François I (1494 - 1547), was crowned King of France in 1515 in Reims Cathedral, and reigned until his death in 1547.
Youth
Younger brother of Marguerite de Navarre (1492 - 1549), François Ier belongs to the Valois-Angoulême branch of the Capetian dynasty. He was born on September 12, 1494 in Cognac (Charente). His first name comes from his godfather, François de la Rochefoucauld. He is the son of Charles d'Angoulême (1459 - January 1, 1496) and Louise de Savoie (September 11, 1476 - September 22, 1531); his father was the first cousin of his predecessor Louis XII and the grandson of the Duchess of Milan Valentine Visconti.
François I is considered the emblematic monarch of the French Renaissance period. His reign allowed an important development of the arts in France.
When the young François acceded to the throne in 1515 he had the image of a humanist king. He chose the salamander as his emblem. While his two predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, spent a lot of time in Italy, they failed to grasp the artistic and cultural movement that was developing there. Nevertheless, they set the scene that later allowed the flowering of the Renaissance in France.
The contact between the Italian and French cultures during the long period of the Italian campaigns, introduced new ideas in France at the time when François received his education. Many of his tutors, in particular Desmoulins, his Latin teacher, and Christophe de Longeuil instilled in the young François a teaching very inspired by Italian thought. François' mother, too, took a keen interest in Renaissance art and transmitted this passion to her son. It cannot be said that Francis received a humanist education; on the other hand, he received an education that sensitized him, more than any of his predecessors, to this intellectual movement.
A Renaissance Prince
Artists
At the time when Francis I acceded to the throne, the ideas of the Italian Renaissance were diffused in France and the king contributed to this diffusion. He commissioned numerous works from artists. He brings to France the greatest artists of the moment. Several work for him, including the greatest like Andrea del Sarto and Leonardo da Vinci. François I showed a real affection for the old man whom he called "my father" and whom he installed at Clos Lucé, within reach of the royal castle of Amboise. He entrusted him with various missions such as the organization of court festivities in Amboise, the creation of costumes as well as the study of various projects. Vinci remained in France until his death, in the arms of the king according to legend.
We can also mention the goldsmith Cellini, and the painters Rosso and Primaticcio, in charge of numerous works in the various castles of the crown. François employs many agents responsible for repatriating to France the works of Italian masters such as Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael. It was during the reign of Francis I that the collection of works of art from the kings of France, now exhibited in the Louvre, really began.
The man of letters
Francis I is also known as a man of letters. He endeavored to enlarge the royal library of which he appointed the humanist Guillaume Budé as steward with the mission of increasing the collection. To facilitate the dissemination of knowledge, it provides access to its library.
In France, he raises literature and the fine arts, protects scholars, thereby deserving the title of Father of Letters. He founded the Collège de France and the Royal Printing Office.
He composed a few poems, which were published as well as some of his Letters
The Builder
Francis I was a relentless builder and spent lavishly on the construction of new buildings. He continued the work of his predecessors at the Château d'Amboise and restored the Château de Blois. At the beginning of his reign, he began the construction of the Château de Chambord, strongly influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the participation of Leonardo da Vinci in drawing up the plans.
François rebuilt the Louvre, bringing a Renaissance touch to the dark medieval fortress. François I finances the construction of a new City Hall for Paris with the aim of influencing architectural choices. He built the castle of Madrid (now disappeared) and rebuilt the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
The greatest of François I's projects was the expansion of the Château de Fontainebleau, which quickly became his favorite place of residence. Each of the ambitious royal projects benefits from sumptuous exterior and interior decorations.
Foreign policy
On the military and political level, the reign of François Ier is less brilliant. He has two powerful rivals, the German Emperor and King of Spain Charles V and King Henry VIII of England.
The Italian Wars (1515-1526)
In 1515 he succeeded his cousin Louis XII, whose daughter he had married, the Duchess Claude of France (who gave her name to the plum Reine-Claude). Barely on the throne, he put himself at the head of an army to assert his rights to the Duchy of Milan as a legacy from his great-grandmother Valentine Visconti, Duchess of Milan.
The Swiss, who defended the entrance to this territory, were cut to pieces at the Battle of Marignan 1515, a victory immediately followed by the conquest of the Duchy of Milan. François I derives great glory from this battle, the outcome of which was more indecisive than it seems. He concluded the Treaty of Friborg with the Swiss, a treaty of perpetual peace never betrayed to this day.
In 1516, he signed the Peace of Viterbo and the Concordat of Bologna with Pope Leo X, and in 1519, with Charles V, the Treaty of Noyon, which seemed to ensure peace in Europe. Yet the danger is looming.
Charles V has held the Burgundian Netherlands (now Benelux), Franche-Comté since 1506 and claims the Duchy of Burgundy, which he inherited from his grandmother, the Duchess Marie de Bourgogne. In 1516 he inherited the whole of the Iberian Peninsula and its American possessions from his mother, Queen Joan I of Spain. To prevent him from also holding the German Empire from his grandfather Maximilian I of Habsburg, Francis I stood as a candidate for the election of emperor, in order to prevent the formation of a group that would surround and imprison the kingdom.
