Her pregnancy was thus greeted with special joy by her, as well as by the King and the people, for the depleted elder branch of the House of Valois depended on a male heir.

Finally, after three days of dispute, a compromise was reached: the Dauphin would be named Charles Orland in the French language, and Carolus Orlandus in Latin.

The Dauphin, clad in cloth of gold, was carried into the Church of Saint Jean of Plessisour by John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange and was baptised in the font there, surrounded by the greatest lords of the Court, each holding the candle, the basin or the towel.

In the autumn of 1495, when an epidemic of measles struck Touraine,[a] Charles VIII (who after returning from Italy remained in Lyon, where he was joined by the Queen), ordered the child to be even more closely cloistered in Amboise.

But to no avail: Charles Orlando contracted measles, and in spite of the efforts of the doctors and the prayers of the monks, he died on 16 December 1495.

Charles VIII, deeply affected, but advised by his physicians to remain staunch and cheerful, succeeded in hiding his sorrow; Anne gave herself up to her grief so violently that for a time her life, and her sanity, were feared for.