept the government of Navarre in his own hands, from the hands of their own son Charles of Viana, the rightful heir of the line of Navarrese kings, he would become King of Aragon and King of Sicily upon the death of his elder brother Alfonso V of Aragon in 1458. Blanche and Martin had one son: Infante Martin of Sicily. Blanche and John II of Aragon had four children: Charles of Navarre Joan of Navarre Blanche of Navarre, married Henry IV of Castile; the marriage was never consummated. After 13 years of marriage, Henry obtained a divorce. Blanca was sent home, where her family imprisoned her, she was killed by poison. Eleanor Queen of Navarre Anthony, Raoul: Identification et Etude des Ossements des Rois de Navarre inhumés dans la Cathédrale de Lescar, Masson, 1931 Maria Rita Lo Forte Scirpo: C'era una volta una regina...: due donne per un regno: Maria d'Aragona e Bianca di Navarra, Napoli: Liguori, ISBN 88-207-3527-X, 2003 Blanca I de Navarra in Auñamendi Entziklopedia Marek, Miroslav.
"A listing of descendants of Philip III of Navarre". Genealogy. EU
Kingdom of Majorca
The Kingdom of Majorca was founded by James I of Aragon known as James The Conqueror. After the death of his firstborn son Alfonso, a will was written in 1262 and created the kingdom to cede it to his son James; the disposition was maintained during successive versions of his will and so when James I died in 1276, the Crown of Aragon passed to his eldest son Peter, known as Peter III of Aragon or Peter the Great. The Kingdom of Majorca passed to James. After 1279, Peter III of Aragon established that the king of Majorca was a vassal to the king of Aragon; the title continued to be employed by the Aragonese and Spanish monarchs until its dissolution by the 1715 Nueva Planta decrees. The kingdom included the Balearic Islands: Majorca, Menorca and Formentera; the king was lord of the mainland counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, the territories James I kept in Occitania: the signory of Montpellier, the viscountcy of Carlat in Auvergne, the barony of Aumelas, contiguous with Montpellier. The legacy of James I included the creation of a strategic Mediterranean enclave, including territories between two large kingdoms, the Capetians of France and the Crown of Aragon, which were in constant conflict at the time.
Conscious of the fragility of the Kingdom of Majorca, James I undertook the conquest of Cerdanya to unify the new kingdom. He entered into negotiations to arrange the marriage of his son James to Beatrice of Savoy, daughter to Count Amadeus of Savoy. Neither plan was successful. On the death of James I, the new king of Majorca, James II, decided not to pay tribute to Peter III of Aragon. Preoccupied with diverse problems within the realm, it was not until 1279 when the Majorcan monarch reconciled to have his states recognized as subordinate to the king of Aragon; as a consequence the Kingdom of Majorca could not hold court, the king of Majorca was forced to go to Catalonia to present tribute to the king of Aragon. By means of the Treaty of Perpignan in 1279, an imbalance of power between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Majorca was created; the Aragonese king maintained the political and economic control of Aragon over the Kingdom of Majorca, reestablishing the unified jurisdiction of the Crown of Aragon, broken by the will of James I.
This treaty would condition relations between the Kingdom of Majorca and the Crown of Aragon throughout the former's existence. The lack of courts aggravated the destabilization of a kingdom on the brink of fracture, besides this, lacked any common institution beyond the monarchy. During the Aragonese Crusade, James II of Majorca allied himself with the Pope and the French against Peter of Aragon; as a result, Peter's successor Alfonso conquered the kingdom in 1286. However, by the Treaty of Anagni in 1295, James II of Aragon was required to restore the Balearics to James of Majorca. On the death of James II of Majorca's son Sancho in 1324, James III took the throne at the age of nine, necessitating a regency council headed by his uncle Philip to govern the realm; the situation was difficult since James II of Aragon did not renounce his claim to the Majorcan throne. In 1325, Philip secured the renunciation by the Aragonian king of any claim on the rights of succession of the Majorcan throne after the repayment of a great debt incurred by Sancho during an invasion by Sardinia.
While the act solved the problem of succession, it plunged the kingdom into a serious financial crisis. James was forced to develop policies similar to that of Aragon's. To that end, he was forced to participate in the war against Genoa, which resulted in the loss of various economic markets for the kingdom. Again, it was necessary to impose new taxes and fines on the Jewish community though this was insufficient to resolve the financial crisis; the problems of the kingdom did not appear to have an end since in 1341, Peter IV of Aragon closed relations with the Kingdom of Majorca as a prelude to invasion. In May 1343, Peter IV invaded the Balearic Islands and followed that in 1344 with the invasions of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya. James III was able to keep only his French possessions. After the sale of these possessions to the king of France in 1349, James III left for Majorca, he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Llucmajor on 25 October 1349. The Kingdom of Majorca was definitively incorporated into the Crown of Aragon.
The extinction of the Kingdom of Majorca was inevitable given the conflicts by which it was affected: the Hundred Years War between France and England. The kingdom of Majorca, which had bonds of vassalage with the crowns of France and Aragon, could not remain neutral during the conflicts. In addition, increased taxes to fund the kingdom's economy during its neutrality managed to unsettle the people of the kingdom. List of monarchs of Majorca A Mediterranean emporium - The Catalan kingdom of Majorca, by David Abulafia, ISBN 0-521-89405-0 Abulafia, David; the Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200-1500. 1997. ISBN 0-582-07820-2 —Genealogía, Reyes y Reinos: Reino de Mallorca —La Conquista de Mallorca en mapas y cuadros
Alfonso de Aragón y de Escobar
Alfonso de Aragon y de Escobar, Duke of Villahermosa, Count of Ribagorza and Cortes and Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, was an illegitimate son of John II of Aragon and Leonor de Escobar, one of his mistresses. His brothers and half brothers included Prince Charles of Trastámara and Viana and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, called the Catholic. On August 18, 1443 he was elected Master of the Order of Calatrava and dismissed on September 19, 1445, overtaken by Pedro Girón. Received the title of count of Ribagorza by his father John II in Monzón, resigned on November 27, 1469 to be succeeded by his first son Fernando, he fought in the War of the Castilian Succession. Capture of the Catalan castle of Amposta gave him fame during the war, he again led a group of skilled siege engineers in the Siege of Burgos in 1475. In 1475 he was named Duke of Villahermosa by his father John II of Aragon as a reward for his loyalty and military value. Alfonso of Aragon and Escobar died in Linares in 1485, not long after making to Málaga.
