Louis X the Grumpy is the king of France, a representative of the senior line of the Capetian dynasty. The years of his life are 1289-1316. In France, he ruled in 1314-1316, and also in 1305-1316. he was king of Champagne and Navarre, having inherited these kingdoms from his mother, Joan of Navarre. His father was Philip IV the Handsome.
The Master's Curse
In March 1314, Jacques Molet, Master of the Knights Templar, 23rd and last, was executed. There is a legend according to which, having ascended the fire, he called his persecutors to God's judgment. They were the French monarch Philip IV, his close associate Guillaume de Nogaret and Pope Clement V. He cursed them and their descendants to the thirteenth generation and, already shrouded in clouds of smoke, promised that in less than a year their lives would be cut short.
Further events developed as follows. Pope Clement V died in the same year, in April, and Philip the Handsome in November. As for the causes of their death, in connection with it there are various kinds ofversions. Among them are both ordinary physical and occult ones. The personality of Guillaume Nogaret fell into the legend by mistake, because he died in March 1313.
Thus, according to legend, the reign of Louis the Grumpy began with a curse on his family.
Weak ruler
Ludovik was a weak and spineless man. If his father pursued a deliberate policy of gaining unlimited monarchical power, then he was unable to continue his work. During his reign, the uprisings of the nobility against the king resumed. But Louis only entered into evasive agreements with the highest aristocracy, essentially remaining in the same positions.
In fact, Charles of Valois, his uncle, ran the affairs of the kingdom. Louis removed all the assistants and advisers of Philip IV from himself, and put some on trial. In 1315 he executed Enguerrand de Marigny, the first of his father's advisers. The king made many promises: about the restoration of fief and judicial rights of feudal owners, about minting a full-fledged coin instead of a low-grade one (as was the case under Louis IX, his grandfather).
And also he promised to reduce the influence of the royal administration and legalists. The latter were lawyers who held positions in the state apparatus. They played a large role in the centralization of the French kingdom. However, the "good customs" that existed during the time of St. Louis, the current king failed to restore.
Famous Ordinance
Experiencing a constant need for money, Louis the Grumpy was forcedenlist the support of the townspeople who opposed the feudal lords. The most notable event in his reign was the offer to serfs of the possibility of obtaining freedom by paying a ransom. It was made in 1315 and became the famous ordinance of Louis X.
In it, he abolished serfdom in his own domains and invited other lords to follow his example. The king declared that each of the French subjects should be free. Despite the fact that the adoption of this measure was dictated solely by financial considerations, it was the starting point in the abolition of serfdom throughout the country.
Louis continued the fight against Flanders started by his father. He planned to conquer the Flemish cities, but failed. Almost all undertakings of this king failed.
First wife of Louis the Grumpy
His wife was the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy (Robert II), the granddaughter of Saint Louis, who was her husband's great aunt. They called her Margaret. A rather unpleasant story was connected with her, which influenced the further fate of the French throne.
Shortly before the death of Philip the Handsome, it turned out that Margarita, the wife of Louis the Grumpy, like her sister, Blanca of Burgundy, were unfaithful to their husbands. The king, after the verdict of the court, imprisoned them in the castle of Chateau Gaillard for life. Now the legitimacy of their children was in question.
However, according to the canons dictated by the Catholic Church, adultery was not considered as a basis fordivorce. Therefore, Louis X, even taking the French throne, could not break the marriage ties with his unloved wife, who was imprisoned.
When Margaret of Burgundy died in the prison of Château Gaillard in 1315, rumors spread that this death was violent, and also that it was approved by Louis the Grumpy.
Second marriage and death
As soon as the king got rid of Margarita, he hurried to enter into a second marriage. His wife was a Neapolitan princess. It was Clementia of Hungary. Soon the king went on a campaign against Flanders, which ended in failure. When he returned, he fell ill with a fever and died at a young age.
Already after the death of Louis the Grumpy, Clementia gave birth to a son from him, Jean I the Posthumous. The baby lived only four days. There was an opinion that this was the result of a conspiracy in which Countess Magot Artois was involved, who sought to enthrone her daughter and son-in-law. However, there is no evidence for this version.
Jeanne, daughter from her first marriage, was removed from the French crown. The younger brothers of Louis X also did not have male offspring, which led to the suppression of the older Capet line. The Valois dynasty reigned on the throne, and the Hundred Years War began.
