THE RULERS OF FRANCE

Louis I., or as a German name Ludwig, surnamed Le Débonnaire, or the Pious, the son of Charlemagne, born in 778, succeeded his father in 814 as King of the Franks and Emperor of the West. In 817 he divided his dominions among his three sons, Lothaire, Pepin, and Louis. His nephew Bernard, king of Italy, revolted at this division, but was allured by Louis to Châlons, where he was put to death. In 829, in consequence of the urgent solicitations of his second wife, Judith of Bavaria, who had borne him a son, he made a new division of the empire. The result was that the elder brothers revolted and commenced a war, which, with various fortune to the parties chiefly concerned, lasted till the death of the emperor in 840. He was succeeded as emperor by his son Lothaire I.; and by the treaty of Verdun in 843 his son Charles the Bald obtained the territories from which France as a separate nationality developed; while another son, Louis the German, obtained territories from which the distinctive German nationality developed.

Charles I., surnamed le Chauve, or the Bald, King of France, was son of Louis le Débonnaire, and was born 823. After his father's death in 840 he fought with his half-brother, Lothaire for the empire of the Franks, and finally acquired by the Treaty of Verdun (843) all those territories between the ocean on the one part, and the Meuse, the Scheldt, the Saône, the Rhone, and the Mediterranean, on the other. But he lost Southern Aquitaine to his nephew Pepin, and had to divide Lorraine with his brother Louis the German. In 875 he was crowned emperor by Pope John VIII. He died in 877.

Charles II., surnamed le Gros, or the Fat, King of France, is also known as Charles III., emperor of Germany, and was born about 832. He was the son of Louis the German, and ascended the French throne in 885 to the prejudice of his cousin, Charles the Simple, but was deposed in 887 and died the following year.

Charles III., King of France, surnamed the Simple, was the son of Louis the Stammerer, and born in 879. His reign is noted for his long struggle with the piratical North. men or Normans, to whose chief, Rollo, he eventually ceded the territory of Normandy. He died in 929.

The first of the Capet's known in history was Robert the Strong, a Saxon made Count of Anjou by Charles the Bold, and afterwards duke of the Ile de France. His descendant Hugh son of Hugh the Great, was in 987 elected king of France in place of the Carlovingians.

On the failure of the direct line at the death of Charles IV. the French throne was kept in the family by the accession of the indirect line of Valois, and in 1589 by that of Bourbon. Capet being thus regarded as the family name of the kings of France, Louis XVI. was arraigned before the National Convention under the name of Louis Capet.

The name of the French kings Capet, has given 118 sovereigns to Europe, viz. 36 kings of France, 22 kings of Portugal, 11 of Naples and Sicily, 5 of Spain, 3 of Hungary, 3 emperors of Constantinople, 3 kings of Navarre, 17 dukes of Burgundy, 12 dukes of Brittany, 2 dukes of Lorraine, and 4 dukes, of Parma

Philip I., King of France, son of Henry I., was born 1052, and succeeded to the throne under the guardianship of Baldwin V., count of Flanders, in 1060. The Norman conquest of England took place in his reign, and he supported Prince Robert, son of the Conqueror, in his revolt against his father. He was a worthless debauchee and was detested by his subjects. He died in 1108.

Louis VII. of France (counting Louis Le Débonnaire as the 1st ), born in 1120, succeeded his father Louis VI. in 1137. He joined the second crusade to Palestine in 1147, but returned two years afterwards, having suffered many disasters, and lost most of his men. His divorced wife Eleanor married Henry II. of England, who thus acquired Guienne and Poitou. He died in 1180, and was succeeded by his son Philip Augustus.

Philip II., Augustus, King of France, born 1165, was crowned as successor during the lifetime of his father Louis VII., whom he succeeded in 1180. One of his first measures was the banishment of the ,Jews from the kingdom, and the confiscation of their property. Philip next endeavoured to repress the tyranny and rapacity of the nobles, which he effected partly by art and partly by force. In 1190 he embarked at Genoa on a crusade to the Holy Land, where he met Richard Coeur de Lion, who was engaged in the same cause in Sicily. The jealousies and disputes which divided the two kings induced Philip to return home the next year. He invaded Normandy during Richard's captivity (1193), confiscated the possessions of King John in France after the death of Prince Arthur (1203), prepared to invade England at the instance of the pope (1213), turned his arms against Flanders and gained the celebrated battle of Bouvines (1214). He died in 1223.

