History UsefulNotes / LEtatCestMoi

!!UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}

Since his brothers predeceased him, he was able to keep the whole of Charlemagne's empire. The division of his empire led to the formation of West Francia and East Francia, which would ultimately lead to France and Germany respectively.

!!Charles III ([[OneSteveLimit the other one]])

Philippe's son and heir. His nickname "the Good" [[HaveAGayOldTime doesn't mean]] he was TheGoodKing, it's more akin to ''[[LeeroyJenkins the Brave]].'' In 1356 he was captured during the Battle of Poitiers and taken to England as a hostage. He stayed in the Tower of London until 1360. He died in 1364. Usually viewed as one of the worst kings France ever had.

Jean's son. Through a combination of pluck, bribery, and dirty fighting (often performed by the Constable Bertrand du Guesclin, who once conquered a castle by dressing his soldiers like the opponent), he managed to recover much of the territory the English had seized from the French crown. He died in 1380, leaving the throne to his [[AChildShallLeadThem 12-year-old son]].

* Charles VII: Almost all of the works about UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and the late stages of UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar.

He is best known for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

!!Charles III ([OneSteveLimit the other one]])

!!Charles III

** Appears, in the days when he was just the king's elder brother, in ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' by Creator/AlexandreDumas.

** Played by Emmanuel Booz in ''Series/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|1998}}'' (1998).

* Regency of Marie de Medici: Appears in ''Film/LeCapitan'', played by Lise Delamare.
* Regency of Philippe d'Orléans: Appears in the novel ''Le Bossu'' by Creator/PaulFeval and its adaptations, including ''Film/{{Le Bossu|1959}}'' (1959, played by Paul Cambo) and ''Film/OnGuard'' (1997, played by Creator/PhilippeNoiret, who had [[RoleReprise already played him]] in the 1975 film ''Que la fête commence'').

->'''Lived:''' 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380\\

** ''Film/VaincreOuMourir'': Vendée Royalist insurgency leader François Athanase Charette de La Contrie sees Louis XVII [[DreamingOfThingsToCome in a dream]]. The next morning, Charette receives a letter announcing the death of Louis at the Temple Tower prison.

* Louis-Philippe: Appears in a few episodes of ''Series/{{Victoria}}'': first as a wily but honourable counterparty during UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria's state visit to France in September 1843, and then as a slightly deranged and melancholy figure who terrifies the young [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Prince Albert Edward]][[note]]The future Edward VII[[/note]] as a refugee at Buckingham Palace after 1848.

* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte
** UsefulNotes/JosephineDeBeauharnais

'''Consorts:''' (1) Joséphine de Beauharnais (1796–1810); (2) Marie Louise, ''Duchess of Parma'' (1810–1814)

A man who needs no introduction. Joséphine, Napoléon Complexes, Austerlitz, Elba, and Waterloo are all fairly well ingrained in the popular imagination.

'''Consorts:'' (1) Ermentrude of Orléans (843–869); (2) Richilde of Provence (c. 870 – 2 June 910)\\

* Louis XVIII: Appears, in the days when he was just the king's elder brother, in ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' by Creator/AlexandreDumas.

'''Nickname:''' ''le Fainéant''("the Lazy")[[note]]Assigned after his death by [[WrittenByTheWinners Capetian propaganda]][[/note]]

* '''Pepin I the Short''' (reigned 752-768). Son of Charles Martel. His wife was called "Berthe au Grand Pied", or "Big-Footed Bertha". Yes, really. Campaigned in Italy against the Lombards, becoming the protector of the Popes. Created UsefulNotes/ThePapalStates. Also campaigned against the Emirate of Cordoba and the Duchy of Aquitaine, successfully annexing Narbonne and setting the stage for further conquests in the Mediterranean coast.
* '''Carloman I''' (reigned 768-771). Son of Pepin I. Inherited Alemannia, Burgundy, and half of Austrasia. Quarreled with his brother, rival and co-ruler Charlemagne. When Carloman died suddenly, Charlemagne moved to take over his areas. His widow Gerberga and two underage children were forced to flee, seeking refuge with the Lombards. Charlemagne managed to conquer the Lombards by 774. The subsequent fate of Carloman's family is unknown.
* '''UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}''' (reigned 768-814). Son of Pepin I. In French pop history, he is credited with inventing school, earning him the enmity of French children forever after. Also extended the borders of the kingdom through the conquest of the Lombards, Saxons, Avars etc. and created the first version of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. The battle that would eventually become fictionalized as ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' took place under his watch, and the musical ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'' is also set in Charlemagne's court. Charles also appears in the lists of German kings and emperors under his German name Karl der Große, which like Charlemagne (and the Latin form it is based on, Carolus Magnus) means Charles the Great.
* '''Louis the Pious''' (reigned 814-840). Son of Charlemagne. Since his brothers predeceased him, he was able to keep the whole of Charlemagne's empire. The division of his empire led to the formation of West Francia and East Francia, which would ultimately lead to France and Germany respectively.
* '''Charles the Bald''' (reigned 840/843-877). Son of Louis the Pious, and grandson of Charlemagne. Inherited West Francia after his father divided up his massive kingdom among his many sons. The formal division of the realm took place with the Treaty of Verdun (843). Charles' reign was spent in almost unceasing conflict with his brothers, Vikings, Bretons, and various others.
* '''Louis II''' (reigned 877-879), usually given the not entirely complimentary name of 'Louis the Stammerer', was Charles' son; he was a meek fellow who died rather young.
* '''Louis III''' (reigned 879-882) was the son of Louis II, who reigned briefly before [[DroppedABridgeOnHim falling off a horse while chasing a girl, and dying]]. He is mostly remembered through the ''Ludwigslied'' (Song of Ludwid/Louis), an Old High German poem celebrating his victory over the HornyVikings in the Battle of Saucourt (881).
* '''Carloman II''' (co-ruler 879-882, sole ruler 882-884). He was another son of Louis II, and succeeded his childless brother. He died during a hunting accident.
* '''Charles the Fat''' (reigned 885-888). He was a grandson of Louis the Pious and a cousin to Louis III and Carloman II. Also reigning as king of East Francia. He is best known for bribing the Vikings not to attack Paris - but he didn't mind letting them burn down Burgundy. Which they did. He lost the throne because of that decision[[note]]Actually Charles the Fat isn't counted amongst the "real" kings of France. He counts as a regent.[[/note]].
* '''Eudes of Orleans''' (reigned 888-898) was the son of the count of Anjou, and was elected king in 888. When he died, he left the throne to Charles the Simple, the Carolingian heir.
* '''Charles III the Simple''' (reigned 898-922) was yet another son of Louis the Stammerer who managed to be crowned king as a teenager in 898. His barons rebelled against him and he died in prison. Best known for the Treaty of St Clair sur Epte, where he gave part of his kingdom to a Viking clan chief. This part would eventually be known as Normandy, and his descendants (after William the Conqueror) would become kings of England.
* '''Robert I''' (reigned 922-923). Younger brother of Eudes. At first stepped aside and allowed a Carolingian claimant, Charles the Simple, to be crowned king. About twenty five years later, Robert rebelled against Charles. He took the throne, but was killed the following year. Fighting in battle against the deposed Charles III, who was attempting to reclaim his throne.
* '''Raoul of Burgundy''' (reigned 923-936), son-in-law of Robert I, was elected by an assembly of the nobles on the aftermath of Charles the Simple's defeat. He left no children behind.
* '''Louis IV''' (aka Louis from Overseas, reigned 936-954) was Charles III's son, and sent into exile when his father was captured. His mother, an Anglo-Saxon princess, took him to England where he was raised (on his mother's side, he was a great-grandson of Alfred the Great). The French nobles summoned him back in 936. [[HistoryRepeats He died from a fall from his horse]].
* '''Lothair''' (reigned 954-986) was Louis IV's son, and became king at the age of 13 on his father's sudden death. He constantly waged war on his own vassals, on the count of Flanders, on the HRE Otto II, and [[TakeOurWordForIt probably some others]].
* '''Louis V''' (reigned 986-987) was Lothair's son, and was called 'Louis the Lazy' after his death by [[WrittenByTheWinners Capetian propaganda]]. [[RuleOfThree He died from a fall from his horse]] in 987.

[[/folder]]

From 987 AD until the mid-nineteenth century, France was ruled by one branch or another of the Capetian dynasty (albeit with the occasional interruption by those ''parvenu'' Bonapartes) and direct male-line descendants of Hugues Capet still occupy the modern-day thrones of Luxembourg and Spain. Due to Salic law, France was strictly part of the HeirClubForMen.

[[folder:The Capetians (987–1328)]]
!!Hugues Capet
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->'''Lived:''' c. 939 – 14 October 996\\
'''Reigned:''' 5 July 987 – 14 October 996\\
'''Parents:''' Hugh the Great, ''Duke of the Franks'' and ''Count of Paris'', and Hedwige Liudolfing\\
'''Consort:''' Adelaide of Aquitaine

Unexpectedly kingless, the nobles got together and elected a new king: a guy named Hughes ("Hugh"), who liked to wear a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cope cope]] (''chape'' in French) because he was lay abbot of Saint-Martin-de-Tours. The people called him Hughes Capet ("Hughes of the Little Cape").

