On February 28, 1518, Queen Claude of France gave birth to her first son. First name Francois like his father, the child is titled dauphin of France and it is on him that the hopes of the dynasty rest. By the death of his mother in 1524, François inherited the Duchy of Brittany and was crowned in Rennes in 1532 by Bishop Yves Mahyeuc, he was then known as François III of Brittany. Died at the age of eighteen, it was his younger brother, the future Henri II, who would become the Dauphin of France.
Childhood of the Dauphin François
The Battle of Pavia (1525)
Following the failure of the imperial troops of Charles V in Provence in 1523, Francis I wants to push the advantage to try to retake Milan lost in 1521, against the opinion of his advisers. At the end of October 1524, Milan fell into the hands of the French who then decided to continue on Pavia, the former capital of Lombardy, besieged from October 27, 1524. After several months of siege, the imperial reinforcements opened a breach in the French enclosure on the night of February 23 to 24, 1525. The rout is total. The French lost about 10,000 men, many of them army cadres.
Francis I is taken prisoner by an Italian knight, César Hercolani, nicknamed the conqueror of Pavia. The King of France is embarked at Villefranche (near Nice) and is detained in Spain by Charles V for a year pending the payment of a ransom by France and the signing of the Treaty of Madrid (January 14, 1526) which l undertakes to restore the Duchy of Burgundy and the County of Charolais, but also to abandon the claims of Artois and Flanders as well as the claims on the Italian peninsula. Freed, François I leaves Charles V his sword and his two sons, François the Dauphin and little Henri (future Henri II).
The detention in Spain (1526-1530)
As a pledge of the execution of the Treaty of Madrid, signed on January 14, 1526, François 1er agreed to deliver his two eldest sons to Charles V. On March 17, 1526, two boats were moored on either side of the Bidasoa. On the Spanish shore, that of Francis I. On the French side, that of the Dauphin François and his brother Henri d'Orléans, the future Henri II. At the signal, the boats reach a pontoon in the middle of the river. This is where the exchange takes place. The King, in tears, embraces his sons, whom he leaves as a pledge of the execution of the Treaty of Madrid, signed on January 14.
The boys see their father moving away to France, while they reach Spain. They are very young to understand. The dolphin is just eight years old and Henri will celebrate in a few days, on March 31, his seventh birthday. They lost their mother, Claude de France, two years before. It was their grandmother, Louise de Savoie, who accompanied them to Bayonne. No doubt she explained to them that they were going to Spain so that the king could recover his freedom. No doubt she also promised them that they would be happy there and that they would come back soon.
Upon their arrival, the little princes are entrusted to the Duke of Frias, Constable of Castile. They are treated magnificently, at the expense, it is true, of the King of France. From Irún, they reach Vitoria, where Éléonore of Austria, the Emperor's sister, is preparing to leave for France to marry François 1er, in accordance with the Treaty of Madrid. Charles V, meanwhile, is waiting for the ratification of the treaty to give the order to leave.
Weeks pass, and François 1er does not run. He never intended to respect an agreement that amputates his kingdom of Burgundy. By constituting a European coalition, he wants to bring Charles V to negotiate the terms of the treaty. The little hostages will have to wait.
To the emissaries from Venice and the Holy See, who want to join forces against the Emperor, the king says he is ready to leave his sons for another two or three years in Spain. They will be treated well, he adds, will be able to learn Spanish and form useful friendships. Francis I hopes to be able to recover his sons for a cash ransom, but Charles V, furious at having been fooled, refuses.
When, in July 1526, the Italian allies of France entered the campaign to chase the Imperials from the Peninsula, Charles V ordered the Duke of Frias to lock up the little princes in his castle of Villalba. The situation of the children will deteriorate as relations between the king and the Emperor deteriorate. At first, the Dauphin François and his brother live offshore in the vast fortress, surrounded by a retinue of seventy lords and officers, and one hundred and fifty subordinate servants. Their train is still worthy of their royal rank even if, with finances running out, their Governor begins to economize on everything.
In the summer of 1527, Lautrec's army entered Lombardy, and Charles V tightened surveillance around the hostages. Visits and communication with the outside are now prohibited. Six months later, the conditions of detention are brutally worsening.