Despite everything, in 1520, Charles V, already King of Spain, inherited the States from his grandfather Maximilian I of Habsburg and, with the considerable financial support of the powerful banker Jacob Fugger who bought the prince-electors, he was elected Emperor. of the Holy German Empire. François I immediately declared war on him during which he only experienced setbacks:in 1521, Chevalier Bayard defended Mézières besieged by the German troops of Charles V[2]; after the defeat of Odet de Foix at the Battle of La Bicoque (1522), the retreat of Bonnivet, defeated at the Battle of Biagrasso, and the loss of Chevalier Bayard, he was himself defeated and taken prisoner at the end of the Battle of Pavia (1525).
It was his most terrible defeat:the French did "prodigies of valor" in this fight; the king is said to have written to his mother:All is lost, forfeit honour.[3] He was captured by Charles V because of the action of the Italian gentleman, César Hercolani de Forlì, who was called "the conqueror of Pavia" and who, ironically, was related to the mother of the confessor of Louise de Savoy!
Francis I is held prisoner for a year in Madrid and is forced to make important concessions in order to be released against the imprisonment for four years of his two eldest sons, the Dauphin François of France and Henri of France (future Henri II) . He only recovered his freedom through an onerous treaty signed in Madrid in 1526, by which he notably undertook to cede Burgundy, Flanders and the Duchy of Milan to Charles V.
However, on his return to France, François pretends that his agreement was obtained under duress and denies it. The royal children are released after a harsh detention against a large ransom (2 million gold crowns). The Burgundians refused to secede from France and the war started again almost immediately.
North America
The king, in 1524, helped the Florentine merchants settled in Lyon then Jehan Ango, the shipowner from Dieppe, to finance the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazano to North America; during this expedition, Verrazano maps Newfoundland, then founds New Angoulême (the future New Amsterdam, better known as New York) in homage to the family of the King of France. In 1534, he sent Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to discover "certain islands and countries where it is said that a large quantity of gold and other rich things must be found". This is the beginning of New France.
Relations with the Ottoman Empire
François I allies himself with the Ottomans of Suleiman the Magnificent to fight his enemy Charles V. No actual treaty of alliance was signed between France and the Ottomans, but close cooperation enabled the two powers to effectively combat the Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean. It should be noted that Francis I uses an intermediary to discuss with the sultan:this is one of the first known cases of the use of diplomats to negotiate and not to transmit a simple message. This one, as a precaution, is still imprisoned for a year in Istanbul.
In 1535, France became the first European power to obtain commercial privileges in Turkey known as “the capitulations”. These authorized French ships to navigate freely in Ottoman waters under the fleur-de-lis flag and each ship belonging to other countries had the obligation to fly the French flag and seek the protection of French consuls in order to trade. In addition, France obtained the right to own an embassy chapel in Istanbul in the Galata district, a chapel which later became the current Lycée Saint-Benoît. These privileges also ensured a certain protection of France over the Catholic populations of the Ottoman Empire.
The Italian Wars (1536-1544)
Francis I suffered further setbacks:he lost most of his army before Naples and concluded a second treaty at Cambrai in 1529.
On August 7, 1530, he married the sister of Charles V, Éléonore de Habsbourg (1498-1558), widow of King Emmanuel I of Portugal
He entered Italy again in 1535:he conquered the Duchy of Savoy from the Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piedmont Charles III of Savoy, while Charles V invaded Provence from where he was repelled by the Marshal of France Anne de Montmorency. The king and the emperor signed a 10-year truce in Nice in 1538, which was not respected.
Charles V having refused, despite his commitments, the investiture of the Duchy of Milan to one of the king's sons, a fourth war broke out in 1542. After various successes, François I agreed to a definitive peace in 1544. The treaty signed at Crépy ensured the Milanese to the Duke of Orleans, second son of the king.
Despite his setbacks, Francis I is distinguished by a noble and chivalrous character, which places him above his rival. But he is a poor strategist, unable to take advantage of the technological innovations of his time. As such, the battle of Marignan is remarkable. François 1er places his artillery, yet one of the most efficient in Europe, behind his cavalry, thus rendering it ineffective.
Domestic politics
The young Prince Henri formed an opposition party at his father's court against the titular mistress, Anne de Pisseleu
The young Prince Henri formed an opposition party at his father's court against the titular mistress, Anne de Pisseleu
While the king erected fabulous castles in France, he seriously unbalanced the kingdom's budget. At the end of his reign Louis XII was already worried about a very expensive François. The king's father-in-law had left France in good economic health with a ruling monarchy reinforced on the power of the feudals. Francis I continues to consolidate the hold of the crown on the country but, at the same time, he deteriorates the economic situation of the kingdom.