Louis IX. (St. Louis), King of France, eldest son of Louis VIII., born in 1215, succeeded to the throne in 1226, but remained some time under the regency of his mother. In the year 1244, when sick of a dangerous disorder, he made a vow to undertake a crusade to Palestine; and in August, 1248, sailed with his wife, his brothers, and 80,000 men to Cyprus, and in the following year proceeded to Egypt. Landing at Damietta, in 1249, he took this city, and afterwards twice defeated the Sultan of Egypt, to whom Palestine was subject. But famine and contagious disorders soon compelled him to retreat; his army was almost entirely destroyed by the Saracens, and himself and his followers carried into captivity. It was not till the year 1254 that Louis returned to France, and employed himself in improving the condition of the people by wise laws. In 1270 he determined to undertake another crusade. He sailed to Africa, besieged Tunis, and took its citadel. But a contagious disorder broke out, to which he himself (1270), together with a great part of his army, were sacrificed.

In 1297 he was canonized by Boniface VIII.

Philip III., called the Hardy, King of France, was the son of Louis IX. and Margaret of Provence. He was born 1245, and succeeded his father 1270. in 1271 be possessed himself of Toulouse on the death of his uncle, Alphonso; in 1272 he repressed the revolt of Roger, count of Foix, and in 1276 sustained a war against Alphonso X., king of Castile. The invasion of Sicily by Peter of Aragon, and the massacre of the French, known as 'the Sicilian vespers, caused him to make war against that prince, in the course of which he died, 1285.

Philip IV. (Le Bel), King of France, was born in 1268, and succeeded his father in 1285. He had already married Joanna, queen of Navarre, by which alliance he added Champagne as well as Navarre to the royal domain, which he made it his policy still further to increase at the expense of the great vassals. He even attempted to take Guienne from Edward I. of England, but afterwards entered into an alliance with that monarch, and gave him his daughter in marriage (1299), from which originated the claim of Edward III. on the crown of France. He was long engaged in war with Flanders, which resulted in the accession of the Walloon territory to France, and the restoration of the rest of Flanders to its count on condition of feudal homage. Philip had been engaged at the same time in a violent dispute with Pope Boniface VIII., in which he was supported by the states-general, and he publicly burned the pope's bull excommunicating him. On the death of Boniface and of Benedict XI. Clement V., who succeeded the latter, was elected by the influence of Philip, and fixed his residence at Avignon. Clement before his election entered into a regular treaty as to the terms on which he should receive the pontificate. The destruction of the order of the Templars (1307-12), and the seizure by the king of their goods and estates, was one of the fruits of this alliance. Philip left numerous ordinances for the administration of the kingdom, which mark the decline of feudalism and the growth of the royal power. He also convoked and consulted the states-general for the first time. He died in 1314.

Charles IV., King of France, surnamed le Bel, or the Handsome, third son of Philippe le Bel, was born in 1294, and ascended the throne in 1322. He died in 1328, without male issue, and was the last of the direct line descended from Hugh Capet.

Philip VI. Of Valois, King of France, was the nephew of Philip IV., to whose last son, Charles IV., he succeeded in virtue of the Salique law. He was born in 1293, and succeeded to the crown in 1328. In his reign occurred the wars with Edward III. of England, who claimed the French crown as grandson, by his mother, of Philip IV. Philip died in 1350. His reign was unfortunate for France by the long war which it inaugurated, known in France as the Hundred Years' war; and he has left an evil memory by his persecutions of Jews and heretics, his confiscations and exactions.

John II., King of France (1319-64), surnamed the Good, was a monarch distinguished alike for his incapacity and his misfortunes In 1356 he was defeated and taken prisoner by the Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers, and was detained at Bordeaux and at London till released at a heavy expense to his country by the Peace of Brétigny in 1360; but on learning that his son, the duke of Anjou, who had been left as a hostage in England, had effected his escape, he returned to London where he died in 1364.