His descendants were the Capetians, who, between one branch of the family or another, would rule for nearly a thousand years. Capetians still sit on the thrones of modern-day Spain and Luxembourg (and might still be sitting on the throne of France were it not for the stubbornness of one of his descendants—for details see below).

Hughes had been a major power broker in France from the reign of Louis IV until his own election as king in 987. Although the powers of the French King had been weak (Capet himself risked being held for ransom if he left his bailiwick of the Ile-De-France), he was able to have his son Robert crowned as co-monarch during his own rule; this practice (which continued for quite some time) kept the Crown lands away from the Frankish partible-inheritance laws and enabled his successors to gradually centralize power (if there is one king, and he dies, then the royal land[[note]]''Not'', by this point, the royal title or the kingdom; the land at issue was the royal demesne, i.e. the land the king owned/ruled as local lord without any great nobles in the way; the demesne was the source of a disproportionately large part of the royal income, as the king could (1) be more certain that tax revenue would be assessed and sent to his treasury, and (2) much of the wealth in the demesne, like the land, was his personal property. The smaller the demesne, the poorer the king, the harder it is to keep the nobles in line. On the other hand, keep your demesne intact, and you can expand the demesne by making strategic marriages to heiresses, figuring out ways to take land from nobles by force, and sometimes just outright buying it.[[/note]] is divided among his sons; but if there are ''two'' kings, and one dies, the surviving one keeps the whole thing--talk about LoopholeAbuse!).

!!Robert II
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->'''Lived:''' c. 972 – 20 July 1031\\
'''Reigned:''' 30 December 987 – 24 October 996 (as co-monarch with his father); 24 October 996 – 20 July 1031 (by himself)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Hugues Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Rozala of Italy (988–996); (2) Bertha of Burgundy (996–1001); (3) Constança d'Arle (1001–1031)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Pieux'' ("the Pious"); ''le Sage'' ("the Wise")

[[IronicNickname Best known for his marital problems]]. His first wife was a much older Italian princess, Rozala, whom he dumped as soon as his father died. His second wife was Berthe de Bourgogne, a marriage that got him excommunicated for consanguinity (marriage within forbidden bounds of kinship). He finally divorced her in 999 after their only child was born deformed, and remarried to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Constança d'Arle]]. Constança was known to be vicious, to say the least, and had her cousin murder a friend of Robert's right in front of him when she suspected the man of getting between her and Robert. Enraged, Robert tried to divorce her and remarry Berthe, but was unable, and finally took Constança back. She incited wars between him and three of their sons, and he died in 1031 while fighting his children.

Robert got his sobriquet due to his devout Catholicism, which unfortunately extended to reviving the Roman Imperial practice of burning heretics at the stake (and otherwise treating heresy harshly), and encouraging pogroms against the Jews.

!!!Hugh Magnus
->'''Lived:''' 1007 – 17 September 1025\\
'''Co-reigned:''' 19 June 1017 – 17 September 1025\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Robert II and Constança d'Arle\\
'''Consorts:''' n/a (never married)

Crowned as co-monarch under his father. However, he wound up rebelling against him, but died at the age of 18 while doing so.

Because he never was King in his own right, he never received the name 'Hughes II.' Most tend to just forget about him.

!!Henri I
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->'''Lived:''' 4 May 1008 – 4 August 1060\\
'''Reigned:''' 14 May 1027 – 20 July 1031 (co-reign); 20 July 1031 – 4 August 1060 (solo reign)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Robert II and Constança d'Arle\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Matilda of Frisia (1034–1044); (2) Anne of Kyiv (1051–1060)

Began his reign in open warfare with his own mother. His most notable achievement was marrying the exotic and cultured princess [[UsefulNotes/KievanRus Anne of Kyiv]] (famously, she signed their marriage contract in neat Cyrillic letters, while her illiterate husband signed with an 'X'). He died in 1060. He is the only French king named Henri to die peacefully.

!!Philippe I
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->'''Lived:''' c. 1052 – 29 July 1108\\
'''Reigned:''' 23 May 1059 – 4 August 1060 (co-reign); 4 August 1060 – 29 July 1108 (solo reign)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Henri I and Anne of Kyiv\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Bertha of Holland (1072–1092); (2) Bertrade of Monfort (1092–1108)

Became king at the age of seven upon his father's death. He is best known for eloping with the beautiful Bertrade of Montfort in 1092; their marriage was illegal due to the slight problem that both the bride and the groom had living spouses. He was excommunicated several times but refused to leave Bertrade.

He died in 1108, and was buried at the church of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire instead of at the royal tombs at St. Denis because he felt he was not worthy to be buried with his ancestors.

!!Louis VI
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->'''Lived:''' late 1081 – 1 August 1137\\
'''Reigned:''' 29 July 1108 – 1 August 1137\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe I and Bertha of Holland\\
'''Spouse:''' Lucienne of Rochefort (1104–1107)\\
'''Consort:''' Adélaide of Maurienne (1115–1137)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Gros'' ("[[AdiposeRex the Fat]]"); ''le Batailleur'' ("the Fighter")

Allegedly his stepmother, the aforementioned Bertrade of Monfort, tried to murder him with poison and sorcery to make way for her own sons to inherit the crown, to no avail.

As king, he had to contend with a number of dissident barons, and was assisted in fending them off by his capable queen, Adélaide of Maurienne, and by Abbot Suger of the monastery of St. Denis.

Before becoming, well, [[AdiposeRex large-sized]], he was a proud warrior, and the first king to use the battlecry ''"Montjoie! Saint-Denis!"''

!!!Philippe
->'''Lived:''' 29 August 1116 – 13 October 1131\\
'''Co-reigned:''' 14 April 1129 – 13 October 1131\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis VI and Adélaide of Maurienne\\
'''Consort:''' n/a (never married)

Ruled as co-King alongside Louis VI. But he only lasted two years in the role before dying at the age of 15 after falling off his horse when it was tripped up by a "diabolical pig." Like Hugh Magnus before him, the fact that he never reigned in his own right means he isn't usually counted in the lists of French monarchs or in the French regnal numbering system, and is usually forgotten.

Supposedly, his unfulfilled wish to see Jerusalem inspired his brother Louis VII to participate in the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Second Crusade]]… which didn't end well.

!!Louis VII
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->'''Lived:''' 1120 – 18 September 1180\\
'''Reigned:''' 25 October 1131 – 1 August 1137 (junior king); 1 August 1137 – 18 September 1180 (senior king)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis VI and Adélaide of Maurienne\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) UsefulNotes/EleanorOfAquitaine (1137–1152); (2) Constance of Castile (1154–1160); (3) Adèle of Champagne (1160–1180)\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Jeune'' ("the Young")

Originally intended for the clergy, he was plucked from his monastery and made heir after his elder brother Philippe died.

He married the beautiful heiress UsefulNotes/EleanorOfAquitaine but she found him 'more monk than king.' After several childless years, a war sparked by her sister running off with his cousin, a disastrous trip on the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Second Crusade]] (because he felt guilty after [[KillItWithFire burning down a church and all the inhabitants of a little town called Vitry-en-Perthois]]), and accusations that Eleanor was cheating on him with her own uncle, Louis and Eleanor divorced. She married [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond the future king of England]].

As for Louis, he remarried twice and finally got his long-desired son and heir in 1165.


!!Philippe II Auguste
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->'''Lived:''' 21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223\\
'''Reigned:''' 1 November 1179 – 18 September 1180 (junior king); 18 September 1180 – 14 July 1223 (senior king)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis VII and Adèle of Champagne\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Isabella of Hainault (1170–1190); (2) Ingeborg of Denmark (1193–1223); (3) Agnes of Merania (1196–1201)
%%'''Nickname:''' ''Philippe Auguste'' ("Philip Augustus")

The first French monarch to be styled 'King of France' as opposed to 'King of the Franks.'

He had an intense rivalry with [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart Richard I of England]] and they went on the Third Crusade together. He also fought intensely against Richard's brother and successor, UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland, though outside a few flashes of brilliance from John this wasn't as fair a fight as against Richard.

Like his father, he married three times: first to Isabella of Hainault, [[DeathByChildbirth who died in childbirth with twins]]; second to Ingeborg of Denmark, whom he loathed and repudiated after their wedding night; and finally to Agnes von Andechs-Meranien, while he was still married to Ingeborg, resulting in an excommunication.

Won the battle of Bouvines, against the allied armies of England, Flanders, and the Holy Roman Empire; this had the effect of depriving John of nearly all of his French possessions (with the only-somewhat-significant exception of Gascony) and thus destroying the "Angevin Empire" that had once stretched from the Pyrenees to the Scottish Borders. These victories scored by Philippe earned him the byname "Philippe Auguste" ("Philip Augustus") from the chronicler monk Rigord.

