The Meeting of the Estates-General 1484

Hôtel de Ville, Tours

When Louis XI died in Tours in August 1483, Charles, his son, heir and successor was thirteen. At an age when boys can barely govern themselves, let alone a nation, a Regent had to be appointed.

His devoted mother, Charlotte of Savoy, assumed she would be Regent but her cold, ambitious daughter Anne said she wasn't up to it. She removed Charles from Charlotte and Château Amboise where he was born and raised. It was the first time they had been apart. Mother and son never saw each other again. Nor did mother and daughter. Not only did Charlotte leave Anne out of her will, she left instructions she be barred from attending her funeral.

Château Royal d'Amboise

However, the nobles, headed by Louis, duke of Orléans, challenged Anne. Louis, President of the King's Council, also wanted to be Regent. Charles hero worshipped Louis, his twenty-two year old cousin.

To settle the matter, a Meeting of the Estates-General was called. It was arranged for 1 January 1484 at Orléans but because of an outbreak of plague, it was moved to Tours from where Louis XI had run the country.

Château de Tours

This was not your run of the mill Council meeting. Finding somewhere large enough to accommodate two hundred and eighty-seven Deputies and hundreds of delegates took time. The Meeting finally opened 15 January in the Great Hall of the Lord Archbishop of Tours. In the middle, because Charles wanted to be present, was a throne covered with silks embroidered with fleur-de-lys. The Deputies and nobles assembled before the young king made his grand entry.

William of Rochefort, Chancellor of France, President of the of the Meeting, opened the debate.

He began by praising his fellow countrymen for their devotion to their rulers, unlike the English who crowned the murderer of Edward IV' s young sons*

...we will often see princes abandoned by their subjects ...to give evidence to the English. Look, I pray you, at the events which, after the death of King Edward, happened in this country. Contemplate his children...murdered with impunity and the crown transported to the assassin by the favour of the people...I quote to you our prince, not yet an adult, who, with the unanimous applause of his subjects, obtained the crown.**

Rochefort was a highly respected lawyer. He must have had confidence in his source. Was it perhaps Lord of La Roche, Philip Pot, so well thought of he was chosen by Louis XI as Governor to Charles?

Known for his independence of thought and plain speaking, he was entrusted with several diplomatic missions to England. He was so close to the English Court, he negotiated the marriage of Edward IV' s sister, Margaret of York to the duke of Burgundy.

On 9 February, Philippe Pot, who represented the nobles of Burgundy at the Meeting started an equally electrifying speech with: Have you not often read that the State is the thing of the people? It is they who have entrusted it to kings.

With this, Pot, who spoke so eloquently he was dubbed Cicero, introduced the concept of a nation represented by a monarch. He suggested France be governed by a Regency Council and said it was up to the Estates-General to appoint the members.

After two months of hearing the arguments, the Deputies voted to accept the choice of the king. Charles chose his sister Anne as Regent.

As Regent, she immediately dissolved the Estates-General.

As King, Charles VIII entrusted Philip Pot with the education of his son the dauphin Charles Orlando.

*Edward IV died in April 1483. Richard was named Lord Protector for Edward's eldest son and successor, the twelve year-old Edward V. Arrangements were made for Edward V's coronation on 22 June 1483. Before the king could be crowned, the marriage of his parents was declared invalid and their children barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard were not seen in public after August, five months before William Rochefort's electrifying speech. Accusations circulated that they had been murdered on the orders of Richard III.

** John Masselin. Minutes of The Meeting

Post by Pamela, Photography by Mark.