King of France from 1515–1547

King of France
Francis I ( french : François Ier ; Middle French : Francoys ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547 ) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father in-law Louis XII, who died without a son.

A colossal patron of the arts, he promoted the emergent french Renaissance by attracting many italian artists to work for him, including Leonardo district attorney Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which Francis had acquired. Francis ‘ reign saw significant cultural changes with the growth of cardinal exponent in France, the diffuse of humanism and Protestantism, and the begin of french exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the room for the expansion of the first base french colonial empire. For his function in the development and forwarding of the french linguistic process, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres ( the ‘Father and Restorer of Letters ‘ ). [ 1 ] He was besides known as François au Grand Nez ( ‘Francis of the Large Nose ‘ ), the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier ( the ‘Knight-King ‘ ) [ 1 ] for his personal affair in the wars against his great equal Emperor Charles V, who was besides King of Spain. Following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the italian Wars. The succession of Charles V to the Burgundian Netherlands, the enthrone of Spain, and his subsequent election as Holy Roman Emperor, meant that France was geographically encircled by the Habsburg monarchy. In his clamber against Imperial hegemony, Francis sought the digest of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. [ 2 ] When this was abortive, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a christian king at the time. [ 3 ]

early life and entree [edit ]

Francis of Orléans was born on 12 September 1494 at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, [ 1 ] which at that clock lay in the state of Saintonge, a contribution of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Today the township lies in the department of Charente. Francis was the only son of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême and Louise of Savoy, and a great-great-grandson of King Charles V of France. [ 4 ] His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was placid young at the time of his give birth, as was his forefather ‘s cousin the Duke of Orléans, former King Louis XII. however, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, who himself had no male heir. [ 5 ] The Salic Law prevented women from inheriting the enthrone. therefore, the four-year-old Francis ( who was already Count of Angoulême after the death of his own father two years earlier ) became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois. [ 5 ] In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered for his daughter Claude and Francis to be married immediately, but only through an forum of nobles were the two engaged. [ 6 ] Claude was heir presumptive to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Anne ‘s death, the marriage took place on 18 May 1514. [ 7 ] On 1 January 1515, Louis died, and Francis inherited the throne. He was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his tabby choir. [ 8 ]

reign [edit ]

Francis I painted in 1515 Giovanni Maria Pomedelli, François I, ( obverse ) As Francis was receiving his education, ideas emerging from the italian Renaissance were influential in France. Some of his tutors, such as François Desmoulins de Rochefort ( his Latin teacher, who late during the reign of Francis was named Grand Aumônier de France ) and Christophe de Longueil ( a Brabantian human-centered ), were attracted by these fresh ways of think and attempted to influence Francis. His academic education had been in arithmetical, geography, grammar, history, read, spelling, and write and he became technical in Hebrew, Italian, Latin and Spanish. Francis came to learn chivalry, dancing, and music, and he loved archery, falconry, hogback depend on, hunt, joust, real tennis and writhe. He ended up reading philosophy and theology and he was fascinated with art, literature, poetry and science. His mother, who had a high gear wonder for italian Renaissance artwork, passed this matter to on to her son. Although Francis did not receive a human-centered department of education, he was more charm by humanism than any previous french king .

Patron of the arts [edit ]

By the clock he ascended the throne in 1515, the Renaissance had arrived in France, and Francis became an enthusiastic patron of the arts. At the time of his accession, the royal palaces of France were ornamented with only a scattering of great paintings, and not a individual sculpt, either ancient or mod. During Francis ‘ reign, the brilliant art collection of the french kings, which can silent be seen at the Louvre, was begun. Francis patronized many great artists of his clock, including Andrea del Sarto and Leonardo da Vinci ; the latter of whom was persuaded to make France his home during his last years. While district attorney Vinci painted very small during his years in France, he brought with him many of his greatest works, including the Mona Lisa ( known in France as La Joconde ), and these remained in France after his death. other major artists to receive Francis ‘ trade included the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini and the painters Rosso Fiorentino, Giulio Romano, and Primaticcio, all of whom were employed in decorating Francis ‘ respective palaces. He besides invited the noted architect Sebastiano Serlio ( 1475–1554 ), who enjoyed a fruitful belated career in France. [ 9 ] Francis besides commissioned a total of agents in Italy to procure noteworthy works of art and ship them to France .

man of letters [edit ]