Charles V., surnamed the Wise, King of France, was the son of King John, and was born in 1337. His father being taken prisoner by the English at Poitiers, the management of the kingdom devolved on him at an early age. With great skill and energy, not free, however, from duplicity, he suppressed the revolt of the Parisians and a rising of the peasants, kept the King of Navarre at bay, and deprived the English of a great part of their dominion in France. He died in 1380. He erected the Bastille for the purpose of overawing the Parisians.

Charles VI., surnamed the Silly, King of France, and son of the foregoing, was born at Paris in 1368, and in 1388 took the reins of government into his own hands. Four years later he lost his reason, and one of the most disastrous periods of French history began. The kingdom was torn by the rival factions of Burgundians and Armagnacs (Orleanists). In 1415 Henry V. of England crossed over to Normandy, took Harfleur by storm, won the famous victory of Agincourt, and compelled the crazy king to acknowledge him as his successor. Charles died in 1422.

Phillip The Bold, Duke of Burgundy, born in 1342, was the fourth son of John, king of France. He fought at Poitiers (1356), where, according to Froissart, he acquired the surname of the Bold. He shared his father's captivity in England, and on his return his father, whose favourite he was made him Duke of Touraine, gave him the Duchy of Burgundy, and made him premier peer of France. He was one of the most powerful French princes during the minority of Charles VI., during whose insanity he acted as regent, retaining the regency till his death in 1404.

Charles VII., King of France, was born at Paris in 1403. He succeeded only to the southern provinces of the kingdom, Henry VI. of England being proclaimed king of France at Paris. The English dominion in France was under the government of the Duke of Bedford, and so skillfully did the English general conduct his operations that Charles had almost abandoned the struggle as hopeless, when the appearance of Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans, gave, a favourable turn to affairs, and the struggle ended in the expulsion of the English from all their possessions in France, except Calais. Charles died in 1461.

Louis XI., King of France, eldest son of Charles VII., was born in 1423, and on his father's death in 1461 he assumed the crown. His unscrupulous ambition soon caused a league headed by the dukes of Burgundy, Lorraine, and others, to be formed against him, but his craft and the promises of concessions which he made brought about the dissolution of the league. After the death of Charles the Bold of Burgundy before Nancy in 1477, Louis took possession by force of a considerable part of his dominions as vacant fiefs of France, on account of which a war arose between him and Maximilian of Austria, who had married Mary, the daughter of the deceased duke. It was eventually agreed that the dauphin should marry Margaret, daughter of Maximilian, and receive the counties of Artois and Burgundy. In 1481 Louis, who had been twice affected by apoplexy, haunted by the fear of death, shut himself up in his castle of Plessisles-Tours, and gave himself over to superstitious and ascetic practices. He died in 1483. The great object of Louis was the consolidation of France, the establishment of the royal power, and the overthrow of that of the great vassals, and in achieving this end he was very successful, although by most unscrupulous means. He encouraged manufactures and trade, and did much for the good of his kingdom, but was coldhearted, cruel, and suspicious. Louis XI. was the first French monarch who assumed the title of Most Christian King, given him by the pope 1469.

Charles VIII., King of France, son of Louis XI., was born in 1470, and succeeded his father in 1483. In 1491 he married Anne, the heiress of Brittany, and thereby annexed that important duchy to the French crown. The chief event in the reign of Charles VIII. is his expedition into Italy, and rapid conquest of the kingdom of Naples, a conquest as rapidly lost when a few months later Gonsalvo de Cordova re-annexed it to Spain. Charles was meditating a renewed descent into Italy when he died in 1498.

Louis XII., King of France from 1498 to 1515, called by his subjects le Pére du Peuple, was born in 1462. He was the son of Charles, duke of Orleans, grandson of Charles V. He divorced his first wife Jeanne, daughter of Louis XI., and married the widow of Charles VIII., thus uniting the Duchy of Brittany with the crown. In Italy he conquered the Duchy of Milan, took possession of Genoa, and fought with Ferdinand the Catholic for the Kingdom of Naples. Louis took part in the League of Cambray against the Venetians, whom he defeated at Agnadello in 1509. In 1510, however, he had to face the Holy League formed against him by Julius II., Venice, Spain, England, and the Swiss; was beaten at Novara, by the Swiss in 1513, and by the English at Guinegate, and had to retreat out of Italy. At the age of fifty-three he married a second wife, Mary, the sister of Henry VIII. of England, and died about three months afterwards (1515) without male issue.