!!Louis VIII
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->'''Lived:''' 5 September 1187 – 8 November 1226\\
'''Reigned:''' 14 July 1223 – 8 November 1226 (France); 2 June 1216 – 20 September 1217 (England, disputed)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe II and Isabella of Hainault\\
'''Consort:''' Blanche of Castile\\
'''Nickname:''' ''Le Lion'' ("the Lion")

When he was still prince of France, he became King of England for a short and disputed time during the First Barons' War. At this time, UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland was becoming unpopular with many of his barons, to the point where they invited Louis to invade and become King. He managed to get proclaimed King of England in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1216. But Louis' claim to the English throne didn't last, as John died of dysentery and his claim passed to his son, [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheThird Henry III]]. This prompted many of the barons backing Louis to switch sides – probably because Henry was only nine years old, so they figured he'd be easier to manipulate. Because of the brevity and questionable legitimacy of Louis's "reign," he is usually left off the English/British lists of monarchs.

His time as King of France wasn't much longer, as he died in 1226 at age 39, just three years into his reign. His widow, the able and intelligent Blanche of Castile, served as regent for their young son.

!!Louis IX / Saint Louis
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->'''Lived:''' 25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270\\
'''Reigned:''' 8 November 1226 – 25 August 1270\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile\\
'''Consort:''' Margaret of Provence

The only French king the Catholic Church has canonized as a saint.[[note]]Officially, anyway; Charlemagne was historically venerated as a local saint in parts of France and Germany, and has been beatified, but he has not yet been canonized under Church law. (An antipope canonized him in the 11th century, but the Church specifically repudiated that act.) There are some loose reports of Clovis I having been canonized, but these appear to be confusing him with his wife and queen Clotilde, who was indeed canonized (she is credited with his conversion to Catholicism and thus that of of the Franks, so this is hardly surprising).[[/note]]

He married Margaret of Provence; her sisters were the queen of England, the queen of Germany, and the queen of Sicily.

Extremely pious, he considered it his duty to lead two Crusades to the Holy Land, both of which ended in complete disaster -- in 1250 his army was destroyed and Louis himself was captured by the Egyptians. He died in 1270 at Tunis during the Eighth Crusade.

And yes, [[UsefulNotes/StLouis the city in Missouri]] is named after him.

!!Philippe III
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->'''Lived:''' 1 May 1245 – 5 October 1285\\
'''Reigned:''' 25 August 1270 – 5 October 1285\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis IX and Margaret of Provence\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Isabella of Aragon (1262–1271); (2) Maria of Brabant (1274–1285)\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Hardi'' ("the Bold")

Personally timid, but a magnificent fighter once on the battlefield, for which he earned his sobriquet.

Creator/DanteAlighieri placed him in the Valley of the Princes in the Ante-Purgatory (a place where kings and others who were genuinely repentant but whose earthly public duties hampered spiritual growth must wait for a period equal to their earthly lives before entering Purgatory) in his ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''; given the contempt Dante held for the whole Capetian dynasty, and especially the ones contemporaneous with him, this was a huge compliment.

!!Philippe IV
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->'''Lived:''' April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314\\
'''Reigned:''' 5 October 1285 – 29 November 1314\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe III and Isabella of Aragon\\
'''Consort:''' ''Queen'' Joan I of Navarre\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''Philippe le Bel'' ("Philippe the Fair"); ''le Roi de fer'' ("The Iron King")

His mother was killed in 1271 after tumbling from her horse while pregnant. Philippe himself grew up to be good-looking (he was called ''le Bel'', the handsome) but cold and merciless – his enemy, the bishop of Pamiers, declared that Philippe was neither man nor beast, but a statue.

Philippe is best known for arresting and otherwise humiliating the Pope (Boniface VIII at the time), a feat the Holy Roman Emperors had previously failed to achieve, despite them trying for decades. He later got a French pope elected, who moved to France (Avignon).

Philippe IV was the King of France and an outsized presence in Italy for much of the period Dante was writing ''The Divine Comedy'', and is the subject of repeated references in that work. Dante's opinion of Philippe IV was much dimmer than the one he had of his father; Dante never mentions him by name, only as the ''mal de Francia'' ("Plague of France"), and strongly implies that Philippe is in Hell for his crimes (particularly arresting the Pope).[[note]]Please note that Dante also took a very dim view of that Pope (Boniface VIII), putting him in the eighth circle of Hell for his simony. To Dante, it was nevertheless shocking that the French monarch would show such disrespect to the holy office of Pope even though its momentary occupant was a bad person.[[/note]]

The other thing he is remembered for is ordering [[ThePurge the arrests, tortures, and executions of hundreds of]] [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templars]] in 1307 for heresy, [[{{Greed}} getting his hands on their fortune]] in the process. The pope Clement V was his pawn and conspirator in destroying the Knights Templar. The Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was burnt to death in March 1314; according to legend, [[DyingCurse he cursed both Philippe and Clement, and declared that he would meet them again in front of God before the year was out]].

Sure enough, Clement V died that April, followed by Philippe in November.

Legend states that de Molay also cursed the king's descendants to the seventh generation. The next seven kings all had short reigns and brutal deaths, and none of them left surviving sons. Which led to the throne going to the Valois. This is the subject of a series of books by Maurice Druon, ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'', adapted twice for TV.

!!Louis X
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->'''Lived:''' 4 October 1289 – 5 June 1316\\
'''Reigned:''' 29 November 1314 – 5 June 1316\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe IV and ''Queen'' Joan I of Navarre\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Margaret of Burgundy (1305–1315); (2) Clementia of Hungary (1315–1316)\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Hutin'' ("the Quarrelsome")

In 1305, he accused his wife, Marguerite de Bourgogne, of adultery and had her imprisoned and her alleged lover killed. After Marguerite died mysteriously in 1315, Louis remarried five days later to a Hungarian princess, Klemencia. He died suddenly in 1316 following a game of tennis.

!!Jean I
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->'''Lived:''' 15 – 20 November 1316\\
'''Reigned:''' 15 – 20 November 1316\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis X and Clementia of Hungary\\
'''Consort:''' n/a (never married)\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Posthume'' ("the Posthumous")

Louis X's posthumous son by Klemencia of Hungary. He lived and reigned only five days.

!!Philippe V
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%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/debacq___philip_v_of_france.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' c. 1291 – 3 January 1322\\
'''Reigned:''' 20 November 1316 – 3 January 1322\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe IV and ''Queen'' Joan I of Navarre\\
'''Consort:''' ''Countess'' Joan II of Burgundy\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Long'' ("the Tall")

Louis X's brother. Succeeded his short-lived nephew (whom some suspected died on his orders). He had several daughters but no surviving sons, and so when he died in 1322 the throne went to his younger brother.

!!Charles IV
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%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deherain___charles_iv_of_france.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 18/19 June 1294 – 1 February 1328\\
'''Reigned:''' 3 January 1322 – 1 February 1328\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe IV and ''Queen'' Joan I of Navarre\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Blanche of Burgundy (1307–1322); (2) Marie of Luxembourg (1322–1324); (3) Joan of Évreux (1324–1328)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Bel'' ("the Fair")[[note]]in France[[/note]]; ''el Calvo'' ("the Bald")[[note]]in Navarre[[/note]]
----

The last surviving son of Philippe IV, and succeeded both of his brothers. His first wife, Blanche de Bourgogne (a sister of Jeanne II de Bourgogne who was married to Philippe V; they were only distantly related to Marguerite, however) was accused of adultery and imprisoned in 1314. After he became king, Charles refused to free her, and she died in captivity. He remarried twice before dying in 1328, leaving a pregnant wife who then gave birth to a daughter, and so the throne passed from the senior branch of the Capetians to the junior branch, the Valois.

Charles inherited his father's handsomeness, hence his nickname.

Was also the last Capetian King of France to also rule Navarre, as the kingdoms became separate again after his death, with the throne of Navarre passing to his niece (Louis X's daughter), Joan II. The thrones would remain separate until 1589, when Henri III of Navarre ascended the French throne as Henri IV.

[[folder:The Valois (1328–1589)]]
!The Direct Valois (1328–1498)
!!Philippe VI
%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phil6france_2.jpg]]
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->'''Lived:''' circa 1293 – 22 August 1350\\
'''Reigned:''' 1 April 1328 – 22 August 1350\\
'''Parents:''' Charles, ''Count of Valois'', and Margaret, ''Countess of Anjou''\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Joan of Burgundy (1313–1349); (2) Blanche of Navarre (1350–1350)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Fortuné'' ("the Fortunate"); ''le Catholique'' ("the Catholic")

Grandson of Philip III, and cousin to Louis X, Philippe V, and Charles IV. After the extinction of the senior male line, he became king. Tensions between him and his cousin [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward III of England]] erupted into the UsefulNotes/HundredYearsWar (which actually lasted 116 years. Or 126, depending on who you ask). A series of military defeats and the Black Death crushed France during his reign and left the realm divided at his death in 1350.

