(sold for $960.0)

Mint Place: Bordeaux Mint Period: 1461-1483 References: Friedberg 312,  Duplessy 539a. Rare! Condition: Certified and graded by PCGS as AU-55! Denomination: Ecu d'or à la couronne  ("Gold Ecu with Crowns") Diameter: 29mm Weight: 3.43gm Material: Gold!

Obverse: Crowned shield with French royal arms (three fleur-de-lis), flanked by a pair of crowned fleur-de-lis symbols. Legend: (privy mark: sailship) LVDOVICVS• DEI• GRA• FRANCORV• REX.

Reverse: Fleury cross with four crowns in  fields. All within quatrefoil. Legend: (privy mark: sailship) XPC• VINCIT• XPC• REGNAT• XPC• IMPERAT.

Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (French: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483, the sixth from the House of Valois. He succeeded his father Charles VII.

Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440. The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné, then a province in southeastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, however, led his father to banish him from court. From the Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles' greatest enemy.

When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames "the Cunning" (Middle French: le rusé) and "the Universal Spider" (Middle French: l'universelle aragne), as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies.

In 1472, the subsequent Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, took up arms against his rival Louis. However, Louis was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny (1475) with Edward IV of England. The treaty formally ended the Hundred Years' War. With the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. Louis took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy proper and Picardy.

Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, and strengthen the economic development of his country. He died on 30 August 1483, and was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII.

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