Editing House of Valois (section)

==Centralization of power==
With the expulsion of the English, Charles VII had reestablished his kingdom as the foremost power of Western Europe. He created France's first standing army since Roman times, and limited papal power in the Gallican Church by the [[Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges]]. But his later years were marred by quarrels with his eldest son and heir, the Dauphin [[Louis XI of France|Louis]], who refused to obey him. The dauphin was banished from court for his intrigues, and did not return to France until his father's death.

[[Louis XI of France|Louis XI]] succeeded his father in 1461. At the beginning of his reign Louis reversed his father's policies, abolishing the Pragmatic Sanction to please the pope and the standing armies, which he distrusted, in favor of Swiss mercenaries. As a prince he had leagued with the nobility against his father, but as a king he found that his power could only be maintained by subduing them. He was the lifelong enemy of [[Charles the Bold]], Count of Charolais, and later Duke of Burgundy. In 1465, the [[League of the Public Weal]], an alliance of the feudal princes, which consisted of [[Charles de Valois, Duc de Berry|Charles, Duke of Berry]], the king's brother, the Count of Charolais, the Dukes of Brittany, Bourbon, Lorraine (then a member of the House of Anjou), and several others, attempted to restore their feudal prerogatives. Louis feared a further escalation of the conflict against this formidable coalition. To obtain peace he conceded all their demands, including the Duchy of Normandy to his brother, which carried with it one-third of the offices of state.

Louis seldom relied on the fortunes of war, but rather on intrigue and diplomacy. He maintained his power by paying pensions to well-placed people in the courts of his vassals and in neighboring states. He retook Normandy from his brother at the first opportunity. He bought off [[Edward IV of England]] to desist from attacking France. He fomented rebellions in the Burgundian dominions. At the death of [[Charles the Bold]] in 1477, he seized the duchy of Burgundy, which he claimed as a reverted fief, even though the original grant did not specify the exclusion of female heirs. But the marriage of [[Mary of Burgundy]], heiress of Charles the Bold, to [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian of Austria]] would prove problematic for later generations. In 1481, the last male of the House of Anjou died, willing all the Angevin possessions to the king. At the end of his reign royal power had become absolute in France.