The marriage, however, of Charles VIII and Margaret was never to be consummated.

In August, 1488, the male line of the Dukes of Brittany became extinct; and the hand of the heiress, Anne of Brittany, a girl of twelve, attracted many suitors.

It was clearly a matter of supreme importance to the King of France that this important territory should not pass by marriage into the hands of an enemy.

The Bretons, on the other hand, clung to their independence and dreaded absorption in the unifying French state.

After many intrigues her council advised the young duchess to accept Maximilian as her husband, and she was married to him by proxy in March, 1490.