Barely four months after his accession, on the 27th of November, 1461, Louis, in order to gain favor with the pope, abrogated the Pragmatic Sanction, and informed the pope of the fact in a letter full of devotion.

There was great joy at Rome, and the pope replied to the king's letter in the strongest terms of gratitude and commendation.

But Louis's courtesy had not been so disinterested as it was prompt.

He had hoped that Pius II.

would abandon the cause of Ferdinand of Arragon, a claimant to the throne of Naples, and would uphold that of his rival, the French prince, John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, whose champion Louis had declared himself.