The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Historical Context
King Louis XI
Louis XI (1423–83) was king (he was crowned in 1461) during the time of Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His reign was characterized by diminished prestige of the courts, intervention in the affairs of the church, and imposition of heavy taxes to support a powerful army. Louis XI tended to turn away from nobility, preferring the common man in his ranks. The nobility, in turn, tried several times to dethrone him. But the lesser gentry and the bourgeois classes, with whom Louis had won favor, refused to revolt against him. His reign, however,...
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