!!Jean II
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->'''Lived:''' 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364\\
'''Reigned:''' 22 August 1350 – 8 April 1364\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Philippe VI and Joan of Burgundy\\
'''Spouse:''' Bonne of Bohemia (1332–1349)\\
'''Consort:''' Joan I, ''Countess of Auvergne'' (1350–1360)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''Jean le Bon'' ("John the Good")

Philippe's son and heir. His nickname "the Good" [[HaveAGayOldTime doesn't mean]] he was TheGoodKing, it's more akin to ''[[LeeroyJenkins the Brave]].'' In 1356 he was captured during the Battle of Poitiers and taken to England as a hostage. He stayed in the Tower of London until 1360. He died in 1364. Usually viewed as one of the worst kings France ever had.

!!Charles V
%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charles_v_manuscript.jpg]]
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->'''Lived:''' 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380\\
'''Reigned:''' 8 April 1364 – 16 September 1380\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Jean II and Bonne of Bohemia\\
'''Consort:''' Joanna of Bourbon\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Sage'' ("the Wise")

Jean's son. Through a combination of pluck, bribery, and dirty fighting (often performed by the Constable Bertrand du Guesclin, who once conquered a castle by dressing his soldiers like the opponent), he managed to recover much of the territory the English had seized from the French crown. He died in 1380, leaving the throne to his [[AChildShallLeadThem 12-year-old son]].

!!Charles VI
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->'''Lived:''' 3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422\\
'''Reigned:''' 16 September 1380 – 21 October 1422\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Charles V and Joanna of Bourbon\\
'''Consort:''' Isabeau of Bavaria\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Bien-Aimé'' ("the Beloved"); ''le Fou'' ("the Mad")

Insanity ran in his mother, Joanna of Bourbon's family, and from 1392 onwards, [[AxCrazy Charles suffered bouts of psychosis]]. He would randomly murder men out of paranoia, believed he was made of glass, and even underwent an exorcism. The people of France thought Charles was cursed and suffered insanity because of their sins, hence the ''Beloved'' nickname.

When the English invaded France, he signed a treaty disinheriting the Dauphin and recognizing his son-in-law, [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry V of England]], as his successor. However, Henry predeceased Charles by two months, so his claim to the throne went to Henry's son and Charles VI's grandson, [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry VI]], who it turns out, had inherited Charles's insanity. Eventually, the Dauphin made an effort to reestablish his own claim, allowing him to become…

!!Charles VII
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/karlvii.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461\\
'''Reigned:''' 21 October 1422 – 22 July 1461\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria\\
'''Consort:''' Marie of Anjou\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''King of Bourges''[[note]]in the early years of his reign, because at that point, he lived in Bourges while the English ruled France[[/note]]; ''le Victorieux'' ("the Victorious")[[note]]by his supporters[[/note]]; ''le Bien-Servi'' ("the Well-Served")[[note]]by his detractors, to indicate that most of the work was done for him[[/note]]

He was officially Charles VI's son, but there were rumours that he had been fathered by Charles' brother, Louis d'Orléans. He is best known for his alliance with UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc. Thanks in part to her efforts, Charles definitively reclaimed the French throne, and the English were finally driven out (except in Calais, which wouldn't fall until 1558).

He had a [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes phobia of bridges]] after watching Jean the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, get murdered on a bridge. Had an official mistress, Agnes Sorel, who scandalized the court for wearing a dress designed to flash her boobs out, and making enemies for being a controversial influence to the king, and mysteriously died young.

His later years were marred by a feud with his eldest son and the growth of a tumor on his jaw that prevented him from eating. He starved to death in 1461.

!!UsefulNotes/LouisXI
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->'''Lived:''' 3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483\\
'''Reigned:''' 22 July 1461 − 30 August 1483\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Charles VII and Marie of Anjou\\
'''Spouse:''' Margaret of Scotland (1436–1445)\\
'''Consort:''' Charlotte of Savoy (1451–1483)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''Louis le Prudent'' ("Louis the Prudent"); ''l'universelle araignée'' ("[[SneakySpider the Universal Spider]]"[[note]][[TheChessmaster because he had everyone caught in his webs]][[/note]]); ''le rusé'' ("the cunning")

Despised his father and after a failed rebellion, was banished from court.

His distant cousin [[UsefulNotes/CharlesDukeOfBurgundy Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy]], was his main opponent during the main part of his reign (and was initially far more powerful than him), but a combination of treachery and bribery - he ''never'' fought a battle against Charles - made him win, the Duke being finally killed after a defeat against the [[UsefulNotes/SwissWithArmyKnives Swiss army]].[[note]]According to [[Series/{{Connections}} James Burke]], Charles the Bold's unfortunate encounter with the Swiss--itself the result of the invention of banking, as Charles was invading Switzerland to get a more direct route to his Italian bankers' HQ--gave us (among other things) [[ForWantOfANail the modern concept of the army, canning, refrigeration, the thermos, and orbital rocketry]].[[/note]]

He engineered [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses his cousin Henry VI's return to the English throne]], and ended the Hundred Years War once and for all by bribing and charming the English into leaving the country.

Not altogether an attractive character -- he called his daughter [[BrainyBrunette Anne de Beaujeu]] "the least stupid woman alive" -- he united a wartorn country, dealt cleverly with anyone who got in his way, and left France stronger and healthier than he found it.

!!Charles VIII
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->'''Lived:''' 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498\\
'''Reigned:''' 30 August 1483 – 7 April 1498\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy\\
'''Consort:''' Anne, ''Duchess of Brittany''\\
'''Nickname:''' ''l'Affable'' ("the Affable")

Louis' only son, and nothing like his father. Amiable, weak-minded, and foolish, he gained nothing in his wars. His death (by [[StaircaseTumble falling in the stairs]] of the castle of Amboise) extinguished the senior line of the Valois, and a cousin inherited his throne and his queen.

!'''''Les Valois-Orléans''''' (1498–1515)
!!Louis XII
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->'''Lived:''' 27 June 1462 – 1 January 1515\\
'''Reigned:''' 7 April 1498 – 1 January 1515\\
'''Parents:''' Charles, ''Duke of Orléans'', and Marie of Cleves\\
'''Spouse:''' Joan of France (1476–1498)\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Anne, ''Duchess of Brittany'' (1499–1514); (2) Mary Tudor[[note]]not to be confused with her niece, [[UsefulNotes/MaryTudor Queen Mary I of England]][[/note]] (1499–1514)\\
'''Nickname:''' ''Le Père du Peuple'' ("the Father of the People")

Duke of Orleans, a great-grandson of Charles V, and cousin to Charles VIII. He married Charles' [[ComfortingTheWidow widow]], Anne de Bretagne, upon becoming king, following a seedy divorce from his first wife, Charles VIII's sister (allegations of witchcraft and deformities flew thick and fast from both sides). He and Anne had two daughters, but no sons. After his queen died, the 52-year-old Louis married the 18-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of the notorious UsefulNotes/HenryVIII of England, and died three months later, [[OutWithABang allegedly worn out by his new bride]].

Initially quite successful in the Italian Wars - taking Milan and correcting the mistakes of his predecessor - essentially becoming a Lord of a third of Italy. However due to Charles VIII having alienated everyone else, without allies, ''Literature/ThePrince'' describes how Louis XII made the critical mistake of assisting Pope Alexander VI and giving him more temporal power by helping him take Romanga, which forces him into another mistake in trying to divide Naples with Spain, only to be forced to abandon the kingdom and leave it in [[CreateYourOwnVillain Ferdinand's]] which ultimately lost him his gains in Milan.

!'''''Les Valois-Angoulême''''' (1515–1589)
!!François I
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->'''Lived:''' 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547\\
'''Reigned:''' 1 January 1515 – 31 March 1547\\
'''Parents:''' Charles, ''Count of Angoulême'', and Louise of Savoy\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Claude, ''Duchess of Brittany'' (1514–1524); (2) Eleanor of Austria (1530–1547)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres'' ("The Father and Restorer of Letters")[[note]]for his development and promotion of the French language[[/note]]; ''François au Grand Nez'' ([[GagNose "François of the Large Nose"]]); ''le Roi-Chevalier'' ("the Knight-King")

Was comte d'Angoulême before becoming King, was yet another cousin, also descended from Charles V. He was also married to Louis XII's eldest surviving daughter, Claude.

Cultured, sophisticated, and a patron of the arts (he invited Creator/LeonardoDaVinci to live in France, owned the ''Art/TheMonaLisa'', and spent lots of money to upgrade numerous castles, making him the most prominent French figure of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance).

He desired the vacated crown of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, promising to finish the Ottoman Empire if they gave it to him, but the Spanish candidate UsefulNotes/CharlesV beat him at it, after which the two became arch-rivals. François launched a series of ambitious wars against Charles, but his old-fashioned military ways (hence the "Knight-King" sobriquet) caused him to lose most of the time, often in disastrous fashion. He was captured on the battlefield and held hostage in Madrid for awhile, from which he got out by pretending to accept humiliating terms of peace only to resume the war after being freed. During his reign, France made an alliance with the Ottoman Empire, which was, aside from ironic given the previous claims, rather scandalous in the Christian Europe.

He occasionally appears in fiction and media about UsefulNotes/HenryVIII of England, as the two knew each other and were sort of frenemies. He died in 1547 – just two months after Henry VIII, oddly enough.

