by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

A contemporary of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King Henry VIII of England, François I, King of France was born on September 12, 1494, at the Château de Cognac in Cognac, Kingdom of France. He was the only son and the younger of the two children of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême and Louise of Savoy. François was a great-great-grandson of King Charles V of France through Charles V’s second surviving son Louis I, Duke of Orléans whose descendants were members of the Orléans cadet branch of the ruling House of Valois. The Orléans branch came to the French throne in 1498 with the accession of King Louis XII, the great-grandson of King Charles V through his second surviving son Louis I, Duke of Orléans after the line of Charles V’s eldest son and successor King Charles VI of France died out.

François had one older sister:

• Marguerite of Angoulême (1492 – 1549), married (1) Charles IV, Duke of Alençon, no children (2) Henri II, King of Navarre, had one surviving child Jeanne III, Queen of Navarre who was the mother of Henri IV, King of France, the first King of the House of Bourbon.

During the winter of 1495, François’s father had a serious fall while out riding and he died from his injuries on January 1, 1496. 16-month-old François became Count of Angoulême and François’s mother was left a 19-year-old widow with two young children.

At the time of François’s birth, 24-year-old Charles VIII was King of France. Charles VIII had married Anne, Duchess of Brittany in 1491 and there were expectations that they would provide a male heir to the French throne as France followed the Salic Law which allowed only male succession. In 1498, Charles VIII violently hit his head on a stone lintel of a low door and died without a male heir. His wife Anne of Brittany had given birth to seven children but none survived.

King Charles VIII was succeeded by his second cousin once removed Louis II, Duke of Orléans as King Louis XII of France. Louis XII’s father Charles I, Duke of Orléans was the grandson of King Charles V of France through his second son, Louis I, Duke of Orléans. King Louis XII also had succession issues. His 22-year marriage to Charles VIII’s sister Jeanne of France had produced no children. Therefore, in 1498, four-year-old François, Count of Angoulême became the heir presumptive to the French throne. Louis XII had his marriage to Jeanne of France annulled and married Charles VII’s widow Anne, Duchess of Brittany, hoping the marriage would produce a male heir.

Meanwhile, François’ mother Louise of Savoy, who never remarried, began the work that would secure each of her children a promising future. After her husband’s death, Louise and her two children Marguerite and François initially remained at the Château de Cognac. Upon the accession of King Louis XII to the throne of France, she moved her family to Louis XII’s court and Louise’s main goal was to prepare her son to become King of France. Louise was quite aware of court politics and diplomacy and was interested in the flourishing of the arts and sciences during the Renaissance. With the help of her Italian confessor Cristoforo Numai of Forli, Louise ensured that Marguerite and François were educated in the spirit of the Renaissance. She commissioned books specifically for them and she taught them Italian and Spanish.

Meanwhile, King Louis XII and his second wife Anne of Brittany failed to produce a male heir. They had four stillborn sons and three miscarriages. They did have two daughters who survived to adulthood, Claude (1499 – 1524) and Renée (1510 – 1574), but because of the Salic Law neither could succeed their father. On January 9, 1514, 36-year-old Anne, Duchess of Brittany, the only woman to have been Queen of France twice, weakened by sixteen pregnancies in twenty years, died from a kidney stone attack.

Anne’s elder daughter Claude succeeded her as Duchess of Brittany. Claude had previously been contracted to marry the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. However, in 1505, Louis XII had become very ill and fearing for his life and not wishing to threaten the reign of François, his only heir, he canceled the marriage contract in favor of the eventual marriage of Claude and François. A marriage with François would mean that the Duchy of Brittany would remain united with the French crown.

On May 18, 1514, François and Claude were married in the chapel at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. They had seven children:

• Louise (1515 – 1517), died in childhood, engaged to King Charles I of Spain (later also Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor)
• Charlotte (1516 – 1524), died in childhood from measles, engaged to King Charles I of Spain (later also Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor)
• François III, Duke of Brittany (1518 – 1536), unmarried, succeeded his mother Claude as Duke of Brittany, died aged 18
• Henri II, King of France (1519 – 1559), married Catherine de’ Medici, had ten children, including three Kings of France: François II, Charles IX, and Henri III
• Madeleine (1520 – 1537), married James V, King of Scots (1st wife), no children, died six months after the marriage from tuberculosis
• Charles II, Duke of Orléans (1522 – 1545), unmarried, died at age 23
• Marguerite of France, Duchess of Berry (1523 – 1574), married Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had one son

