92 HIS TOR y OF FRANCE. [chap. proverb. This battle secured his return, and, as he took no heed to send succours to the troops he had left behind, Ferdinand of Naples speedily recovered his kingdom with the help of his kinsfolk Ferdinand and Isabel of Spain. Disease, famine, and skirmishes destroyed Montpensier's army, and only a small remnant survived to be sent home by the conqueror. 6. Death of Charles VIII., 1495. — Charles was medi- tating another campaign to retrieve his losses, when, on the 7th of April, 1498, on his way along a dark passage in the vaults of the castle of Amiioise, he struck his head violently against the top of a doorway, fell backwards, and died the same night. He was only twenty-eight, and had scarcely outgrown his boyishness ; but there were signs of good in him, and he was so much beloved that two of his attendants are said to have died of grief for him. His children had all died before him, and the next heir was Lewis, Duke of Orleans, in right of his descent from the second son of Charles V. 7. Marriage of Lewis XII. and Anne of Britanny, 1498. — The first measure oi Lewis XII. was to rid himself of his patient, faithful wife, Joan of Valois. He purchased the consent of Alexander VI. by a huge sum of money, and the duchy of Valence or Valentinois for the Pope's son Cjesar Borgia, who had been Bishop of Valencia in Spain, but had given up the ecclesiastical calling. Joan submitted to retire into a convent, and Lewis at once married Anne of Britanny, thus preventing her duchy from being lost to the crown. She was a good and spirited woman, who kept her court far better regulated than was usual in P' ranee, but she never bore a son to Lewis XII , only two daughters. The heir to the throne was Francis, Dtike of Angouleme, the son of the second son of Lewis I., Duke of Orleaijs. 8. The Conquest of Milan, 1499. — Lewis XII., on be- coming king, showed qualities which no one had expected of him. He showed far more thought for the welfare of his subjects in general than was usual with French kings, and was known as the Father of his People. But in his dealings with foreign states he was as ambitious and cruel as any of them. At his coronation he took the titles of Duke of Milan and King of Sicily and Jerusalem, and made a treaty with X'cnice for the partition of the duchy of Milan, and with the Swiss for a supply of mercenary troops. Lewis crossed the Alps, and the people of Milan,