In retaliation for the official declaration of war by France and England, Charles V had the hostages transferred to the castle of Villalpando, near Zamora. Their French servants, imprisoned or under house arrest, are replaced by an exclusively Spanish entourage. Francis I sometimes gets news of his sons from spies. They have been seen walking to church or bird hunting. Henri seems to give a hard time to his jailers:"He never does anything but strike and there is no man who can be master of it, saying in Spanish all the bad things in the world, as it was reported throughout the city ". To prevent any attempted kidnapping, surveillance is being tightened.
Children are transferred from one castle to another. They are forbidden to go out and even to communicate with Eléonor, who tries to soften their lot. They are finally imprisoned in the castle of Pedrazza, in the province of Segovia, an old medieval fortress isolated in the mountains, wet and freezing in winter. Grilles on the windows, rudimentary furniture, coarse food, permanent surveillance, suspicious jailers. To destitution and boredom is added, no doubt, the terrible feeling of having been abandoned. On August 3, 1529, the Peace of Cambrai, or Peace of the Ladies, was finally signed and Charles Quint finally agreed to release his hostages against a huge ransom of 2 million gold crowns, but it still took months to reunite the silver.
It was only on July 1, 1530, on the Bidassoa, that the money was given to the Emperor in exchange for the little princes and their future mother-in-law, Eléonor from Austria.
The Death of the Dolphin
The Eighth Italian War (1536-1538)
When the Duke of Milan Francis II Sforza died on October 24, 1535, Philip, son of Charles V, inherited the duchy, but Francis I also claimed possession. At the beginning of the year 1536, the King of France invaded the Duchy of Savoy and seized Turin. In response, Charles V invaded Provence and took Aix-en-Provence. In order to stop Charles V, the dolphin leaves with his father in the direction of Provence.
A game of Jeu de Paume in Lyon
At the beginning of August 1536, the king and the dauphin were in Lyon. On August 2, before leaving Lyon, the dolphin wants to play a last game of tennis in the hall of Ainay. Despite the stormy and stifling heat, the prince does not dissuade himself and his adversary does not spare him either. At the end of the game, the Dauphin drinks a glass of ice water brought by his cupbearer, Count Sébastien de Montecucculli. He then experiences great weakness, is burning with fever and breathes with difficulty. However, he finds the strength to follow his father and brothers.
On Thursday, August 3, the king and his sons are in Vienna. The royal procession attends a blessing in the cathedral of Vienna and all the chroniclers note the pallor and the weakness of the dauphin. His doctors surround him and the Cardinal de Tournon, worried, gives him his own doctor Jean Champier. The doctors are of the opinion that the prince cannot continue the journey on horseback to Valence and recommend the descent by boat on the Rhône. The boats leave on Saturday August 5 in the morning. After a stop at St Vallier chez les Poitiers, the dolphin is at its worst and the Cardinal de Tournon offers the procession to stop at the Château de Tournon.
The arrest and death at Tournon
The doctors are busy around the Dauphin François who is increasingly ill and we stop at Tournon at the invitation of the Cardinal. The king and his escort were probably welcomed on August 7 by the lady of Vissac, countess of Tournon, dowager widowed for 11 years, with her son Just II and his wife Claude de la Tour Turenne. Just II leaves his bedroom on the ground floor at the Dauphin, whose windows face north and which is adjoining the Beauregard tower.
The king left Tournon the next day (August 8), probably reassured about the dolphin's health, and moved to Valence where he remained until September 10. The Dauphin's new child of honor, Pierre de Ronsard, also joined his father, Loys de Ronsard at the patient's bedside at this time.
The condition of the dolphin is rapidly worsening, he suffers from terrible pains in the right side with high fever. The doctors have little hope of saving him from this disease which should be pleural pleurisy. Between seven and eight in the morning, after a night of agony, the Dauphin breathed his last on August 10, 1536.
The remains of the dolphin will be stored for 11 years in the church of St Julien before joining that of his father in 1547 in the basilica of Saint Denis in Paris.
Bibliography
- Francis I:A King Between Two Worlds, by Cédric Michon. Belin, 2018.
- France of the Renaissance, by Arlette JOUANNA. Tempus, 2009.