After Anne of Brittany’s death, the 52-year-old Louis XII, still seeking a son to succeed him, married 18-year-old Mary Tudor, the younger sister of King Henry VIII of England, in a proxy marriage on August 19, 1514, at Greenwich Palace in England and then in person in France on October 9, 1514. However, the marriage did not last long. Louis XII died on January 1, 1515, just three months after the wedding. As Louis XII had no sons, he was succeeded by his son-in-law as King François I of France. François was crowned King of France on January 25, 1515, at Notre-Dame de Reims (Reims Cathedral), the traditional site for the coronation of the Kings of France. Claude’s coronation took place on May 10, 1517, at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris. Most likely the delay in Claude’s coronation was due to her first two pregnancies.

Some accomplishments and events during the reign of François I, King of France:

Patron of the arts: The magnificent art collection of the French kings began. It can still be seen at the Musée du Louvre, which occupies most of the former Louvre Palace. Among the artists François patronized were Andrea del Sarto and Leonardo da Vinci. da Vinci lived in France during the last years of his life. He brought with him many of his greatest works, including the Mona Lisa and these works remained in France after his death.

Construction: François focused on both new construction and renovations. Among his projects was the renovation of the Louvre Palace from a medieval fortress into a Renaissance palace and the building of a new City Hall (the Hôtel de Ville) for Paris.

Foreign Policy: François continued with the Italian Wars (1494 – 1559). As Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (also King of Spain) of the House of Habsburg gained power and land, France was surrounded by Habsburg land. François unsuccessfully attempted to gain the support of King Henry VIII of England at a summit and a tournament called the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Instead, François allied with the Muslim Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a controversial move for a Christian king. France became the first European country to establish formal relations with the Ottoman Empire.

Exploration: In 1524, François financed the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazzano to North America. On this expedition, Verrazzano was the first documented European to visit the present site of New York City (where the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge is named after him) and claimed Newfoundland in present-day Canada for the French crown. In 1534, François sent Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence River in the present-day Canadian province of Quebec.

Religion: The Reformation began during the reign of the Roman Catholic François. Initially tolerant of the Reformation and its effect upon France, François’ attitude toward Protestants changed from tolerance to persecution with the issue of the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540.

François’ wife Queen Claude, Duchess of Brittany, aged 24, died on July 20, 1524, at the Château de Blois. It is suspected that Claude had tuberculosis and contracted syphilis from her husband and certainly seven pregnancies in eight years weakened her health.

In 1529, the Treaty of Cambrai was signed ending the Seventh Italian War, also known as the War of the League of Cognac, fought between Charles V’s Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg Spain and François I’s Kingdom of France and his allies. To seal the treaty, François I agreed to marry Charles V’s sister Eleanor, Archduchess of Austria, Infanta of Castile, the widow of King Manuel I of Portugal. Eleanor was the daughter of Philip of Austria and Joanna of Castile, co-sovereigns of the Kingdom of Castile. François and Eleanor were married on July 4, 1530, and Eleanor was crowned Queen of France at the Basilica of Saint-Denis on May 31, 1531.

Eleanor was ignored by François who preferred his mistresses. Needless to say, Eleanor and François had no children. However, Eleanor was useful as an intermediary between France and her brother’s Holy Roman Empire.  She took an active role in the care and education of François’ two youngest daughters Madeleine and Marguerite. Eleanor played her role as Queen of France on official occasions such as the marriage of François’ heir, the future King Henri II, and Catherine de Medici in 1533.

There is suspicion that François suffered from syphilis and primary documents say he had some urinary tract issues. François I, King of France died on March 31, 1547, at the Château de Rambouillet, aged 52, after a reign of thirty-two years. According to the report of his autopsy, the cause of his death was sepsis associated with severe kidney failure due to nephritis. He was succeeded by his only surviving son Henri II who became King of France on his 28th birthday.

François was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris with his first wife Claude of France. François and Claude’s tomb was desecrated during the French Revolution in October 1793. Archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir was able to save the tomb and preserved it at the Museum of French Monuments. It was returned to the Basilica of Saint-Denis during the Second Bourbon Restoration (1815 – 1830).

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France Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Kingdom of France/French Empire Index
• French Royal Burial Sites – House of Valois

Works Cited

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