32. Charles VIII. 32. Karl VIII. 32. Carlos VIII. 32. Charles VIII. 32. Carlo VIII. 32.チャールズ8世 32. Carlos VIII. 32. Карл VIII. 32. Карл VIII. 32.查理八世

CHAPTER XXXII. Charles VIII. (1483-1498)

The only son of Louis XI. was fourteen years old at the time of his father's death. He became king under the name of Charles VIII. His father had left him to the care of his sister, the eldest daughter of Louis XI. This princess was twenty-two years old; her name was Anne, and she was married to one of the great lords of the country. She is often spoken of as Madam Anne, and she was a very important person in France till Charles grew up; for he was afraid of her, and could be persuaded by her and her husband to do anything they liked. Hon omtalas ofta som Madam Anne, och hon var en mycket viktig person i Frankrike tills Charles växte upp; ty han var rädd för henne och kunde övertalas av henne och hennes man att göra vad de ville. In the first year of the young king's reign the States-General met together. The nobles and the common people were both delighted that Louis was dead, and hoped now for more freedom than they had had before, the nobles especially thinking that now they should be able to have their own way while there was no king whom they need fear. Adelsmännen och allmogen var båda förtjusta över att Ludvig var död och hoppades nu på mer frihet än de hade haft förut, och adelsmännen tänkte särskilt att nu skulle de kunna ha sitt eget sätt medan det inte fanns någon kung som de behöver frukta. .

The first question considered by the States was, who should be regent till the king was old enough to govern. Den första frågan som staterna tog upp var vem som skulle vara regent tills kungen var gammal nog att regera. The princes of the royal family said they had a right to choose a regent among themselves, and that if the king was too young to reign, the person who would naturally have been king after him, if he had no son, should be regent. Kungafamiljens furstar sa att de hade rätt att välja en regent sinsemellan, och att om kungen var för ung för att regera, borde den person som naturligtvis skulle ha varit kung efter honom, om han inte hade någon son, vara regent. But the deputies of the people said that the government was trusted to the king by the people for their good, and that, if he could not for any reason carry it on himself, it was for the people to trust it to some one else. Men folkets ställföreträdare sade, att regeringen anförtroddes konungen av folket för deras bästa, och att, om han av någon anledning inte kunde bära den på sig, så var det för folket att anförtro den till någon annan. However, after much disputing, it was settled that the king was old enough to manage the affairs of the country with the help of a council, which he might choose for himself from among the deputies. Efter mycket tvist kom det emellertid att avgöra, att kungen var gammal nog att sköta landets angelägenheter med hjälp av ett råd, som han kunde välja själv bland de deputerade. What really happened was that Madam Anne governed the country for eight years; for she told her brother what to do, and he never refused what she wished. She ruled wisely on the whole; she kept the kingdom quiet, defended it against all enemies, and was able to lessen the taxes, so as to prevent the poor people from being ruined by what they had to pay. When Charles was twenty-two, and took the government upon himself, she gave up all the power to him, and went to live quietly in her own home with her husband and children, like any private person. När Charles var tjugotvå och tog regeringen på sig, gav hon upp all makt åt honom och gick för att leva tyst i sitt eget hem med sin man och sina barn, som vilken privatperson som helst. Her father Louis, when he was alive, used to say of her that "she was the least foolish woman in the world, for there is no such thing as a wise woman." Ее отец Луи, когда был жив, говорил о ней, что "она была самой глупой женщиной на свете, ибо мудрых женщин не бывает". Her brother Charles, unfortunately, was a foolish boy, and grew up a foolish man.

The States-General, after they had settled the question about the regent, made complaints to the king of many things that were going wrong in the kingdom. The nobles wanted to have time allowed them to pay their debts, and to have particular laws made about hunting; the clergy wanted different arrangements made as to who should choose the bishops. The common people said that they were in a state of great distress, and explained to the king some of the reasons, of which the chief one was the way in which they were treated by the king's soldiers. They said - "During thirty-four years the king's troops have been continually passing through every part of France, all living on the poor people. The poor labourer must pay the wages of the man who beats him, who turns him out of his house, who carries off his food, who makes him lie on the bare earth. When the poor man has with great difficulty, and by selling the coat off his back, managed to pay his taxes, and is comforting himself with the hope that the little he has left may last for the rest of the year, then comes a new troop of soldiers to eat and destroy that little. Not satisfied with what they find in the poor man's cottage, they force him with heavy blows to seek in the town for white bread, for fish, for groceries, and other dainty fare; so that if God did not comfort the poor man, and give him patience, he would fall into despair. Не довольствуясь тем, что находят в доме бедняка, они тяжелыми ударами заставляют его искать в городе белый хлеб, рыбу, продукты и другие лакомства, так что если бы Бог не утешил бедняка и не дал ему терпения, он впал бы в отчаяние. In Normandy, great and countless numbers have died of hunger; others, in despair, have killed their wives, their children, and themselves. For the want of beasts, men, women, and children have been obliged to yoke themselves to the cart." The deputies asked the king to take off some of the taxes, in order that the people might be a little less poor and miserable. The king promised most of the things that were asked of him by his different subjects, and broke most of the promises. When I say the king, I mean his sister. Madam Anne, for she was the person who really decided what should be done.

