XII., by promising the duchy of Valentinois to Cæsar Borgia, prevailed
upon Pope Alexander VI. to divorce him from his wife. He then married
Anne of Brittany, while Charles of Alençon proceeded to perfect his
knightly education, pending other matrimonial arrangements.

In 1507, when in his eighteenth year, he accompanied the army which the
King led against the Genoese, and conducted himself bravely; displaying
such courage, indeed, at the battle of Agnadel, gained over the
Venetians--who were assailed after the submission of Genoa--that Louis
XII. bestowed upon him the Order of St. Michael. It was during this
Italian expedition that his mother negotiated his marriage with Margaret
of Angoulême. The alliance was openly countenanced by Louis XII.,
and the young Duke of Valois--as Francis of Angoulême was now
called--readily acceded to it. Margaret brought with her a dowry of
sixty thousand livres, payable in four instalments, and Charles, who was
on the point of attaining his twenty-first year, was declared a major
and placed in possession of his estates. (1) The marriage was solemnised
at Blois in October 1509.

1 Odolant Desnos's _Mémoires historiques sur Alençon_,
vol. ii. p. 231

Margaret did not find in her husband a mind comparable to her own.
Differences of taste and temper brought about a certain amount of
coolness, which did not, however, hinder the Duchess from fulfilling
the duties of a faithful, submissive wife. In fact, although but little
sympathy would appear to have existed between the Duke and Duchess
of Alençon, their domestic differences have at least been singularly
exaggerated.