The king's favorites
The reign of Francis I saw a strengthening of royal authority laying the foundations for absolutism as it would later be practiced by Louis XIV.
The court that the king reestablished in Paris, by building the new Louvre, was the true heart of power:the king appeared more and more as the sole source of authority, arbitrating in the last resort the initiatives of the judicial administration and financial, choosing and disgracing his favourites, his ministers and his advisers. At the beginning of his reign, the king will maintain in favor several servants of his predecessor:La Palisse, La Trémoille, Odet de Foix. The king's mother, Louise of Savoy will have a significant influence on the affairs of the country. She will be part of the king's private council and will be twice appointed regent of the kingdom. Until 1541, Anne de Montmorency, appointed first gentleman of the king's chamber, enjoyed royal favor and a dazzling career.
Religion
While the ideas of the Reformation began to spread in France, Francis I initially maintained a rather tolerant attitude, under the influence of his sister Marguerite de Navarre, focused on Evangelism, without breaking with the Catholic Church. In October 1534, the unfortunate affair of the Placards occurred, in which François I considered the royal authority flouted and which in reaction triggered the process of persecution of Protestants and the beginning of the wars of religion in France.
The traditional interpretation which tends to show that the repression would have been triggered by François 1er in reaction to the affair of the Placards does not hold as soon as we consider the criminal register of the Parliament of Paris side 72:from the month of August until n September 15, 1534, two months before this affair, the King set up a commission to prosecute the Reformed under the leadership of Bonaventure Thomassin, adviser to the Parliament of Paris since 1521 and who would be appointed in 1534, President of the Parliament of Grenoble. The action of this commission initiated by letters patent from the King given in Arles on September 19, 1533, more than a year before the execution, will result in several death sentences and various other penalties; The register is unfortunately incomplete, the last twenty sheets having been torn out (probably because of the involvement of certain relatives of the Queen of Navarre, her chaplain Caroli and Michel d'Arande who became tutor to the king's youngest son); the original register has disappeared, the extracts remain; letters patent are not mentioned anywhere else. And guess where this commission was sent and proceeded...? In Alençon, stronghold of the "good sister of the King", of his "cute", Duchess of Alençon by her first marriage. François 1er thus usurps the power of local justice, which he finds too soft for his taste.
Financial policy
The constructions prove to be a money pit as the war effort against the Habsburgs mobilizes enormous sums. To cope with the situation, the king increases taxes:the size, tax paid by the peasants, is more than doubled, and the gabelle, the tax on salt, is tripled. Francis I also uses new means to raise funds. He parted with precious stones belonging to the crown and alienated royal territories which brought him the funds necessary to finance his policy.
The king innovates by selling the charges and offices to obtain cash. Although he does not abuse this last means, it is certainly the beginning of a phenomenon which will continue to grow and will later weaken the administration of the country despite an increasingly centralized and effective power. /P>
French as an official language
In his castle of Villers-Cotterêts in the Aisne, in 1539, François signed the royal ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts which made French the exclusive official language of the administration and the law instead of Latin. The same document requires priests to register births and maintain a register of baptisms. This is the official start of civil status in France and the first registrations with filiation in the world.
François I died of sepsis on March 31, 1547 at the Château de Rambouillet and was buried with his first wife, the Duchess of Brittany Claude de France, at the Saint-Denis basilica. His second son Henri II succeeded him.
His tomb was desecrated during the Revolution, in October 1793.
Weddings
* On May 18, 1514, he married Claude de France (1499-1524), daughter of King Louis XII and Anne of Brittany.
* On August 7, 1530, he married Éléonore for the second time. of Habsburg (1498-1558) sister of Charles V, widow of King Emmanuel I of Portugal and daughter of Philip I of Habsburg and Queen Joan I of Spain
Descent
1. Louise (1515 - 1517).
2. Charlotte (1516 - 1524).
3. François (February 28, 1518 - August 10, 1536) 1st Dauphin .
4. Henry II (March 31, 1519 - July 10, 1559).
5. Magdalene (August 10, 1520 - July 2, 1537). She married James V King of Scotland (1512-1542).
6. Charles (22 January 1522 - 9 September 1545).
7. Marguerite (5 June 1523 - September 14, 1574). She married in 1559 Emmanuel-Philibert (1528-1580) Duke of Savoy.
Illegitimate Descent:
1. Nicolas d'Estouteville, Lord of Villecouvin.
Emblem
The salamander, emblem of François I at the Château de Chambord
The salamander, emblem of François I at the Château de Chambord
The salamander, emblem of François I, symbolizes power over fire, therefore over men and over the world. The motto Nutrisco &extinguo (“I feed on it and I extinguish it”), which sometimes accompanies this emblem, takes on its full meaning when referring to power over fire. It is found on a lot of ceilings and walls of the Château de Chambord and on the arms of the city of Le Havre. This somewhat magical animal is supposed to put out bad fires and kindle good ones.