!!Henri II
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->'''Lived:''' 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559\\
'''Reigned:''' 31 March 1547 – 10 July 1559\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' François I and Claude, ''Duchess of Brittany''\\
'''Consort:''' UsefulNotes/CaterinaDeMedici

François' eldest surviving son. As a boy, he spent 3 years as a hostage in Spain, and when returned to France only spoke Spanish. He is best known for his notorious wife, [[UsefulNotes/CaterinaDeMedici Caterina de’ Medici]], and his beautiful mistress, Diane de Poitiers.

He was killed in 1559 during a jousting tournament, [[EyeScream when a lance pierced through his eye into his brain]] (according to the legend, this event was earlier predicted by UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}. A success which gave Nostradamus a prominent position in the court).

He is also quite possibly the unluckiest man in the history of the HeirClubForMen. The Valois dynasty pretty much ended up with the [[{{Irony}} same situation of their predecessors the Capetians]]: three brothers crowned kings one after the other and none of them had surviving male heirs. Oops.

!!François II
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_du_roi_de_france_francois_ii.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560\\
'''Reigned:''' 10 July 1559 – 5 December 1560\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Henri II and Caterina de’ Medici\\
'''Consort:''' ''Queen'' UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland

Henri and Catherine's eldest son. Sickly and uninspiring, he married [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary, Queen of Scots]] before dying of an ear infection after reigning a year and a half.

!!Charles IX
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->'''Lived:''' 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574\\
'''Reigned:''' 5 December 1560 – 30 May 1574\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Henri II and Caterina de’ Medici\\
'''Consort:''' Elisabeth of Austria

The younger brother of François II, and succeeded him in 1560, aged ten - his mother Catherine acting as regent until his death.

He is best known for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

Soon after, he began [[BloodFromEveryOrifice sweating blood]][[note]]This is called hematidrosis[[/note]] and became a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone lunatic]]. He suffered delusions until his [[IncurableCoughOfDeath death]] of [[BloodFromTheMouth tuberculosis]] in 1574.

!!Henri III
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henri_iii_versailles.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589\\
'''Reigned:''' 30 May 1574 – 2 August 1589\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Henri II and Caterina de’ Medici\\
'''Consort:''' Louise of Lorraine

The last surviving son of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, and his mother's favorite.

He loved [[CampStraight fashion and crossdressing]], and famously attempted to court Queen [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I of England]]. His two most famous rivals were [[OneSteveLimit also both named Henri]]: his cousin Henri de Guise, known as 'le balafré', meaning [[RedBaron Scarface]]; and his other cousin ([[KissingCousins and brother-in-law]]) Henri de Navarre.

In 1588, Henri had Scarface assassinated, and was himself murdered a year later by a monk, uttering "''Ah, le méchant moine! Il m'a tué!''" ("''Ah! The evil monk! He killed me!''").

He had no children, and thus the throne passed to Henri de Navarre.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bourbons, Part I (1589–1792)]]

!!Henri IV
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->'''Lived:''' 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610\\
'''Reigned:''' 9 June 1572 – 14 May 1610 (Navarre); 2 August 1589 – 14 May 1610 (France)\\
'''Parents:''' Antoine of Navarre and ''Queen'' Jeanne III of Navarre\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Margaret of Valois (1572–1599); (2) Marie de' Medici (1600–1610)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''Henri le grand'' ("Henry the Great"), ''le bon roi Henri'' ("[[TheGoodKing Good King Henry]]")

Was the king of Navarre (through female succession), and the cousin and brother-in-law of the three last Valois-Orleans kings. His claim to the throne came through being the senior, male-line descendant of Louis IX; by the Salic Law, he had been the heir-presumptive to the throne since the death of Charles IX, and it was mostly politics that clouded the question of his succession.

Specifically, he was a Protestant, which the powerful Catholic League led by Henri de Guise found distinctly disturbing. However, Henri de Navarre proved to be a ''politique''--in the parlance of the time, a pragmatist more interested in the stability and power of the state than in religious purity, and thus willing to change religious affiliation for political reasons. Henri did so, converting to Catholicism, twice: once to save his skin during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and once when he was about to take the throne, famously saying ''Paris vaut bien une messe'' ("Paris is well worth a Mass"). He had his first childless marriage with the infamous Marguerite de Valois annulled, and then married an Italian princess, Maria de' Medici.

He had a firm grasp of the concept that the power of the kings and nobles came from the people, and concerned himself with the prosperity and well-being of the common folk of France; he famously proclaimed that if God kept him, he would make sure that every peasant in the realm had "a chicken in his pot every Sunday" (coining the phrase "a chicken in every pot" as a synonym for "national prosperity"). As a result, he was remembered quite fondly by the French people and is also known to this day as ''le bon roi Henri'' ("[[TheGoodKing Good King Henry]]").

The Good King was also a big fan of good food, encouraging the development of [[UsefulNotes/SnailsAndSoOn French cuisine]] (a process his Italian wife helped, introducing techniques from the then-best-in-Europe Italian kitchen), and according to tradition introducing ''sauce béarnaise'' (named after his home province of Béarn, today considered one of the best accompaniments to grilled meats, particularly steak).

He also really, [[LoveableSexManiac really loved women]], being nicknamed ''Le Vert-Galant'' because he was very energetic with his mistresses - before his death, he was about to start a war against Spain to [[DisproportionateRetribution free a young woman he wanted in his bed]].

He was assassinated by the [[ActivistFundamentalistAntics Catholic fanatic]] François Ravaillac, who stabbed him [[ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination while stuck in traffic during the Queen's coronation ceremony]] in 1610. Starting with Henri IV, the Bourbon kings' official title was that of a King of France and Navarra.

!!UsefulNotes/LouisXIII
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/louisxiii.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643\\
'''Reigned:''' 14 May 1610 – 14 May 1643\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Henri IV and Marie de' Medici\\
'''Consort:''' Anne of Austria\\
'''Nickname:''' ''The Just''

Henri and Marie's elder son, and became king at the age of eight. His marriage to Anne, daughter of King UsefulNotes/PhilipIII of Spain, was childless for an astonishing 23 years before Anne surprised everyone by giving birth to two sons. The elder, of course, was heir apparent; the younger was given the title ''Duke of Orléans'' and founded a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon that [[ChekhovsGun proved to be very important about 200 years later]].

Cardinal Richelieu became his lawful first minister, even if fiction [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade often portrays him as a traitor]] - to be fair, he could be very evil with his opponents.

At the end of his reign, Louis had a [[HoYay passionate relationship]] with the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who tried to stir up shit with Richelieu and got beheaded for his trouble.

Louis XIII and his queen appear as characters in Dumas' ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' and the movies based on the novel.

!!UsefulNotes/LouisXIV
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->'''Lived:''' 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715\\
'''Reigned:''' 14 May 1643 – 1 September 1715\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis XIII and Anne of Austria\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Maria Theresa of Spain (1660–1683); (2) Françoise d'Aubigné, ''Marquise de Maintenon'' (1683–1715)\\
'''Nicknames:''' ''Louis le Grand'' (Louis the Great); ''le Roi-Soleil'' (The Sun King)

The one French king almost everyone knows the name of, mostly due to his love of having portraits and statues made of himself, naming places after himself, and his remarkable 72-year-long reign, a record for a European monarch.

Came to the throne at a time when France was suffering from noble rebellions and a long-running war with Spain, both of which Mazarin skilfully ended before proceeding to vastly expand France's cultural, military and territorial power, although he almost bankrupted the country in doing so.

The title of this page is derived from a quote attributed to him, but probably [[BeamMeUpScotty not something he ever actually said]] (Though it does illustrate his view of power).

When he appears in media, expect references to ''The ManInTheIronMask'' (who may or may not have been his identical twin brother) and [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench lots of hot chicks in low-cut ballgowns]].

By the time he died in 1715, just short of his 77th birthday, he had outlived his eldest son, grandson, and great-grandson, and was succeeded by a five-year-old great-grandson.

The "Sun King" proved to be a master of the VetinariJobSecurity, decisively putting an end to noble plots against the crown and transferring power to royal ministries. France thrived under this system in large part due to Louis' skills at recruiting talented ministers and managing their work, as well as his {{Workaholic}} tendencies (he was in the habit of getting up early in the morning to handle a substantial portion of the national paperwork, before officially getting up at the ''lever'' several hours later). Unfortunately, everything depended on a strong, decisive king to make the government work. And with that, we come to…

!!UsefulNotes/LouisXV
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->'''Lived:''' 15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774\\
'''Reigned:''' 1 September 1715 – 10 May 1774\\
'''Parents:''' Louis, ''Duke of Burgundy'', and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy\\
'''Consort:''' Marie Leszczyńska\\
'''Nickname:''' ''The Beloved''

Great-grandson to Louis XIV, unexpectedly became heir to the throne at the age of five years. He reigned until his death in 1774, aged 64.

