France

The French King was 'the most Christian King in Europe' (yeah, right). Which presumably is why he was always at war with the Holy Roman Emperor...

The French kings had had rather a time of getting their kingdom under control throughout the middle ages. Some bits of France were still not quite under royal control, e.g. the Duchy of Brittany and the Duchy of Burgundy.

Louis XI (1461-83), the 'spider king', got a few more nobles to pay homage to the King.

Small and stupid (but apparently quite nice), Charles VIII (1483-98) was nontheless the one who finally got Brittany, in 1491. He then trotted off to Italy to claim the Kingdom of Naples from the Aragonese. He died in 1498, after walloping his head against a door frame. Beware!

Louis XII (1498-1515) inherited his cousin Charles' throne and his wife, Anne of Brittany. After her death, he married Mary, Henry VIII's sister.

Francis I (1515-1547) was Henry VIII's great rival - they both fancied themselves as the ultimate Renaissance man.