Francis I of France
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| Francis I the Father and Restorer of Letters | ||
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| King of France | ||
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| Reign | 1 January 1515 – 31 March 1547 | |
| Coronation | 25 January 1515, Reims | |
| Titles | Count of Angoulême (1496 – 1515) Duke of Valois (1498 – 1515) Jure uxoris Duke of Brittany (1514 – 1524) |
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| Born | 12 September 1494 | |
| Cognac, Charente, France | ||
| Died | 31 March 1547 | |
| Château de Rambouillet | ||
| Buried | Saint Denis Basilica, France | |
| Predecessor | Louis XII | |
| Successor | Henry II | |
| Consort | Claude of France (1499 – 1524) Eleanor of Habsburg (1498 – 1558) |
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| Issue | François, Dauphin of France (1518 – 1536) Henry II (1519 – 1559) Madeleine, Queen of Scotland (1520 – 1537) Charles, Duke of Orléans (1522 – 1545) Margaret, Duchess of Savoy (1523 – 1574) |
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| Royal House | Valois Dynasty | |
| Father | Charles, Count of Angoulême (1459 – 1496) | |
| Mother | Louise of Savoy (1476 – 1531) | |
Francis I (François Ier in French) (September 12, 1494 – March 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances. He was a contemporary of King Henry VIII of England and of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, his great rivals, and Suleiman the Magnificent, his ally.
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[edit] Early Life
Francis I, a member of the Valois Dynasty, was born at Cognac, Charente, the son of Charles d'Angoulême (1459 – January 1, 1496), and of Louise of Savoy (September 11, 1476 – September 22, 1531). His father, Charles d'Angoulême, was the cousin of King Louis XII. In 1498, the four-year-old Francis, already Count of Angoulême, was created Duke of Valois. He was the heir presumptive of Louis XII, who did not succeed in siring sons with any of his three wives. Young Francis was, by instigation of king Louis, in 1506 betrothed and on 18 May 1514 married, to Claude of France (1499-1524), the daughter of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany and heiress of Brittany. Because of the Salic Law that stated that women could not inherit the throne of France, the throne passed to Francis I at the death of Louis XII, as he was the descendant of the eldest surviving male line of the Capetian Dynasty. Claude of France became queen consort.
When young Francis ascended the throne in 1515, he was already a king with unprecedented humanist credentials. While his two predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, had spent much of their reigns concerned with Italy they did not much embrace the new intellectual movements coming out of it. Both monarchs continued in the same patterns of behavior that had dominated the French monarchy for centuries. They are considered the last of the medieval French monarchs, but they did lay the groundwork for the Renaissance to come into full swing in France.
Contact between the French and Italians in the long running series of wars under Charles and Louis had brought new ideas to France by the time the young Francis was receiving his education. Thus a number of his tutors, such as Desmoulins, his Latin instructor, and Christophe de Longeuil were schooled in the new ways of thinking and they attempted to imbue Francis with it. Francis' mother also had a great interest in Renaissance art, which she passed down to her son. One certainly cannot say that Francis received a humanist education; most of his teachers had not yet been affected by the Renaissance. One can, however, state that he clearly received an education more oriented towards humanism than any previous French king.
[edit] Kingship
[edit] Patron of the Arts
By the time Francis ascended the throne in 1515 the Renaissance had clearly arrived in France, and Francis was an important supporter of the change. Francis became a major patron of the arts. He lent his support to many of the greatest artists of his time and encouraged them to come to France. Some did work for him, including such greats as Andrea del Sarto, and Leonardo da Vinci, whom Francis convinced to leave Italy in the last and least productive part of his life. While Leonardo did little painting in his years in France, he brought with him many of his great works, such as the Mona Lisa, and these stayed in France upon his death.
Other major artists whom Francis employed include the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, and the painters Rosso and Primaticcio, all of whom were heavily employed in decorating Francis' various palaces and exceedingly loyal. Francis employed a number of agents in Italy who endeavoured to procure artworks by Italian masters such as Michelangelo, Titian, and Raphael and ship them to France. These agents had some notable successes, even if plans to try to move Leonardo's Last Supper to France proved impractical. When Francis ascended the throne the royal palaces were decorated with only a scattering of great paintings, and not a single piece of sculpture either ancient or modern. It is during Francis' reign that the magnificent art collection of the French kings that can still be seen in the Louvre was truly begun.
