Contemporary and Near-Contemporary Opinion of Louis XII, "Père du Peuple"

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

On 27 May 1 498, King Louis XII, "Père du Peuple," was crowned in the cathedral at Rheims according to ancient French custom.Thus began one of the least studied reigns in French history.Too often regarded merely as an insignificant link in the chain that loosely unites Medieval and Renaissance France, the seventeen-year reign of Louis XII has largely been ignored.At the beginning of the last century, P.L. Roederer complained that "for three centuries we have only rendered to Louis XII's memory cold and equivocable homage."He was shocked by the lack of interest in the King and disgusted by the sterility of the few existing biographies.He was determined, therefore, to restore the King's memory to its former greatness, criticizing those who offered him only weak tributes for commonplace virtues and despising the "nearly contemptible eulogies" of others.^Unfortunately,Roederer' s work was not pursued.Only within the last decade has recent scholarship begun to take more interest in the period of Louis' reign; however, very little attention has been devoted to Louis himself.-'Consequently, the simplistic, superficial and unflattering views and judgements of traditional accounts of the King remain in force.Contributing to this unfavourable view of Louis XII undoubtedly has been the few available conventional sources for the reign compared to that of the King's predecessors and successors.And, ironically, the resulting ignorance has only compounded the traditional disdain for Louis XII's reputation.Despite knowing litde of his reign, nineteenth-and twentieth- century scholars have not been prevented from jumping to decisive con- clusions, based upon limited information, that have unjustly ignored the reputation as "Père du Peuple" enjoyed by the King during his own lifetime, and remembered by subsequent generations of Renaissance and Early Modem French subjects.the short term earn the prince some criticism, in the long run-if they bring success-they ironically increase his subjects' appreciation of him as a good ruler.The prince is seen thereafter as a great man who seeks nothing but the good of the state: "The ends justify the means." Louis XII was an Renaissance et Réforme / 237 excellent example of this.He had to rise above numerous problems to uphold his sobriquet as "Père du Peuple"; he had to overcome criticism for his parsimony, the scandal of his divorce from his first wife, and the hostility of the Breton nobles and Parisians to his second marriage -^just to name three.Despite these conflicts, Louis' image-which was in fact strengthened by the difficulties-not only emerged intact but also survived ÛiTou^out tho Ancien Régime as the hallmark ofhis reign.This shows that Louis' image as "Père du Peuple" was founded upon something more enduring than the exaggerated praise of his panegyrists, and that he was far from being a plaster saint.Why was Louis XII so highly praised by his contemporaries and near- contemporaries?How was it that he earned the sobriquet "Père du Peuple" in his own lifetime?Surely, we must agree with Roederer's criti- cism of those scholars who have suggested that one needs only to be a mediocrity to be called "Père du Peuple." Louis, then, must have repre- sented something to his people that has escaped us.If they could not evaluate the King by hindsight, they surely could see the setting in which he ruled.Contemporaries had to place him within the context of a state still recovering from the Hundred Years War, and a monarchy consolidating its authority at the unfortunate expense of high taxation and heavy-handed royal law, if not justice.Furthermore, they could remember the new king's former role as due d'Orléans, cousin to King Charles VIII, and leader of elements within the state who had opposed Charles' unpopular methods.In general what they saw was the continuity of post-war consolidation and recovery, coupled with royalist reform directed at the perceived abuses of the previous reign.Particularly, they praised Louis XII for undertaking major reforms injustice, finance, the university, the Gallican church and the army.Throughout, they saw the kingdom prosper from these reforms and grow ever wealthier, stronger and happier.