All Christendom believed him to be the murderer of his nephew, Arthur of Britanny.

He abandoned one wife and was faithless to another.

His punishments were refinements of cruelty, the starvation of children, the crushing old men under copes of lead.

His court was a brothel where no woman was safe from the royal lust, and where his cynicism loved to publish the news of his victims' shame.

He was as craven in his superstition as he was daring in his impiety.