his Burgundian cousin. Very
poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
Charolais.

From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
administration of Dauphine, thus practically banishing him honourably
from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
marriage.

At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."

Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphine and his
own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.

A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambery to stop the
dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
performed (March 10, 1451), but