[edit] Man of letters
Francis was also renowned as a man of letters. When Francis comes up in a conversation among characters in Castiglione's Book of the Courtier, it is as the great hope to bring culture to the war-obsessed French nation. Not only did Francis support a number of major writers of the period, he was a poet himself, if not one of immense quality. Francis worked hard at improving the royal library. He appointed the great French humanist Guillaume Budé as chief librarian, and began to expand the collection. Francis employed agents in Italy looking for rare books and manuscripts, just as he had looking for art works. During his reign the size of the library increased greatly. Not only did Francis expand the library, there is also, according to Knecht, evidence that he read the books he bought for it, a much rarer feat in the royal annals. Francis set an important precedent by opening his library to scholars from around the world in order to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge.
In 1537, Francis signed the Ordonnance de Montpellier, decreeing that his library be given a copy of every book to be sold in France.
Francis' older sister, Marguerite (1492 – 1549), Queen of Navarre, was also accomplished in that she wrote the classic, Heptameron.
[edit] Construction
| Monarchical Styles of King Francis I Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France |
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| Reference style | His Most Christian Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Most Christian Majesty |
| Alternative style | Monsieur Le Roi |
Francis was an impressive builder and he poured vast amounts of money into new structures. He continued the work of his predecessors on the Château d'Amboise and also started renovations on the Château de Blois. Early in his reign he also began construction of the magnificent Château de Chambord, very obviously inspired by the styles of the Italian renaissance, and perhaps even designed by Leonardo. Francis rebuilt the Louvre, turning it from a gloomy medieval fortress into a building of renaissance splendour. He financed the building of a new City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) for Paris in order to have control over the building's design. He constructed the Château de Madrid and rebuilt the Château de St-Germain-en-Laye. The largest of Francis' building projects was the reconstruction and expansion of the royal château of Fontainebleau, which quickly became his favourite place of residence, as well as the residence of his official mistress - Anne, duchess of Etampes. Each of Francis' projects was luxuriously decorated both inside and outside. Fontainebleau, for instance, had a gushing fountain in its courtyard where quantities of wine were mixed with the water.
[edit] Military
Militarily and politically, Francis' reign was less successful; he tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor, and pursued a series of wars in Italy - see Italian Wars. Francis did manage to defeat the Swiss at Marignano, which enabled him to go on and capture the Italian city-state of Milan.
However much of Francis's career was fighting his sworn enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles ruled over both Germany and Spain, known as Habsburg encirclement, and was thus a threat to France. Francis attempted to arrange an alliance with Henry VIII of England. The negotiations took place at the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold of 1520, but ultimately failed. Francis' most devastating defeat occurred at the Battle of Pavia (1525), where he was captured by Charles: Cesare Hercolani hurt his horse and Francis was captured by Spaniards Juan de Urbieta, Diego Dávila and Afonso Pita. For this reason, Hercolani was named "victor of the battle of Pavia". The famous Zuppa alla Pavese, now a renowned recipe was said to have been invented on the spot to feed the captive king right after the battle. Francis was held captive in Madrid and forced to make major concessions to Charles before he was freed. Upon his return to France, however, Francis argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress and he repudiated it.
[edit] The new world
As King, in 1524, he assisted the citizens of Lyon to finance the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazzano to North America; on this expedition, Verrazzano claimed Newfoundland for the French crown. In 1534, he sent Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to find certaines îles et pays où l'on dit qu'il se doit trouver grande quantité d'or et autres riches choses ("certain islands and lands where it is said there must be great quantities of gold and other riches"). In 1541 he sent Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval to settle Canada and to provide for the spread of "the Holy Catholic faith."
[edit] Bureaucratic reform
In his castle in Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, in 1539, Francis signed the edict which made French the administrative language instead of Latin. The same edict required priests to register births, marriages and deaths and to establish a registry office in every parish. This established the first records of vital statistics with filiations available in Europe.