Francis was besides renowned as a world of letters. When Francis comes up in a conversation among characters in Baldassare Castiglione ‘s Book of the Courtier, it is as the big promise to bring culture to the war-obsessed french nation. not lone did Francis support a act of major writers of the period, but he was besides a poet himself, if not one of particular abilities. Francis worked diligently at improving the royal library. He appointed the capital french humanist Guillaume Budé as headman librarian and began to expand the collection. Francis employed agents in Italy to look for rare books and manuscripts, good as he had agents looking for artwork works. During his reign, the size of the library greatly increased. not merely did he expand the library, there is besides evidence [ citation needed ] that he read the books he bought for it, a much rare event in the royal annals. Francis set an important common law by opening his library to scholars from around the world in order to facilitate the diffusion of cognition. In 1537, Francis signed the Ordonnance de Montpellier, which decreed that his library be given a transcript of every ledger to be sold in France. Francis ‘ older sister, Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, was besides an accomplished writer who produced the classical solicitation of short stories known as the Heptameron. Francis corresponded with the abbess and philosopher Claude de Bectoz, of whose letters he was so adoring that he would carry them round and show them to the ladies of his court. [ 10 ] together with his baby, he visited her in Tarascon. [ 11 ] [ failed verification ]

construction [edit ]

Francis poured huge amounts of money into new structures. He continued the work of his predecessors on the Château d’Amboise and besides started renovations on the Château de Blois. Early in his reign, he began construction of the brilliant Château de Chambord, inspired by the architectural styles of the italian rebirth, and possibly even designed by Leonardo district attorney Vinci. Francis rebuilt the Louvre Palace, transforming it from a medieval fortress into a building of Renaissance luster. He financed the build of a raw City Hall ( the Hôtel de Ville ) for Paris in order to have operate over the construction ‘s plan. He constructed the Château de Madrid in the Bois de Boulogne and rebuilt the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The largest of Francis ‘ build projects was the reconstruction and expansion of the Château de Fontainebleau, which cursorily became his favored identify of mansion, deoxyadenosine monophosphate good as the mansion of his official schoolmarm, Anne, Duchess of Étampes. Each of Francis ‘ projects was high decorated both inside and knocked out. Fontainebleau, for case, had a gushing fountain in its court where quantities of wine were mix with the water system .

military action [edit ]

Although the italian Wars ( 1494–1559 ) came to dominate the reign of Francis I, the wars were not the lone focus of his policies. Francis merely continued the ceaseless wars that his predecessors had started and that his successors on the throne of France would drag on after Francis ‘ death. indeed, the italian Wars had begun when Milan sent a supplication to King Charles VIII of France for security against the aggressive actions of the King of Naples. [ 12 ] Militarily and diplomatically, Francis ‘ reign was a mix pocket of success and bankruptcy. Francis tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor at the Imperial election of 1519. however, there were besides irregular victories, such as in the assign of the italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai ( 1508–1516 ) and, more specifically, to the final stage of that war, which history refers to simply as “ Francis ‘ First Italian War ” ( 1515–1516 ), when Francis routed the unite forces of the Papal States and the Old Swiss Confederacy at Marignano on 13–15 September 1515. This victory at Marignano allowed Francis to capture the italian city state of Milan. Later, in November 1521, during the Four Years ‘ War ( 1521–1526 ) and facing the advancing Imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire and overt rebellion within Milan, Francis was forced to abandon Milan, frankincense, cancelling the gloat at Marignano. much of the military activeness of Francis ‘s reign was focused on his sworn enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis and Charles maintained an intense personal competition. Charles, in fact, cheekily challenged Francis to unmarried fight multiple times. In addition to the Holy Roman Empire, Charles personally ruled Spain, Austria, and a count of smaller possessions neighboring France. He was thus a ceaseless menace to Francis ‘ kingdom .
Francis attempted to arrange an alliance with Henry VIII of England at the celebrated suffer at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520, but despite a lavish fortnight of statesmanship they failed to reach an agreement. [ 13 ] Francis and Henry were both obsessed with dreams of power and chivalric glory ; their relationship featured intense personal and dynastic competition. Francis was driven by his acute eagerness for retaking Milan, despite the strong enemy of other Powers. Henry was besides determined to recapture northern France, which Francis could never allow. [ 14 ] Francis suffered his most crushing get the better of at the Battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525, during contribution of the continuing italian Wars known as the Four Years ‘ War. Francis was actually taken prisoner : Cesare Hercolani injured his horse, and Francis was captured by Diego Dávila, Alonso Pita district attorney Veiga, and Juan de Urbieta, from Guipúzcoa. For this reason, Hercolani was named “ Victor of the struggle of Pavia ”. Zuppa alla Pavese was purportedly invented on the topographic point to feed the prisoner king correct after the struggle. [ 15 ] Francis I was held captive in Madrid. In a letter to his mother he wrote, “ Of all things, nothing remains to me but honour and liveliness, which is dependable. ” This credit line has come down in history famously as “ All is lost deliver honor. ” [ 16 ] Francis made major concessions to Charles V in the Treaty of Madrid ( 1526 ), signed on 14 January, before he was freed on 17 March. An ultimatum from Ottoman Sultan Suleiman to Charles V besides played an significant character in his release. Francis I surrendered any claims to Naples and Milan in Italy. [ 17 ] Francis recognised the independence of the Duchy of Burgundy, which had been separate of France since the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. [ 18 ] And ultimately, Francis was betrothed to Charles ‘ baby Elearnor. Francis was allowed to return to France in exchange for his two sons, Francis and Henry, but once he was exempt he argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress. He besides claimed that the agreement was void because his sons were taken hostage with the significance that his word alone could not be trusted. frankincense he firm repudiated it. A renewed alliance with England enabled Francis to repudiate the treaty of Madrid .
Francis persevered in his hate of Charles V and desire to control Italy. By the mid-1520s, Pope Clement VII wished to liberate Italy from alien domination, particularly that of Charles V, so he allied with Venice to form the League of Cognac. Francis joined the League in May 1526, in the War of the League of Cognac of 1526–30. [ 19 ] Francis ‘ allies proved weak, and the war was ended by the Treaty of Cambrai ( 1529 ; “ the peace of the Ladies ”, negotiated by Francis ’ mother and Charles ’ aunt ). [ 20 ] The two boys were released, and Francis married Eleanor.
After the League of Cognac failed, Francis concluded a unavowed confederation with the Landgrave of Hesse on 27 January 1534. This was directed against Charles V on the guise of assisting the Duke of Württemberg to regain his traditional seat, from which Charles had removed him in 1519. Francis besides obtained the help of the Ottoman Empire and after the death of Francesco II Sforza, ruler of Milan, renewed the contest in Italy in the italian War of 1536–1538. This attack of active, which had little solution, was ended by the Truce of Nice. The agreement collapsed, however, which led to Francis ‘ concluding attack on Italy in the italian War of 1542–1546. This time Francis managed to hold off the forces of Charles V and Henry VIII. Charles V was forced to sign the Treaty of Crépy because of his fiscal difficulties and conflicts with the Schmalkaldic League. [ 21 ]