Timid, apathetic, and luxury-loving, he kept [[TheMistress a parade of mistresses]] who bore him a small army of illegitimate children, in addition to the ten his queen, a Polish princess named Maria Leszczyńska, gave him. She described her marriage as "forever bedded, forever pregnant, forever in childbed". The most famous of his mistresses was Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a.k.a. Madame de Pompadour (by whom, ironically, he had no children), followed by Madame Du Barry.

Has been played by a lot of people over the years and featured in a Creator/StevenMoffat [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace episode]] of ''Series/DoctorWho''.

His eldest son predeceased him, so his grandson succeeded him to the throne. Proved to be a rather lousy king, as he did nothing to fix the financial problems left by his great-grandfather and kept getting France involved in expensive wars that yielded little gain.

The phrase "''Après moi, le déluge''" (After me, the Flood) is attributed to him (or the Marquise de Pompadour), suggesting he foresaw the Revolution after his death. In modern parlance, the expression is usually used to criticize politicians who favour short-term gains regardless of future hardships -- basically, "after I'm gone, anything that happens won't be my problem anyway".

!!UsefulNotes/LouisXVI
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duplessis___louis_xvi_of_france_oval_versailles.png]]
->'''Lived:''' 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793\\
'''Reigned:''' 10 May 1774 – 21 September 1792\\
'''Parents:''' Louis, ''Dauphin of France'', and Maria Josepha of Saxony\\
'''Consort:''' UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette\\
'''Nickname:''' ''The Last''

Married to UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette, Louis XVI was unable to fix France's failing finances left by his grandfather Louis XV. He wound up providing important aid to the American colonists during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, sending money, supplies and troops to support the rebels, although this hastened France's eventual bankruptcy.

As a result of the untenable financial situation, unrest erupted throughout the country, culminating in UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. At first, Louis was forced to become a constitutional monarch, but as other countries launched wars to try and topple the revolutionaries, he and his family tried to flee to Austria, but were caught and returned to Paris.

Soon after, as radical republicans like UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre came to power, the King and his family were arrested, and the monarchy officially dissolved in 1792. He was tried under the name "Citizen Louis Capet," which as you can see, was not actually his dynastic name. Not that the revolutionaries cared, as he was given the death sentence, and subsequently guillotined in 1793.

!!Louis XVII
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aleksander_kucharski___ludwik_xvii.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795\\
'''Claimant:''' 21 January 1793 – 8 June 1795\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Louis XVI[[note]]though there are some rumours [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe that Axel von Ferson, who was known to be romantically linked to Marie Antoinette, was his real father]][[/note]] and Marie Antoinette\\
'''Consort:''' n/a (never married)

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette's second son. Arrested along with his family, he died in prison in 1795, aged ten.

For centuries, rumors flew that he had ''not'' died, and as many as 100 men claimed to be him--but, in 2000, DNA taken from the heart of a ten-year-old boy claimed to be that of Louis XVII was tested, and found to match the DNA of Marie-Antoinette.

Technically he was never king, as the monarchy had been dissolved by the time his father was executed. However, royalists considered him the heir to the throne, and during the Bourbon Restoration, his uncle styled himself Louis XVIII, thus incorporating the prince into the French regnal numbering system.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bonapartes, Part I (1804–1814, 1815)]]
!![[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoléon I]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/napoleonbonaparte_coloured_drawing.png]]
->'''Lived:''' 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821\\
'''Reigned:''' 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814; 20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815\\
'''Parents:''' Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino\\
'''Consorts:''' (1) Joséphine de Beauharnais (1796–1810); (2) Marie Louise, ''Duchess of Parma'' (1810–1814)

A man who needs no introduction. Joséphine, Napoléon Complexes, Austerlitz, Elba, and Waterloo are all fairly well ingrained in the popular imagination.

Began as an officer in the French revolutionary army. He called himself the Emperor of the French, was defeated in 1814 then 1815, and died in exile in Saint Helena. Aside from being [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership one of the most brilliant generals of all time]], Napoleon rebuilt France into a major European power, and created a system of law (the ''Code Napoléon'') that proved instrumental in the development of many countries' modern legal systems.

Contrary to popular rumor, he wasn't actually short, either -- a misconception caused by conversion errors between the English and French measuring systems of the time, combined with his AffectionateNickname "le petit caporal" (the little corporal) for his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers, and the fact that his elite Old Guard were all considerably taller than himself, making him look short by comparison. As it turns out, he was of average height for a man of his era. Go figure.

!!Napoléon II
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nap_receis_50.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832\\
'''Reigned:''' 4 April – 2 May 1814; 22 June – 7 July 1815 (disputed)\\
'''Parents:''' ''Emperor'' Napoléon I and Marie Louise, ''Duchess of Parma''\\
'''Consort:''' n/a (never married)

Better known as the King of Rome (the title his father gave him in 1811 in analogy to that of the Prince of Wales (England and the United Kingdom) and of the Prince of Asturias (Spain) and which he lost in 1814) or the Duke of Reichstadt (since 1818) was Napoléon's son by his second wife, the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria (a niece of Queen Marie-Antoinette).

Both in 1814 and in 1815, Napoleon I first tried to abdicate in favour of his son, but the Allies would have none of it, the first time he was made to abdicate again unconditionally, the second time they didn't even bother.

After his father's first abdication, he lived at his maternal grandfather's palace in Austria and never ruled in France. He died in 1832, aged twenty-one. The ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico was rumored to be his biological son.

Like Louis XVII, his reign is disputed, but the fact that his cousin would style himself "Napoléon III" means he is counted in the French regnal numbering system anyway.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bourbons, Part II (1814–1815, 1815–1830)]]
!!Louis XVIII
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/louis_xviii_in_1814_8.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824\\
'''Reigned:''' 3 May 1814 – 20 March 1815; 8 July 1815 – 16 September 1824\\
'''Parents:''' Louis, ''Dauphin of France'', and Maria Josepha of Saxony\\
'''Spouse:''' Marie Joséphine of Savoy\\
'''Nickname:''' ''le Désiré'' ("the Desired")

Louis XVI's brother (it had become tradition for all princes to be given the name Louis). Referred to in works set before his ascension as Comte de Provence or "Monsieur".[[note]]That was a title for the king's eldest brother, literally meaning "my lord".[[/note]] The Comte and his family fled France in 1791, around the time his brother the King attempted to do the same.

He returned after Napoléon's defeat in 1814 (the "Hundred Days" notwithstanding) and secured himself on the throne in the Bourbon Restoration. As king, Louis was [[KnowWhenToFoldEm savvy enough to recognize that the French Revolution had left permanent changes]], so he willingly made himself a constitutional monarch and kept the least threatening reforms of the Revolution in place. This made him popular enough to not face a revolution himself, and France started to stabilize a bit under his reign.

He became quite [[AdiposeRex fat]] in his later years, to the point of needing crutches or even a wheelchair to get around, at which point he started [[SelfDeprecation nicknaming himself]] "Le Roi Fauteuil" ("The Wheelchair King"). His opponents preferred to call him "Fat Pig". A combination of gout and diabetes gave him a particularly [[BodyHorror nasty]] CruelAndUnusualDeath where he slowly rotted to death from gangrene.
-> "At the end of the month of August 1824, the dry grangrene that attacked one foot and the bottom of his spinal cord, created a large oozing wound at the bottom of his back and made him unrecognizable. [[FaceDeathWithDignity Proudly]], he refuses to lie down, quoting [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Vespasian]]: "An emperor dies standing up". But, on the 12th of September, his terrible suffering forces him to lie down. He is rotting alive and smells so foul that his own family cannot remain by his bedside. [[EyeScream One of his eyes melted away]]; the room servant, trying to move his body, tear off bits of the right foot; the bones of one leg have decayed, the other one is just one gigantic wound, his face is black and yellow."
\\
He died childless in 1824, leaving the throne to his surviving brother.

!!Charles X
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charles_x_king_of_france___lawrence_1825.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836\\
'''Reigned:''' 16 September 1824 – 2 August 1830\\
'''Parents:''' Louis, ''Dauphin of France'', and Maria Josepha of Saxony\\
'''Consort:''' Marie Thérèse of Savoy

The younger brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII. Leader of the absolutist faction in the early stages of the Revolution [[labelnote:In fact]]There's a very good argument that his reactionary politics and influence over his weak-willed older brother [[BullyingADragon led directly to the fall of the Bastile and indirectly to all that followed]] when he and other absolutists within the royal family tried to flood Paris with provincial troops to enforce royal will on the people at gunpoint, a disastrous miscalculation [[IgnoredEpiphany he'd learned absolutely nothing from]] by the time it was ''his'' turn to wear the crown, [[{{Foreshadowing}} but let's not get ahead of ourselves]][[/labelnote]] he left France on the 16th of July 1789 (only two days after the Storming of the Bastille) and thus escaped Madame Guillotine. Under Louis XVIII, he became the head of the Ultra-royalist political group, defined by Chateaubriand[[note]]Himself an Ultra-royalist[[/note]] as being "''plus royaliste que le roi''" i.e. "more royalist than the King". He is referred to in works set before his ascension as Comte d'Artois or (after his brother's ascension) "Monsieur" (like his brother before him).

