Death of Louis XI

1483

The spider king died at Plessis-les-Tours after years of paranoid isolation in his chateau, surrounded by astrologers and dogs. He had centralized France, defeated Burgundy, and left his son Charles VIII a strong kingdom and a tangled web of unfulfilled promises. The French monarchy had its foundational ruthless modernizer. His centralization of royal power and neutralization of the aristocracy created the administrative foundations of the early modern French state.