He was succeeded by Francis I., He ascended the throne in 1515, having succeeded his uncle, Louis XII.

		In prosecution of his claim to Milan he defeated the Swiss in the plains of Marignano and forced the reigning duke Maximilian Sforza to relinquish the sovereignty. On the death of Maximilian (1519) Francis was one of the competitors for the empire; but the choice fell on Charles of Austria, the grandson of Maximilian, henceforth known as the Emperor Charles V. From this period Francis and Charles were rivals, and were almost continually at war with one another. Both attempted to gain the alliance of England. With this view Francis invited Henry VIII. of England to an interview, which took place near Calais, between Guines and Ardres, in June, 1520. The magnificence of the two monarchs and their suites on this occasion has given to the meeting the name of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In 1521 war broke out between the rivals, which ended in Francis being defeated and taken prisoner, He could recover his liberty only by renouncing his claims to Naples, Milan, Genoa, and Asti, the suzerainty of Flanders and Artois, and promising to cede the Duchy of Burgundy and some other French fiefs. War was soon after renewed, an alliance, called the Holy League, having been formed between the Pope Clement VII., the King of France, the King of England, the Republic of Venice, the Duke of Milan, and other Italian powers, with the object of checking the advances of the emperor.
Francis I., King of France, born 1494; died 1547 His father was Charles of Orleans, count of Angouléme, and his mother Louise of Savoy, grand-daughter of Valentine, duke of Milan. Francis I. possessed a chivalric and enterprising spirit, and was a patron of learning.		In this war Rome was taken and sacked by the Constable of Bourbon (1527), and Italy was devastated, but Francis gained little either of fame or material advantage. Peace was concluded in 1529, but hostilities again broke out in 1535, when Francis possessed himself of Savoy. A hastily-made-up peace was soon broken, and Francis again found himself at war with the Emperor and the King of England.

Fortunately for France the union of the Protestant princes of Germany against the emperor prevented him from following up his success, and inclined him to a peace, which was concluded at Crespy in 1544. Charles resigned all his claims on Burgundy, and allowed Francis to retain Savoy. Two years after peace was made with England.

Henry II., King of France, born in 1519, succeeded his father, Francis I., in 1547. Throughout his reign his mistress, Diana of Poitiers, exercised an important influence over king and court. Alter a brief war with England for the recovery of Boulogne, a war of longer duration and more serious results originated in 1551 in disputes between Henry and the pope as to the duchies of Parma and Placentia, and continued to devastate Europe till the general peace of Câteau-Cambrésis, 1559. To confirm the peace Philip II., become a widower by the death of Mary of England, was to marry Elizabeth, Henry's eldest daughter by Catharine de' Medici. In the course of a tourney held to celebrate the event, Henry was mortally wounded by a splinter from the lance of Lord Montgomery, captain of the Scottish guard. He was succeeded in 1559 by his eldest son, Francis II.

Francis II., King of France, son of Henry II. and Catharine of Medici, born at Fontainebleau in 1544, ascended the throne on the death of his father, 1559. The year previous he had married Mary Stuart, only child of James V., king of Scotland. The uncles of his wife, Francis, duke of Guise, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, held the reins of government. Francis, who was of a feeble constitution, died in December, 1560.

Charles IX., King of France, son of Henry II. and Catharine de' Medici, born in 1550, ascended the throne at the age of ten years. His haughty and ambitious mother seized the control of the state. Along with the Guises she headed the Catholic League against the Calvinists, and her tortuous and unscrupulous policy helped to embitter the religious strife of the faction. After a series of Huguenot persecutions and civil wars a peace was made in 1570, which two years later on 24th August, 1572 was treacherously broken by the massacre of St Bartholomews. The king who had been little more than the tool of his scheeming mother died two years afterwards, in 1574.

