Louis XI's Centralization

Timeline

1. 1461–1463Paris · Île-de-FranceAfter succeeding to the throne, Louis XI replaced many provincial governors, curtailed great magnates' judicial and taxing rights in their fiefs, and balanced traditional power blocs with the support of the bourgeoisie and lesser nobility, setting the tone for centralization.
2. 1464–1468France · FranceThe king consolidated and expanded standing armed forces such as the ordonnance cavalry, so the crown no longer relied entirely on magnate armies, while reforming royal domain revenues to provide a fiscal and military base against Burgundy and provincial separatists.
3. 1466–1470France · FranceAfter the 1465 crisis, Louis XI exploited divisions among the magnates and the death of Charles, Duke of Berry, in 1465 to gradually recover ceded territories like Normandy, while diplomatically restraining the newly succeeded Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold; centralization accelerated again at the end of the 1460s.