January 13 - 14
Despite the medicines and sleeping draught, King Louis XII lay gasping for breath and moaning in pain during his fitful sleep. His heavily pregnant wife, Marie, sat by the bed wiping his feverish brow with cloths moistened with cool water. She had realized earlier in the week that her husband was not likely to recover from this, more serious illness than the 1515 bout that had almost killed him as the New Year began. Believing this, Marie had sent for their son, his daughters Claude and Renee, and Claude's children Louise and Charlotte. She hoped Claude and Renee would arrive soon enough to see him before his final moments. Truthfully, Marie had an ulterior motive for calling for her son: she had not the faith in Francis that her husband had. She could easily see him try to keep hold of the child in a bid for power over them (Charles Louis and Marie), regardless of the 'normal' progression following the death of a King.
Marie had ordered (unnecessarily) prayers and masses for her husband's recovery, although it was clear to her (and to the physicians, though they never admitted it) that perhaps they should be praying for his soul. Besides his long-time ailment (gout), he was suffering from a winter cold which had becoming a horrible, hacking cough and fever that plagued Louis and robbed of much needed strength for recovery. Each round of coughing (whether Louis was sleeping or no) resulted in phlegm of an ugly greenish color. The cloths for that were thrown in the chamber pot to prevent a mess on the floor. Now she dozed as fitfully as the King, starting awake every so often and using the watered cloths to aid him or wiping his mouth with the other. It was almost sunset and King's personal servants would be arriving soon. She got up to get more water and cloths and was just about to pick up the ewer when she realized the room was full of silence. Turning, she rushed over to her husband to find him quiet and peaceful, having given up his life in the moment it had taken her to go to the table. Before she could call for anyone, there was a soft knock, and Claude's face peeped around the door before the knock was answered. She saw the expression on Marie's face and looked back long enough to call for Renee before entering the room. Marie took her son, now King of France, from her and headed out the door, while Renee entered. Louis' daughters began crying as she shut the door.
In the next room, the Royal Physicians had just returned from getting the next round of medicants for the King. The expression on the Queen's face told them it was not necessary. She informed them, anyway, "My husband has passed" and they hurried in to make a formal exam and declaration.
March 1
Marie had been awakened before sunrise by labor pains and a very wet bed. Much to her surprise (after a sixteen hour labor with Charles Louis), in under seven hours, she had brought into the world another son and a daughter. Louis would have been thrilled, when she mentioned that midwife thought she was having twins, he had wished for a son and a daughter. She had fallen in love with her late elderly husband - not a deep passionate love, but a loving friendship - and began to cry when she remembered he could only see them from Heaven. Upon the arrival a special messenger days later, Marie's brother added prayers for the new siblings of the King of France, Charles IX: Henri and Elisabeth.