Humiliation and frustration, which followed Jeanne de Valois all her life, did not end with her death. The daughter of crafty, crusty Louis XI, King of France, Jeanne was born (1464) a sickly, misshapen creature. Her father was so displeased that he sent her away to be raised by guardians in lonely seclusion. When she was eleven, he married her off to the 14-year-old Duke of Orleans, hinting that he intended thus to end the Orleans line with his ugly, barren daughter.
Jeanne's husband publicly insulted her whenever he had an opportunity. On his accession to the throne, he had their marriage...
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