Henry III., King of France, third son of Henry II. and Catharine de Medici, born in 1551; succeeded his brother, Charles IX., in 1574. In the previous year he had been chosen king of Poland, which he was obliged to quit secretly when called to the throne of France. In 1576, alter a civil war, he granted to the Protestants the favourable edict of Beaulieu, but the concession led to the formation of the League, and Henry, to re-establish his authority, declared himself its head. Civil war, however, again broke out, and though hostilities were again put an end to by the Peace of Bergerac in 1577, they were renewed in 1580 until the Peace of Fleix (Nov. 1580). The death of his brother the Duc d'Anjou in 1584, which left Henry of Navarre, a Calvinist, heir-apparent to the throne, brought on another war, called the war of the Three Henries, the leading persons engaged in it besides the king being Henry of Guise, the real head of the League, and Henry of Navarre. In 1588 Henry of Guise expelled the king from his capital. An apparent reconciliation at Blois was followed by the assassination of the Guises, and Henry, finding himself everywhere opposed by the Catholic party, was compelled to ally himself with Henry of Navarre. The two princes advanced on Paris, but in 1589 Henry III. was stabbed by Jacques Clement, a Dominican, and died next day. He was the last of the branch of Orléans-Angouléme of the stock of the Valois, and was succeeded by Henry of Navarre, the first of the house of Bourbon.

Henry IV. of France was son of Anthony of Bourbon, duke of Vendôme, and of Jeanne d'Albret, daughter of Henry, king of Navarre, and herself afterwards queen of Navarre. He was born in Dec. 1553, at Pau. Educated by his mother in the Calvinistic faith, he early joined, at her wish, the Protestant army of France, and served under Admiral Coligny. In 1572 he married Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX., and alter the massacre of St. Bartholomew, which took place during the marriage festivities, was forced to adopt the Catholic creed. In 1576 he escaped from Paris, retracted at Tours his enforced abjuration of Calvinism, put himself at the head of the Hugueuots, and took a leading part in all the subsequent religious wars. On becoming presumptive heir to the crown in 1584 he was obliged to resort to arms to assert his claims. In 1587 he defeated the army of the League at Coutras, and after the death of Henry III. gained the battles of Arques (1589) and Ivri (1590). He was obliged, however, to raise the siege of Paris; and convinced that a peaceful occupation of the throne was impossible without his professing the Catholic faith, he became normally a Catholic in 1593. After his formal coronation in 1594 only three provinces held out against him - Burgundy, reduced by the victory of Fontaine-Française in 1595 Picardy, reduced by the capture of Amiens in 1596; and Brittany, which came into his hands by the submission of the Duke of Mercoeur in the spring of 1598. The war against Spain was concluded in 1598 by the Peace of Vervins to the advantage of France. The same year was signalized by the granting of the edict of Nantes, which secured to the Protestants entire religious liberty. He made use of the tranquility which followed to restore the internal prosperity of his kingdom, and particularly the wasted finances, in which he was successful with the aid of his prime-minister Sully. At the instance of Sully Henry divorced Margaret of Valois, and in 1600 married Maria de' Medici, niece of the Grand-duke of Tuscany, mother of Louis XIII. She was crowned at St. Denis in 1610, but on the following day Henry was stabbed by a fanatic named Ravaillac, while examining the preparations for the queen's entry into Paris. The great benefits which Henry IV. bestowed upon France entitle him to the designation which he himself assumed at an assembly of the Notables at Rouen in 1596, the Regenerator of France (Restaurateur de la France).

Louis XIII., King of France, surnamed the Just, the son of Henry IV., born 1601. He ascended the throne (1610) after the murder of his father, his mother (Maria de' Medici) being made guardian of her son and regent of the kingdom. In 1614 Louis was declared of age, and married the year following Anne, daughter of Philip III. of Spain. His mother was now exiled from court, and excited a civil war, during which the Huguenots also rose in arms against the king. Louis gave himself up to the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu. A peace was concluded in 1623, but it was not of long continuance. Eventually Rochelle, the headquarters of the Huguenots, was captured (1628), and the revolt, headed by the queen-mother, was broken by the defeat of the insurgents at Castelnaudary (1632). Louis was now induced by Richelieu to take part in the Thirty Years' war, and obtained frequent successes over the Austrians and Spaniards adding Roussillon, Alsace, and the Duchy of Bar to France. He died in 1643.