In 1477 Alfonso married with Leonor de Sotomayor of Portugal, daughter of Juan de Sotomayor and Isabel of Portugal with whom he had three children: Fernando de Aragón y de Sotomayor, Alfonso de Aragón y de Sotomayor María de Aragón, wife of es:Roberto Sanseverino II, widowed in 1510 and remarried with Jacopo V Appiani, Lord of Piombino es:Principality of Piombino. María Junquers had two extramarital children: Juan II de Ribagorza, Duchy of Moon I Leonor de Aragon, married to Jaime de Mila and became the first Marquess of Albayda; the premature death of his eldest son, Fernando, at the age of three years in 1481, would make the duchy passed to the second son of the marriage: Alfonso, who would inherit the duchy at 16 years in 1485. Duke of Villahermosa Order of Calatrava List of Grand Masters of the Order of Calatrava Navarro Latorre, José. "Don Alonso de Aragón, la "espada" o "lanza" de Juan II". Revista de Historia Jerónimo Zurita: 159–204. ISSN 0214-0993. Archived from the original on 2013-07-18.
CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown Carnicer, José Soler. Nuestras tierras. 1. Valencia: Vicente García. ISBN 84-85094-39-5. Menache, Sophia. "Una personificación del ideal caballeresco en el medievo tardío: Don Alonso de Aragón". Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval. ISSN 0212-2480. Costa, Manuel Iglesias. Historia del condado de Ribagorza. Huesca: Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2001. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown
Louis XI of France
Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent", was King of France from 1461 to 1483, the sixth from the House of Valois. He succeeded his father Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440; the king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné a province in southeastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, led his father to banish him from court. From the Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles' greatest enemy; when Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames "the Cunning" and "the Universal Spider", as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies.
In 1472, the subsequent Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, took up arms against his rival Louis. However, Louis was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny with Edward IV of England; the treaty formally ended the Hundred Years' War. With the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. Louis took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy proper and Picardy. Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, strengthen the economic development of his country, he died on 30 August 1483, was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII. Louis was born in the son of King Charles VII of France. At the time of the Hundred Years War, the English held northern France, including the city of Paris, Charles VII was restricted to the centre and south of the country. Louis was the grandson of Yolande of Aragon, a force in the royal family for driving the English out of France, at a low point in its struggles.
Just a few weeks after Louis's christening at the Cathedral of St. Étienne on 4 July 1423, the French army suffered a crushing defeat by the English at Cravant. Shortly thereafter, a combined Anglo-Burgundian army threatened Bourges itself. During the reign of Louis's grandfather Charles VI, the Duchy of Burgundy was much connected with the French throne, but because the central government lacked any real power, all the duchies of France tended to act independently. Duke Philip II was the reigning Duke of Burgundy. Philip was an uncle of King Charles VI, he served on a council of regents for King Charles; the Dukes of Anjou and Bourbon, all uncles of Charles VI served on this council of regents. All effective power in France lay with this council of dukes. In its position of independence from the French throne, Burgundy had grown in power. By the reign of Louis's father Charles VII, Philip III was reigning as Duke of Burgundy, the duchy had expanded its borders to include all the territory in France from the North Sea in the north to the Jura Mountains in the south and from the Somme River in the west to the Moselle River in the east.
During the Hundred Years War, the Burgundians allied themselves with England against the French crown. Indeed, the Burgundians were responsible for the capture of Joan of Arc and her execution on 31 May 1431. In 1429, young Louis found himself at Loches in the presence of Joan of Arc, fresh from her first victory over the English at the Siege of Orléans, which initiated a turning point for the French in the Hundred Years War. Joan led troops in other victories at the Battle of Jargeau and the Battle of Patay. Although Joan was unable to liberate Paris during her lifetime, the city was liberated after her death, Louis and his father Charles VII were able to ride in triumph into the city on 12 November 1437. Louis grew up aware of the continuing weakness of the French nation, he regarded his father as a weakling, despised him for this. On 24 June 1436, Louis met Margaret of Scotland, daughter of King James I of Scotland, the bride his father had chosen for diplomatic reasons. There are no direct accounts from Louis or his young bride of their first impressions of each other, it is mere speculation whether they had negative feelings for each other.
Several historians think. But it is universally agreed that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting. Louis's marriage with Margaret resulted from the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy at the time; the wedding ceremony—very plain by the standards of the time—took place in the chapel of the castle of Tours on the afternoon of 25 June 1436, was presided over by Renaud of Chartres, the Archbishop of Reims. The 13-year-old Louis looked more mature than his 11-year-old bride, said to resemble a beautiful doll, was treated as such by her in-laws. Charles wore "grey riding pants" and "did not bother to remove his spurs"; the Scottish guests were hustled out after the wedding reception, as the French royal court was quite impoverished at this time. They could not afford an extravagant ceremony or to host their Scottish guests for any longer than they did; the Scots, saw this b
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John II of Aragon". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 440.
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