Born in 1470, son of Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy, Charles girded the crown under the name of Charles VIII. The government first came to her older sister Anne de Beaujeu, aged twenty-two years, and her husband, Peter, who was forty-six. The Beaujeu had to make concessions to the opinion handed size, dismissal of a part of the army, trial Olivier Le Daim, convocation of the States General. These met at Tours in 1484, without great results. Power remained in Beaujeu, the former advisers of Louis XI remained in business. A feudal coalition soon stood against the Beaujeu, under the direction of Louis d'Orleans, the pretext of high taxes. This "mad war" 1485 was reduced to a few military excursions. Breton feudal refused to support their Duke Francis II adventure. Richard III, King of England, outside support of the rebels, was defeated and killed at Bosworth in the same year. Maximilian, who was elected King of the Romans in 1486, joined the malcontents and the war resumed. In July 1488, troops were defeated François II in Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier and Louis of Orleans was taken prisoner. His daughter, Anne of Brittany, first married by proxy Maximilian, but soon had to give up this union: it is Charles VIII she finally married in 1491. Charles began to reign in 1492, at the age of 22 years. It is to Italy that walked ambitions. He thought of the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, where he resumed the rights of Angevins, prelude to a crusade against Constantinople. Before leaving the assault, he sought to neutralize its European opponents of the Treaty of Etaples 1492, which purchased the withdrawal of English who were besieging Boulogne treated Barcelona 1493, which ceded Roussillon and Cerdanya Ferdinand the Catholic, Treaty of Senlis the same year, which made Maximilian Artois, Franche-Comté and Charolais. The price of Italian mirage was heavy even before the French had set foot in the Peninsula. On the death of Ferdinand of Naples (1494), Charles VIII concentrated his troops in Lyon. His army crossed the states of the Duke of Savoy and those of other princes of Italy, powerless or complicit. In February 1495, the king entered in Naples. The kingdom was conquered without difficulty. In March, the Pope, Venice, the Duke of Milan, Maximilian, Ferdinand and Isabella formed the League of Venice. Charles left Naples in May, leaving Montpensier as Viceroy. He met the Confederates, commanded by Francesco Gonzaga, at Fornovo in June 1495. The French forced the passage without undoing. In October, Charles VIII had returned to France. The kingdom of Naples and rose shortly after the Aragonese dynasty regained his throne in 1497. Charles was preparing a second expedition when he died in April 1498, leaving no direct heir. The crown passed to his cousin, Louis of Orleans.