An important change Francis brought to European history was that he came to an understanding with the Ottoman Turks. No formal treaties with the 'infidels' were signed, but high-level meetings between the two powers let them collude against Charles V, and in 1543 the two powers even combined for a joint naval assault on Nice.
[edit] Economic impact
While Francis left France strewn with magnificent palaces he caused severe harm to the nation's economic well-being in order to do so.
[edit] Religion
It was in the later years of Francis' reign that the divisions in the Christian religion erupted. Martin Luther's denouncing of the corruption and self-indulgence of the Roman Catholic Church led to the formation of the Protestant movement which spread over Europe, including France.
At first Francis was reasonably tolerant of the new movement and even considered it as helpful since many German Protestant princes were turning against his sworn enemy, Charles Quint. But, on the night of the 17th to the 18th October 1534, notices appeared on the streets of Paris and other major cities denouncing the Papal Mass. The notice even appeared on the door to the king's room, and, it is said, the box in which he kept his handkerchief.
The most fervent Catholics were outraged by the notice's allegations. Francis himself saw this as a plot against him and persecutions followed. Protestants were jailed and executed. In some areas whole villages were destroyed. Printing was censored and leading Protestants like John Calvin forced into exile. Antoine Marcourt, a Protestant pastor, was responsible for the notices.
Things did get out of hand however and the persecutions soon numbered in the tens of thousands. Upset by the ways things were going, Francis died in 1547. It is said that he died complaining about the weight of a crown that he had first perceived as a gift from God.
[edit] Legacy
Francis' legacy is a mixed one. He achieved great cultural feats, but they came at the expense of France's economic well being.
The persecution of the Protestants was to lead France into decades of civil war, which did not end until 1598 with the Edict of Nantes.
Francis I died at the Château de Rambouillet and is interred with his first wife, Claude de France, Duchess of Bretagne, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Henry II.
[edit] Marriage and Issue
On May 18, 1514, Francis married (1) Claude, Princess of France (October 13, 1499 – July 20, 1524), who was the daughter of Louis XII, King of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany. The couple had seven children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louise, Princess of France | August 19, 1515 | September 21, 1517 | Died young. Had no issue. |
| Charlotte, Princess of France | October 23, 1516 | September 8, 1524 | Died young. Had no issue. |
| Francis, Dauphin of France | February 28, 1518 | August 10, 1536 | Died young. Had no issue. |
| Henry II, King of France | March 31, 1519 | July 10, 1559 | Married Catherine de' Medici (1519 - 1589) in 1533. Had issue. |
| Madeleine, Princess of France | August 10, 1520 | July 2, 1537 | Married James V, King of Scotland (1512 - 1542) in 1537. Had no issue. |
| Charles of Valois, Duke of Orleans | January 22, 1522 | September 9, 1545 | Died young. Had no issue. |
| Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry | June 5, 1523 | September 14, 1574 | Married Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (1528 - 1580) in 1559. Had issue. |
On August 7, 1530, Francis I married his second wife Eleanor of Austria. The couple had no children.
[edit] Francis I in fiction
The amorous exploits of Francis inspired the 1832 play by Fanny Kemble (1809-1893} Francis the First and the 1832 play by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Le Roi s'amuse ("The King Amuses Himself") featuring the jester Triboulet, which later inspired the 1851 opera of Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901), Rigoletto.
Francis was first played in a George Méliès movie by an unknown actor in 1907, and has also been played by Claude Garry (1910), Aimé Simon-Girard (1937), Sacha Guitry (1937), Gérard Oury (1953), Jean Marais (1955), Pedro Armendáriz (1956), Claude Titre (1962), Bernard Pierre Donnadieu (1990), Timothy West (1998).
Francis receives a mention in a minor story in Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy. The narrator claims that the king, wishing to win the favour of Switzerland, offers to the make the country the godmother of his son. When, however, their choice of name conflicts with his tastes, he declares war.
Samuel Shellabarger's novel The King's Cavalier describes Francis the man, and the cultural and political circumstances of his reign, in some detail, with particular emphasis on the great conflict in France between the medieval and the modern.
| Preceded by Louis XII |
King of France January 1, 1515–March 31, 1547 |
Succeeded by Henry II |
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