Several of the great lords were jealous of Madam Anne, and wished to take some of her power from her for themselves. One in particular, the Duke of Orleans, the king's nearest relation next to his sisters, put himself at the head of the league; and they collected a great army, and made friends with the King of England and the Emperor of Germany, and expected easily to get the better of Charles and Anne. But Anne was too strong for them; she marched with an army, first into the south of France, then into the west; at last her soldiers fought a great battle against her enemies the princes, and won it. The Duke of Orleans, and some of the great lords, were taken prisoners.

The Duke of Brittany had been one of Anne's great enemies: he died, leaving only a daughter to be duchess after him. Most of the young princes and lords in all the countries round wished to marry the Duchess of Brittany, and be master of her lands, but Madam Anne managed to persuade her to marry King Charles; and though they had no children, it happened three times running that the King of France married the lady to whom Brittany at the time belonged; so that at last Brittany came to be completely part of France, and had no more dukes of its own, as had happened to Normandy and Toulouse and Burgundy, and the other great provinces which are now joined together to make up what we know as France. When Charles married he was about twenty-one years old, and he now said that he was old enough to govern for himself, so his sister and her husband (went to live in their own province as private people, and) left him to manage his government as best he could.

At this time happened a war, which was an important one for all Europe. All the wars of France had till now been either wars between the king and his great barons, or wars with England; the French had not fought with any other nation on the Continent. 到目前为止，法国的所有战争要么是国王与他的大贵族之间的战争，要么是与英格兰的战争；法国人没有与欧洲其他任何国家战斗。 Each country there had been too much taken up with its own affairs to mind those of others. But now, for the first time, one great nation on the Continent began a war with another, and the consequences lasted for hundreds of years. One of the great lords in Italy wrote to Charles VIII., and invited him to come and make himself master of several of the Italian cities, which, it was said, wished to have some new ruler over them, and would receive Charles gladly. There was no one King of Italy, but there were a great number of princes, dukes, marquises, and counts, all ruling over a larger or smaller part of the country. Some had only a few towns belonging to them, some a great many, some a province, some several provinces. They often quarrelled among themselves, and any one of them who made himself stronger than the others was apt to wish to make himself master and king of the whole country. Some of the princes wished that there should be one king of the whole country, and others wished that there should not be one, not liking the idea of any one more important than themselves. Many of them were inclined to make friends with France. Charles had invitations from two or three Italian towns to come and rule over them. Against the advice of his sister Anne, and some of his best councillors, he gathered together a large army, and set off for Italy.

A great many of the cities received him gladly; the people usually asked him to make them certain promises, to all of which he agreed, without even taking the trouble to understand what they were, so that his promises were often broken. The people found this out by degrees; and when they saw the sort of man he was, were much less eager than they had been to have him for their king. Several of the cities joined against him. He had sncceeded better than any one would have thought possible; he had taken Rome and Naples, and most of the other chief cities of Italy, and had made a treaty with the Pope, who had at first disliked his coming into Italy. But seeing the Italians turn against him, he thought it best to retreat. He divided his army into two parts, left one to defend what he had taken in Italy, and led the other back into France. He had to fight one great battle, when the enemy (caught him up)<overtook him>, and attacked him as he was leaving the country; but he was the conqueror, and came safely back to France. The Italians then attacked the general Charles had left behind him; they succeeded in taking from the French all they had won, and at last, in driving them out of the country. The whole war was over in two years from the time when it began. The French had not gained anything by it, but it had made them think of Italy, and wish to be masters there; and other wars were made there by other French kings, as we shall see.

After Charles VIII. came back to France he spent a good deal of time in amusing himself and living idly, going from one place to another to hold tournaments, and to feast and make merry, and thinking of nothing else. But suddenly he grew more serious; he began to mind the government of the country, to attend to public business, to listen to preachers, and to try not to spend more money than had been allowed him by the States-General. But he did not live to carry out his good plans. One day he went with his queen to see a game of tennis played in the moat of the castle. He had to pass through a low, dark gallery, and he hit his head against a doorway. He did not seem hurt at the time, but went on, watched the tennis, and talked cheerfully to everybody, till suddenly he fell down fainting. He was too ill to be taken back to his own rooms; they put him on a mattress in a room close by, which was the dirtiest in all the castle, and there, after nine hours of illness, Charles VIII. died. He was not a great king, nor a great man, and he brought no good to France. His reign was short; he died before he was twenty-eight years old.