Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet

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Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, comte de Maulevrier, (died July 23, 1531) was a French nobleman, the grandson of King Charles VII of France by a natural daughter of his mistress, Agnes Sorel.

[edit] Birthright, marriage, political intrigues

Louis was the son of Jacques de Brézé, seneschal of Normandy who had built a Gothic château near the foundations of the dismantled donjon of Anet. At his father's death in 1490 Louis inherited. Louis's first wife was Catherine de Dreux.

He married Diane de Poitiers on March 29, 1515, and they had two daughters. Louis was much older than Diane, but they were loyal to one another and had a happy marriage until his death. He was influential at court, being named Sénéchal of Normandy and Master of the Hunt. His château of Anet stood in a royal hunting preserve in the valley of the Eure.

In 1523, Louis discovered a plot against King Francis I of France. He did not know at the time that his wife Diane's father, Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier, was involved in the plot. He was condemned to death over that involvement, but reprieved by the king due to him not directly having any involvement whatsoever.

Before his death in 1531, Louis encouraged the marriage of Prince Henry with the Pope's great-niece, Catherine de Medici, thus setting up the triangle that was to continue until Henry's death, with his widow (Diane de Poitiers) becoming Henry's main mistress. For Diane, Henri II rebuilt the old Château d'Anet which became one of the first French Renaissance châteaux, and she would be entrusted with much of the managing of royal courts business.

The tomb that Diane erected for Louis in the cathedral of Rouen was one of the early projects of the great French Renaissance sculptor, Jean Goujon.