Louis XIV., King of France, known as Louis the Great, son of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, was born at St. Germain-en-Laye 1638, and succeeded his father in 1643. His minority was occupied by the continuation of the wars against Austria; by the victories of Condé - victories crowned by the Treaty of Westphalia; by the struggles of the parliament against the regent and Mazarin; by the bloody troubles of the Fronde faction; the revolt of Condé ; &c. In 1659 peace was concluded with Spain, and Louis married Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV. of Spain. On the death of Mazarin in 1661 Louis resolved to rule without a minister. He reformed the administration and the taxes, and made the famous Colbert superintendent, who accomplished a series of financial reforms, created the Company of the Indies, made roads, canals, and founded manufactures. In 1662 he purchased Dunkirk for 5,000,000 livres from the needy Charles II. On the death of his father-in-law he claimed Franche.Comté and Flanders, and invaded those territories, Turenne and Condé leading his armies, in 1667. In 1672 he declared war with Holland, and in a few weeks he had conquered three provinces; but the formation of the Grande Alliance between the Emperor, William of Orange, Spain, Denmark, &c., checked his ambition. Still the Treaty of Nimeguen (1678) left Louis in possession of Franche - Comté and a part of Flanders. Louis was now at the height of his glory, and the splendour of his court, adorned by whole groups of great generals, poets, philosophers, and notable men, far outshone that of other European courts. Maria Theresa having died in 1683, he secretly married Madame de Maintenon about 1684 or 1685. She is said to have had a considerable part in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which drove so many industrious Protestants into exile. The League of Augsburg was now formed against Louis by Spain, Holland, England, Sweden, &c. A general war continued with frequent and severe losses to the French till the Peace of Ryswick (1697), by which Louis was to restore all his recent conquests and most of the acquisitions made since the Peace of Nimeguen. The question of the Spanish Succession once more brought Louis into conflict with a united Europe. The principal episodes of the war were the victories of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet, gained by Marlborough and Prince Eugène. Hostilities were terminated by the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, without altering the relative position of the combatants. Louis died on the 1st of September, 1715, and was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV. The brilliant reign of Louis left France impoverished and most of her industries languishing.

In the interval the country was under the regency of Philippe Duke of Orléans Regent of France, son of Philippe, duke of Orleans, and the Princess Palatine Elizabeth, born 1674, died 1723. He fell early under the influence of the clever and unscrupulous Abbé (afterwards Cardinal) Dubois, who continued as his confidant and adviser throughout his life. He made his military debut at the siege of Mons (1691), and in 1693 distinguished himself at Neerwinden, but only to arouse the jealousy of Louis XIV., his uncle, who compelled him to retire from the army. In 1692 he married Mdlle. de Blois, the legitimated daughter of Louis. In 1707 he was appointed to succeed the Duke of Berwick in Spain, and completed the subjugation of that country. He was recalled, however, being suspected of intriguing for the crown of Spain, and again forced into retirement. On the death of the king (1st September, 1715) he was appointed regent. On acceding to power the regent found the finances in extreme disorder, and endeavoured to improve matters by retrenchment and peace; Due to the rash financial schemes of John Law, and the reckless introduction of a vast paper currency the nation was brought to the verge of bankruptcy. He resigned the government to Louis XV. on 13th Februnrv. 1723.

In 1726 Louis placed his tutor Cardinal Fleury at the head of the administration. In 1725 he had married Maria, daughter of Stanislaus Leczynski, the dethroned king of Poland, and in 1733 became involved in a war in support of his father-in-law's claims. After two campaigns he acquired for Stanislaus the Duchy of Lorraine. After the death of Charles VI. in 1740 the war of the Austrian Succession broke out, in which the victories of Count Maurice of Saxony gave new splendour to the French arms; and by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, France regained her lost colonies. Louis now began to sink into the grossest indolence and sensuality, abandoning the management of state affairs to Madame de Pompadour, who recklessly squandered the public money. From 1769 he was governed by Madame du Barry, who is said to have cost the royal treasury in five years 180,000,000 livres. The Seven Years' war (1756-63), in which France was involved, brought severe losses and humiliations on the country, and transferred to Great Britain Canada, Cape Breton, and other territories. Under the auspices of the Duke de Choiseul the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1764. In 1771 a quarrel between the new prime-minister, the Duke d' Aiguillon, and the parliament induced the king to banish the members of the parliament from Paris, and soon after to abolish the parliaments entirely. Louis died in 1774 of small-pox, leaving a debt of £160,000,000 and a demoralized kingdom.

