to the Count of Maine (1481) the two wills by which the pretensions of the House of Anjou to the Crown of Naples were transmitted to the royal family of France.[1] On the death of Louis, Charles VIII. became King in 1483.  He was then aged only thirteen, and was still governed by his elder sister, Anne de Beaujeu.[2] It was not until 1492 that he actually took the reins of the kingdom into his own hands.  This year, we may remark, is one of the most memorable dates in history.  In 1492 Columbus discovered America:  in 1492 Roderigo Borgia was made Pope:  in 1492 Spain became a nation by the conquest of Granada.  Each of these events was no less fruitful of consequences to Italy than was the accession of Charles VIII.  The discovery of America, followed in another six years by Vasco de’ Gama’s exploration of the Indian seas, diverted the commerce of the world into new channels; Alexander VI. made the Reformation and the Northern Schism certainties; the consolidation of Spain prepared a way for the autocracy of Charles V. Thus the commercial, the spiritual, and the political scepter fell in this one year from the grasp of the Italians.

[1] Sismondi, vol. vi. p. 285.  The Appendix of Pieces Justificatives to Philip de Comines’ Memoirs contains the will of Rene King of Sicily, Count of Provence, dated July 22, 1474, by which he constitutes his nephew, Charles of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, Count of Maine, his heir-in-chief; as well as the will of Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, Count of Provence, dated December 10, 1481, by which he makes Louis XI. his heir, naming Charles the Dauphin next in succession.

    [2] Her husband was a cadet of the House of Bourbon.

Both Philip de Comines and Guicciardini have described the appearance and the character of the prince who was destined to play a part so prominent, so pregnant of results, and yet so trivial in the affairs of Europe.  Providence, it would seem, deigns frequently to use for the most momentous purposes some pantaloon or puppet, environing with special protection and with the prayers and aspirations of whole peoples a mere manikin.  Such a puppet was Charles.  ’From infancy he had been weak in constitution and subject to illness.  His stature was short, and his face very ugly, if you except the dignity and vigor of his glance.  His limbs were so disproportioned that he had less the appearance of a man than of a monster.  Not only was he ignorant of liberal arts, but he hardly knew his letters.  Though eager to rule, he was in truth made for anything but that; for while surrounded by dependents, he exercised no authority over them and preserved no kind of majesty.  Hating business and fatigue, he displayed in such matters as he took in hand a want of prudence and of judgment.  His desire for glory sprang rather from impulse than from reason.  His liberality was inconsiderate, immoderate, promiscuous.  When he displayed inflexibility of purpose, it was more often an ill-founded obstinacy than firmness, and that which many people called his goodness of nature rather deserved the name of coldness and feebleness of spirit.’  This is Guicciardini’s portrait.  De Comines is more brief:  ’The king was young, a fledgling from the nest; provided neither with money nor with good sense; weak, willful, and surrounded by foolish counselors.’