Читать книгу The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France - R. Knecht J. - Страница 59

Following his return home, Francis spent several months touring south-west and central France. It was probably at Mont-de-Marsan in March 1526 that he first met Anne de Pisseleu, who was to replace Françoise de Châteaubriant in his affections. She was eighteen and admired for her beauty, intelligence and vivacity. By 1527 she had joined the king’s ‘fair band’ of ladies. In 1531 she became the governess of his daughters, Madeleine and Marguerite, and about 1534 Francis married her off to Jean de Brosse, soon to become duc d’Etampes. Thus did Anne become duchesse d’Etampes, the name by which she is best remembered. Depite her marriage, she remained at court where she came to exert a powerful political and artistic influence.

In October 1526 the bodies of Queen Claude and her infant daughter Louise, whose funerals had been postponed on account of the war, were taken from Blois to the abbey of Saint-Denis, where they were buried on 7 November. And on 30 January 1527 the king’s sister Marguerite took as her second husband Henri d’Albret, king of Navarre, who had escaped from prison in Pavia. The marriage was politically significant, since Henri’s claim to Spanish Navarre had yet to be satisfied by the emperor. After visiting her small kingdom, Marguerite returned to court where in June 1528 she attended the wedding of her sister-in-law Renée with Ercole d’Este. On 16 November, Marguerite gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne, who was to become the mother of King Henry IV.

Francis’s homecoming in March 1526 was followed by a distribution of honours comparable to that of 1515. Bourbon’s treason and the slaughter of so many noblemen at Pavia had created numerous vacancies in the royal administration. The king also wished to reward people who had been loyal to him during his captivity. Foremost among the new appointees were Anne de Montmorency and Philippe Chabot de Brion. Both had been brought up with Francis, had shared his captivity and had helped to bring about his release. Montmorency was thirty-one years old and a scion of one of the oldest and richest aristocratic houses. In August 1522, after serving in several military campaigns, he had become a marshal of France, a knight of the Order of St Michael, and a royal councillor. Now, on 23 March 1526, he was appointed Grand maître de France (in place of René of Savoy) and governor of Languedoc (in place of Bourbon). As the official head of Francis’s household, Montmorency became one of his principal advisers. He was a strict disciplinarian and a religious conservative. In January 1527 he married Madeleine of Savoy, daughter of the king’s deceased uncle, René. She brought Anne a large dowry which increased his already considerable fortune.

Philippe Chabot, seigneur de Brion, was appointed Admiral of France on 23 March 1526 in succession to Bonnivet, the king’s deceased favourite. Early in the reign Chabot had become a gentleman of the king’s chamber, captain of a company of lances, a knight of the Order of St Michael and mayor of Bordeaux. Among his military exploits was the successful defence of Marseille against Bourbon in 1524. In addition to the admiralship of France, he became governor of Burgundy. Though he received many gifts of land and money, he never became as wealthy as Montmorency. In January 1527 he married Françoise de Longwy, daughter of Francis I’s bastard sister.

Among other important appointments made by Francis in 1526, Galiot de Genouillac became Grand écuyer (Master of the Horse) in place of Giangaleazzo da San Severino; Robert de La Marck, seigneur de Florange, became a marshal of France; Jean de La Barre became comte d’Etampes and prévôt of Paris; and François de Tournon was promoted to the archbishopric of Bourges.