Louis XVI., King of France, grandson of Louis XV., was born 1754, and in 1770 married Marie Antoinette of Austria. He ascended the throne in 1774. His moral character was far superior to that of the previous king; but his weakness and want of decision made him very unfit for wielding the sceptre of a great country, especially at such a critical period. He could not comprehend the situation of affairs Indeed, and had no thought of checking his personal extravagance; while the queen also gave herself up to her love of gaiety, and the festivals of Versailles and Petit Trianon were on a scale of lavish magnificence. At last, in 1789, all the grievances and discontents which had been gathering during a long period of misrule found vent; the populace attacked and destroyed the Bastille; and the revolution was accomplished. In June 1791 the position of the king had become so perilous that he attempted to escape, but was intercepted at Varennes and forced to return. Amongst the events which followed were the attack of the populace of Paris on the royal palace, June 20, 1792; the king's arrest in the national assembly, to which he had fled for refuge; finally, his trial before the convention, where he replied to the charges with dignity and presence of mind. On January 16, 1793, he was declared guilty of a conspiracy against the freedom of the nation, by a vote of 690 out of 719; on the 17th he was condemned to death, by a majority of only five in 721, and on the 21st he was guillotined.

Louis XVII., King of France, second son of Louis XVI., was born in 1785. On the death of his elder brother in 1789 he became dauphin, was proclaimed king by the royalists on the death of Louis XVI., was soon after separated from his mother, sister, and aunt, and delivered (1793) to a shoemaker named Simon, a fierce Jacobin, who, with his wife, treated the young Capet with the most unfeeling barbarity. He survived this treatment only till June 8,1795, when he died at the age of ten years and two months.

Louis XVIII., King of France, third son of the dauphin, the son of Louis XV., was born in 1755, and died 1824. At the accession of his brother Louis XVI. in 1774 he received the title of Monsieur. He favoured the Revolution in its first stages, and secured the extended representation of the Third Estate. He lost his popularity, however, fled from Paris the same night as the king, and by taking another route reached the frontier in safety. After the death of Louis XVI. Monsieur proclaimed his nephew King of France as Louis XVII., and in 1795 he was himself proclaimed by the emigrants King of France and of Navarre. For many years he led a wandering life, supported by foreign courts and by some friends of the house of Bourbon. He at last took refuge in England in 1807, and lived there till the fall of Napoleon opened the way for him to the French throne. He entered Paris in May, 1814; had to fly on Napoleon's escape from Elba, but was replaced on the throne by the Allies after Waterloo. His was weak in character, but gained considerable esteem and affection.

Charles X., King of France, Comte d'Artois, born at Versailles in 1757, grandson of Louis XV., was the youngest son of the dauphin, and brother of Louis XVI. He left France in 1789, after the first popular insurrection and destruction of the Bastille, and afterwards assuming the command of a body of emigrants, acted in concert with the Austrian and Prussian armies on the Rhine. Despairing of success he retired to Great Britain and resided for several years in the palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh. He entered France at the Restoration, and in 1824 succeeded his brother, Louis XVIII. as king. In a short time his reactionary policy brought him into conflict with the popular party, and in 1880 a revolution drove him from the throne. He died in 1836. His grandson, the Comte de Chambord, claimed the French throne as his heir.

Louis Philippe, King of the French, born at Paris 1773; died at Claremont, England, 1850. He was the eldest son of Duke Louis Philippe Joseph of Orleans, surnamed Egalité, and during his father's lifetime he was known as Duke of Chartres. He entered the army in 1791, and favouring the popular cause in the Revolution he took part in the battles of Valmy and Jemappes; was present at the bombardment of Venloo and Maestricht, and distinguished himself at Neerwinden. Dumouriez had formed a scheme for placing him on the throne as a constitutional monarch, and being included in the order of arrest directed against Dumouriez, in 1793, he took refuge within the Austrian territory. For twenty-one years he remained exiled from France, living in various European countries, and in America. He had become Duke of Orleans on the death of his father in 1793, and in 1809 he married the daughter of Ferdinand IV. of Naples. After the fall of Napoleon I. he returned to France, and was reinstated in his rank and property. At the Revolution of July, 1830, he was made 'lieutenant-general of the kingdom,' and in August became king of the French. He reigned for eighteen years,when the Revolution of 1848 drove him from the throne to England where he remained till his death.

