to divorce him from his wife. He then married
Anne of Brittany, while Charles of Alencon proceeded to perfect his
knightly education, pending other matrimonial arrangements.
In 1507, when in his eighteenth year, he accompanied the army which the
King led against the Genoese, and conducted himself bravely; displaying
such courage, indeed, at the battle of Agnadel, gained over the
Venetians--who were assailed after the submission of Genoa--that Louis
XII. bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. It was during this
Italian expedition that his mother negotiated his marriage with Margaret
of Angouleme. The alliance was openly countenanced by Louis XII.,
and the young Duke of Valois--as Francis of Angouleme was now
called--readily acceded to it. Margaret brought with her a dowry of
sixty thousand livres, payable in four instalments, and Charles, who was
on the point of attaining his twenty-first year, was declared a major
and placed in possession of his estates. (1) The marriage was solemnised
at Blois in October 1509.
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