With his absolutist, Ultra-royalist background, it should come as no surprise that unlike Louis XVIII, [[IgnoredEpiphany Charles categorically refused to acknowledge the changes the Revolution had brought]]. Public opinion of him and his ministers rapidly soured as he attempted to use ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem to circumvent the constitution and Parliament.

Attempts to clamp down on the rising discontent just made things worse, culminating in the July Revolution of 1830. As a result, Charles abdicated in favour of his grandson, but the Chamber of Deputies preferred to put a cousin, Louis-Philippe, on the throne.

As for Charles, he was exiled, first to England, then to Austria (at least, what was then ''part'' of Austria), where he died in Görz (now Gorizia, Italy). As his remains now lie in a monastery in what is now Slovenia, he is the only King of France to be buried outside the country (but ''not'' the only French monarch – more on that later).

!!Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême / "Louis XIX"
%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/louis_antoine_duke_of_angouleme.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 6 August 1775 – 3 June 1844\\
'''Reigned:''' 2 August 1830 (20 minutes, disputed)\\
'''Parents:''' ''King'' Charles X and Marie Thérèse of Savoie\\
'''Consort:''' Marie Thérèse of France

Charles' son, and reigned as king for twenty minutes in 1830 – which, if it weren't disputed, would make him [[Main/ShortLivedLeadership the shortest-reigning monarch in history]]. He was [[KissingCousins married to his cousin]], Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the surviving daughter of Louis XVI and UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette, but they had no children. He and his family were disinherited during the July Revolution in favor of his cousin, Louis-Philippe. He died in 1844.

!!Henri, Count of Chambord / "Henri V"
%%[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bordeaux_duc_de.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883\\
'''Reigned:''' 2–9 August 1830 (disputed)\\
'''Parents:''' ''Prince'' Charles Ferdinand, ''Duke of Berry'', and ''Princess'' Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily\\
'''Spouse:''' ''Archduchess'' Maria Theresa of Austria-Este

Charles X's grandson, the posthumous child of his assassinated son Charles, duc de Berry. His grandfather abdicated in his favor in 1830, but Henri only reigned seven days before being driven into exile in Switzerland; he went by the title ''comte de Chambord'', after one of the royal family's estates.

He had a very good chance of finally becoming king after the end of the Second Empire, but he wanted a return to an absolute monarchy and did not want to serve under the Republican tricolour, demanding a return to the old white banner with gold fleur-de-lis of the ''ancien regime''.[[note]]Ironically, in his youth as ''comte de Chambord'', Henri had himself designed a "royal tricolour" with the Bourbon coat of arms and crown in the center, a compromise that probably would've been acceptable had he still been willing to use it. Many including the Pope were beyond baffled that the man would give up a throne over this.[[/note]] By then, most French--including all but the most die-hard conservative monarchists (the right wing of the "Legitimists")--agreed that the monarch ought to be a constitutional figurehead and wanted to keep the tricolour. More frustrating than anything, however, is that the count was an elderly bachelor by this point, meaning that the Orléanist pretender, Louis-Philippe, comte de Paris, would become king upon his death under the Salic Law the Legitimists recognized (as modified by the [[UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession Treaty of Utrecht]] that cut the Spanish Bourbons from the French succession).

As a result, the Third Republic was established while waiting for Henri to die already, but six years before he did so, the people decided they didn't really want a monarchy anymore, and the monarchists lost their majority in the National Assembly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Orléans (1830–1848)]]
!!Louis Philippe I
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/louis_philippe_i_2.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850\\
'''Reigned:''' 9 August 1830 – 24 February 1848\\
'''Parents:''' Louis Philippe II, ''Duke of Orléans'', and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon\\
'''Consort:''' Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily\\
'''Nickname:''' ''The Citizen King''

The last king of France (at least, so far).[[note]]Technically, he was king of the French (as Louis XVI had been between 1789 and 1792), not king of France.[[/note]]

His particular branch of the Bourbons, the most senior after the ruling line and that of Spain, was descended from a younger son of Louis XIII, the [[AgentPeacock fabulous and effective general]] [[CampGay Philippe, duc d'Orléans]]. The Orléans branch was long famous for its cultivation of the arts and culture, and the Dukes of Orléans were generally noted as being far more liberal than most of the nobility, let alone the royal family; the ruling line was always suspicious of them, particularly as they would inherit the throne should the senior branch die out (the Spanish line descended from a younger grandson of Louis XIV had been excluded by the Treaty of Utrecht[[note]]Of course, this exclusion could have been ignored, but no doubt the other European powers would have moved to enforce the Utrecht agreement to keep Spain and its possessions out of French hands; there was a ''reason'' the Spanish Bourbons had been required to renounce their French succession rights.[[/note]]).

They were right to be suspicious: Louis Philippe's father Philippe had been one of the aristocratic ''supporters'' of the Revolution, and had long used his position to support liberal causes. (A conspiracy theory held by many aristocratic conservatives--including Marie Antoinette and Louis XVIII--maintained that the Orléans branch was behind the whole revolution as a means of seizing the throne.) Louis Philippe's father Philippe even won a seat to the National Convention after the Republic was declared, renaming himself "Philippe Égalité" ("Philip Equality"). He voted in favor of the death penalty without appeal to the people for his cousin the King, but was nevertheless guillotined during the ReignOfTerror when the Jacobins found him insufficiently radical.

Louis Philippe himself fought with distinction in the early Revolutionary Wars, but got caught up in a plot with the Austrians to restore the constitutional monarchy established in 1791. He spent the next several years in exile, at first in Switzerland, but later went to America (!) before settling in England. He returned from exile after Napoleon's defeat.

The Chamber of Deputies proclaimed him King in preference to Charles X's descendants in 1830, establishing a constitutional monarchy with some but highly limited powers for the King. The July Monarchy--as Louis-Philippe's regime was called--is considered to be an era in which the cautious, liberal bourgeoisie was most firmly in control of the country, slowly building a slightly more democratic regime, with the King acting as slow-builder-in-chief.

Slightly, because censorship was very active, and only people who owned a certain amount of property (i.e. the rich, or at least the reasonably-well-off) could vote. Of course, at the time, there were few places where anyone ''but'' the rich could vote (even in America, it was only in the 1830s that some states abolished property requirements, and it wasn't until 1860 or so that they were abandoned everywhere); it would thus be quite fair to call the July Monarchy what it more or less aspired to be: "[[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem England]], but French."

His era can be summed ups with two quotes: Prime Minister François Guizot's bourgeois motto "''Enrich yourselves!''" (''Enrichissez-vous!'') and Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine's "''France is bored''" (''La France s'ennuie'').[[note]]Lamartine, interestingly, was one of the leaders of the Revolution of 1848 that toppled the July Monarchy, and he personally delivered the speech announcing the establishment of the Second Republic. But he didn't count on Louis Napoleon declaring the Second Empire…[[/note]]

It should come as no surprise that ''the'' prototypical tale of boring balanced bourgeois rationality, ''Literature/MadameBovary'', is set during Louis Philippe's reign. So self-consciously bourgeois was the era that the King himself was known to stroll around Paris with his own rolled-up umbrella.

Alas for the House of Orléans, the building proved to be too slow. Grumbling about censorship and social inequality gradually built over the years, and rather than let these voices take their place in the public sphere, the bourgeois liberal-conservative ministry led by François Guizot contented itself to up the censorship and play games with the electoral laws to prevent reformists from gaining a foothold. Meanwhile, although Louis-Philippe clearly saw the need for reform, he feared that the major reformist leaders--particularly Adolphe Thiers--were too nationalistic and aggressive in foreign policy matters, and would lead France into a disastrous war if allowed to take control (he was probably right about Thiers, but we'll never know). Louis Philippe therefore hesitated to call out Guizot on his shenanigans, recognizing that for all his faults, Guizot was the opposite of a warmonger.

Thus despite the umbrella-carrying, [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 another revolution in 1848]] forced Louis Philippe to abdicate in favor of his grandson Philippe. The Deputies were willing to keep the constitutional monarchy and install Philippe as King, but public opinion forced the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a Second Republic.

After abdicating, Louis Philippe decamped with his family to England, where he died in 1850. He and his wife's remains would be returned to France in 1876.

* Creator/VictorHugo devoted [[http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/225/ an entire chapter]] of ''[[Literature/LesMiserables Les Misérables]]'' to explaining why Louis-Philippe was a very good man and an incompetent King.
* Louis-Philippe's wife, Queen Maria Amalia, is [[NoNameGiven possibly]] the blackmailed party in the Creator/EdgarAllanPoe short story "[[Literature/CAugusteDupin The Purloined Letter]]".

!!Philippe of Orléans, Count of Paris / "Louis Philippe II" / "Philippe VII"
->'''Lived:''' 24 August 1838 – 8 September 1894\\
'''Reigned:''' 24 February 1848 – 26 February 1848 (disputed)\\
'''Parents:''' ''Prince'' Ferdinand Philippe, ''Duke of Orléans'', and ''Duchess'' Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin\\
'''Spouse:''' ''Infanta'' Maria Isabel of Spain

Louis Philippe's grandson. A liberal and democrat (like his father), Philippe had fought on the side of the Union in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. His father attempted to abdicate to him after the 1848 Revolution, but the Second Republic was proclaimed instead.