Charles Louis Napoleon III, Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, was born at Paris 1808; died at Chiselhurst, England, 1873. He was the youngest son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I. and king of Holland, and of Hortense de Beauharnais. His early life was spent chiefly in Switzerland and Germany. By the death of his cousin the Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II.,) he became the recognized head of the Bonaparte family, and from this time forward his whole life was devoted to the realization of a fixed idea that he was destined to occupy his uncle's imperial throne. In 1836 an attempt was made to secure the garrison of Strasburg, but the affair turned out ludicrous failure. The prince was taker prisoner and conveyed to Paris, and the government of Louis Philippe shipped him off to the United States. The death of his mother brought him back to Europe, and for some years he was resident in England. In 1840 he made a foolish and theatrical de scent on Boulogne; was captured, tried, and sentenced to perpetual confinement in the fortress of Ham. After remaining six years in prison he escaped and returned to England. On the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 he hastened to Paris, and securing a seat in the National Assembly, he at once commenced his candidature for the presidency. On the day of the election, 10th December, it was found that out of 7,500,000 votes Louis Napoleon had obtained 5,434,226; Cavaignac, who followed second, had but 1,448,107. On the 20th the prince-president, as he was now called, took the oath of allegiance to the republic. He looked forward to a higher position still, however, and pressed for an increase of the civil list from 600,000 francs first to 3,000,000, then to 6,000,000, with his term of office extended to ten years, and a residence in the Tuileries. At last, on the evening of the 2d December, 1851, the president declared Paris in a state of siege, a decree was issued dissolving the assembly, 180 of the members were placed under arrest, and the people who exhibited any disposition to take their part were shot down in the streets by the soldiers. Another decree was published at the same time ordering the re-establishment of universal suffrage, and the election of a president for ten years. When the vote came to be taken, on the 20th and '21st of the same month, it was discovered that 7,439,216 suffrages were in favour of his retaining office for ten years, with all the powers he demanded, while only 640,737 were against it.

As soon as Louis Napoleon found himself firmly seated he began to prepare for the restoration of the empire. In January 1852 the National Guard was revived, a new constitution adopted, and new orders of nobility issued; and at last, on the 1st December, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor under the title of Napoleon III. On the 29th January, 1853, the new sovereign married Eugénie Marie de Montijo, countess de Teba; the result of this union being a son, Napoleon - Louis, born 16th March, 1856. In March 1854 Napoleon III., in conjunction with England, declared war in the interest of Turkey against Russia. In April 1859 war was declared between Austria and Sardinia, and Napoleon took up arms in favour of his Italian ally, Victor Emanuel. The allies defeated the Austrians at Montebello, Magenta, Marignano, and Solferino. By the terms of the Peace of Villafranca Austria ceded Lombardy to Italy, and the provinces of Savoy and Nice were given to France in recognition of her powerful assistance (10th March, 1860). In 1860 the emperor sent out an expedition to China to act in concert with the British and in 1861 France, England, and Spain agreed to despatch a joint expedition to Mexico for the purpose of exacting redress of injuries, but the English and Spaniards soon withdrew. The French continued the quarrel, and an imperial form of government was initiated, Maximilian, archduke of Austria, being placed at its head with the title of emperor. Napoleon, however, withdrew his army in 1867, and the unfortunate Maximilian, left to himself, was captured and shot. On the conclusion of the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 Napoleon, jealous of the growing power of Prussia, demanded a reconstruction of frontier, which was peremptorily refused. The ill-feeling between the two nations was increased by various muses, and in 1870, on the Spanish crown being offered to Leopold of Hohenzollern, Napoleon demanded that the King of Prussia should compel that prince to refuse it. Notwithstanding the subsequent renunciation of the crown by Leopold war was declared by France (19th July). (The Franco-German War.) On the 28th July Napoleon set out to take the chief command, and on 2d September the army with which he was present was compelled to surrender at Sedan. One of the immediate consequences of this disaster was a revolution in Paris. The empress and her son secretly quitted the French capital and repaired to England, where they took up their residence at Camden House, Chislehurst. Here they were rejoined by the emperor (who had been kept a prisoner of war for a short time) in March 1871 and here he remained till his death. His only child, the prince imperial, who had joined the British army in South Africa as a volunteer, was killed by the Zulus 2nd June, 1879.