(1)
1 Hilarion de Coste's _Vies et Eloges des Dames illustres_,
vol. ii. p. 260.
It had originally been intended that her son Charles should marry Susan,
daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon--the celebrated Peter and
Anne de Beaujeu--but this match fell through owing to the death of Peter
and the opposition of Anne, who preferred the young Count of Montpensier
(afterwards Constable de Bourbon) as a son-in-law. A yet higher alliance
then presented itself for Charles: it was proposed that he should marry
Anne of Brittany, the widow of King Charles VIII., but she was many
years his senior, and, moreover, to prevent the separation of Brittany
from France, it had been stipulated that she should marry either her
first husband's successor (Louis XII.) or the heir-presumptive to the
throne. Either course seemed impracticable, as the heir, Francis of
Angouleme, was but a child, while the new King was already married to
Jane, a daughter of Louis XI. Brittany seemed lost to France, when Louis
XII., by promising the duchy of Valentinois to Caesar Borgia, prevailed
upon Pope Alexander VI.
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