In 1873, when the Second French Empire fell, there was a sufficient amount of monarchists in the French National Assembly that a return to the monarchy was considered, and as the heir of Louis Philippe I, Philippe was considered the heir to the throne by the Orléanists. Philippe also had the selling point that unlike Duke Henri of Chambord (see above), he had no objections to either constitutional monarchy or to the ''tricolor'' flag. However, he withdrew his claims to the throne in favour of Chambord. Chambord was old and childless, so when he died, his claim to the throne would pass under Salic Law to Philippe, but Chambord never recognized Philippe as his heir presumptive, and by the time he died, public opinion opposed a return to the monarchy. So Philippe's claim to the throne went unheeded.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bonapartes, Part II (1852–1870)]]
!!Napoléon III
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/napoleon_iii_in_uniform_1.jpg]]
->'''Lived:''' 20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873\\
'''Reigned:''' 2 December 1852 – 4 September 1870\\
'''Parents:''' Louis Bonaparte, former ''King of Holland'', and Hortense de Beauharnais\\
'''Consort:''' Eugénie de Montijo

Both the first president and last emperor of France. A nephew of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte I, he got himself elected president in 1848, and then Emperor of the French in 1852.

Was a successful domestic leader, building a lot of important public works and infrastructure. Though there were some that weren't very fond of him – in particular, Creator/VictorHugo.

Internationally, he was a blusterer and sometimes blunderer. He, more than any other French monarch, helped catalyze its' rise as a modern colonial power. He won wars from Tunisia to Vietnam and annexing Indochina, Tunisia, much of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Pacific islands to the French Empire.

In addition, [[GambitPileup he willingly allowed himself into being manipulated into allowing Sardinia to support France and Britain in the Crimean War. Paving the way for Count Camillo Benso di Cavour]] to envoke "you owe me one", a move that led to the crushing of their mutual enemy the Habsburg Empire and allowing the unification of UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}, giving UsefulNotes/{{Austria}} a kneecap it would never recover from.

However, Napoleon fumbled into a long-lasting war in UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, after trying to conquer it by installing a puppet ruler, giving that country UsefulNotes/CincoDeMayo as a national holiday.

He also fell for the bait that UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck had laid, starting the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar. In the last great battle of the war, Napoleon was captured at Sedan, and remained Bismarck's prisoner as Prussia's King Wilhelm I was pronounced [[UsefulNotes/PrussianKings Kaiser Wilhelm I]] – in the Palace of Versailles, no less – thus giving birth to that bane of France… [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany a united Germany]].

France's humiliating losses in the Franco-Prussian War sounded the death knell for the Second Empire, and the French Third Republic was proclaimed while Napoleon was still in German captivity. Bonapartists only won five seats in the 1871 National Assembly elections, and the new government made Napoleon's removal from power official and placed blame for the French defeat squarely on his shoulders.

By the time the Germans released Napoleon, [[HumiliationConga he had been defeated, deposed, enfeebled, and completely humiliated. He didn't even have a home to go to as Empress Eugénie and the rest of the imperial family had been forced to flee the country]]. Like Louis-Philippe before him, he joined his family in exile in England, where he died in 1873. His last words were "Isn't it true that we weren't cowards at Sedan?” Unlike Louis-Philippe, his remains are still in England.

* UsefulNotes/LouisXVI

The original inhabitants of the land we now know as UsefulNotes/{{France}} were a motley combination of Celts (called Gauls by the Romans), Germanic tribes, and Basques, later joined by [[AncientRome Romans]]. The Romans controlled the province of Gallia for 500 years, until the Franks[[note]]A successful federation of Germanic tribes which originated in the Middle and Lower Rhine Region.[[/note]], in the person of King Clovis I, defeated the last Roman governor, Syagrius.

->'''Lived:''' 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380\\

'''Nicknames:''' ''King of Bourges''[[note]]in the early years of his reign, because at that point, he lived in Bourges while the English ruled France[[/note]];''le Victorieux'' ("the Victorious")[[note]]by his supporters[[/note]]; ''le Bien-Servi'' ("the Well-Served")[[note]]by his detractors, to indicate that most of the work was done for him[[/note]]

He married the beautiful heiress UsefulNotes/EleanorofAquitaine but she found him 'more monk than king.' After several childless years, a war sparked by her sister running off with his cousin, a disastrous trip on the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Second Crusade]] (because he felt guilty after [[KillItWithFire burning down a church and all the inhabitants of a little town called Vitry-en-Perthois]]), and accusations that Eleanor was cheating on him with her own uncle, Louis and Eleanor divorced. She married [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond the future king of England]].

When he was still prince of France, he became King of England for a short and disputed time during the First Barons' War. At this time, UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland was becoming unpopular with many of his barons, to the point where they invited Louis to invade and become King. He managed to get proclaimed King of England in St. Paul's Cathedral. But Louis' claim to the English throne didn't last, as John died of dysentery and his claim passed to his son, [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheThird Henry III]]. This prompted many of the barons backing Louis to switch sides – probably because Henry was only nine years old, so they figured he'd be easier to manipulate. Because of the brevity and questionable legitimacy of Louis's "reign," he is usually left off the English/British lists of monarchs.

** He and his and his family are portrayed quite unfavourably in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/HenryV'', which makes sense considering it is technically propaganda (save perhaps his daughter Catherine of Valois, whom Henry V married as per the Treaty of Troyes.)

With his absolutist, Ultra-royalist background, it should come as no surprise that unlike Louis XVIII, [[AesopAmnesia Charles categorically refused to acknowledge the changes the Revolution had brought]]. Public opinion of him and his ministers rapidly soured as he attempted to use ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem to circumvent the constitution and Parliament.

With his absolutist, Ultra-royalist background, it should come as no surprise that unlike Louis XVIII, Charles categorically refused to acknowledge the changes the Revolution had brought. Public opinion of him and his ministers rapidly soured as he attempted to use ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem to circumvent the constitution and Parliament.

The younger brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII. Leader of the absolutist faction in the early stages of the Revolution [[labelnote]]In fact, there's a very good argument that his reactionary politics and influence over his weak-willed older brother [[BullyingADragon led directly to the fall of the Bastile and indirectly to all that followed]] when he and other absolutists within the royal family tried to flood Paris with provincial troops to enforce royal will on the people at gunpoint, a disastrous miscalculation [[IgnoredEpiphany he'd learned absolutely nothing from]] by the time it was ''his'' turn to wear the crown, [[{{Foreshadowing}} but let's not get ahead of ourselves]][[/labelnote]] he left France on the 16th of July 1789 (only two days after the Storming of the Bastille) and thus escaped Madame Guillotine. Under Louis XVIII, he became the head of the Ultra-royalist political group, defined by Chateaubriand[[note]]Himself an Ultra-royalist[[/note]] as being "''plus royaliste que le roi''" i.e. "more royalist than the King". He is referred to in works set before his ascension as Comte d'Artois or (after his brother's ascension) "Monsieur" (like his brother before him).

The younger brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII. Leader of the absolutist faction in the early stages of the Revolution, he left France on the 16th of July 1789 (only two days after the Storming of the Bastille) and thus escaped Madame Guillotine. Under Louis XVIII, he became the head of the Ultra-royalist political group, defined by Chateaubriand[[note]]Himself an Ultra-royalist[[/note]] as being "''plus royaliste que le roi''" i.e. "more royalist than the King". He is referred to in works set before his ascension as Comte d'Artois or (after his brother's ascension) "Monsieur" (like his brother before him).

They were right to be suspicious: Louis Philippe's father Philippe had been one of the aristocratic ''supporters'' of the Revolution, and had long used his position to support liberal causes. (A conspiracy theory held by many aristocratic conservatives--including Marie Antoinette--maintained that the Orléans branch was behind the whole revolution as a means of seizing the throne.) Louis Philippe's father Philippe even won a seat to the National Convention after the Republic was declared, renaming himself "Philippe Égalité" ("Philip Equality"). He voted in favor of the death penalty without appeal to the people for his cousin the King, but was nevertheless guillotined during the ReignOfTerror when the Jacobins found him insufficiently radical.

* François I: ''Series/TheTudors''.

In 1873, when the Second French Empire fell, there was a sufficient amount of monarchists in the French National Assembly that a return to the monarchy was considered, and as the heir of Louis Philippe I, Philippe was considered the heir to the throne by the Orléanists. Philippe also had the selling point that unlike Duke Henri of Chambord (see above), he was willing to let himself be a constitutional monarch and had no objections to the ''tricolor'' flag. However, he withdrew his claims to the throne in favour of Chambord. Chambord was old and childless, so when he died, his claim to the throne would pass under Salic Law to Philippe, but Chambord never recognized Philippe as his heir presumptive, and by the time he died, public opinion opposed a return to the monarchy. So Philippe's claim to the throne went unheeded.

Like Louis XVII, his reign is disputed, but the fact that his cousin would style himself "Napoléon III" means he is counted in the French regnal numbering system