Relations with the New World and Asia [edit ]

Francis had been much aggrieved at the papal bull Aeterni regis : in June 1481 Portuguese rule over Africa and the Indies was confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV. Thirteen years late, on 7 June 1494, Portugal and the Crown of Castille signed the Treaty of Tordesillas under which the newly discovered lands would be divided between the two signatories. All this prompted King Francis to declare, “ The sun shines for me as it does for others. I would very much like to see the article of Adam ’ second will by which I should be denied my share of the world. ” [ 22 ] In club to counterbalance the world power of the Habsburg Empire under Charles V, particularly its operate of boastfully parts of the New World through the Crown of Spain, Francis I endeavoured to develop contacts with the New World and Asia. Fleets were sent to the Americas and the Far East, and close contacts were developed with the Ottoman Empire permitting the development of french Mediterranean trade ampere well as the administration of a strategic military alliance. The port city now known as Le Havre was founded in 1517 during the early years of Francis ‘ reign. The construction of a new port was urgently needed in order to replace the ancient seaport of Honfleur and Harfleur, whose utility program had decreased due to silting. Le Havre was in the first place named Franciscopolis after the King who founded it, but this identify did not survive into later reigns .

united states [edit ]

In 1524, Francis assisted the citizens of Lyon in financing the expedition of Giovanni district attorney Verrazzano to North America. On this dispatch, Verrazzano visited the present web site of New York City, naming it New Angoulême, and claimed Newfoundland for the french peak. Verrazzano ‘s letter to Francis of 8 July 1524 is known as the Cèllere Codex. [ 23 ] In 1531, Bertrand d’Ornesan tried to establish a french trading post at Pernambuco, Brazil. [ 24 ] In 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to find “ certain islands and lands where it is said there must be great quantities of aureate and other riches ”. [ 25 ] In 1541, Francis sent Jean-François de Roberval to settle Canada and to provide for the spread of “ the Holy Catholic religion. ”

Far East Asia [edit ]

french trade wind with East Asia was initiated during the predominate of Francis I with the avail of shipowner Jean Ango. In July 1527, a french Norman deal ship from the city of Rouen is recorded by the portuguese João de Barros as having arrived in the indian city of Diu. [ 26 ] In 1529, Jean Parmentier, on board the Sacre and the Pensée, reached Sumatra. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] Upon its reappearance, the dispatch triggered the development of the Dieppe maps, influencing the exploit of Dieppe cartographers such as Jean Rotz. [ 28 ]

Ottoman Empire [edit ]

Under the predominate of Francis I, France became the first country in Europe to establish courtly relations with the Ottoman Empire and to set up instruction in the Arabic language under the steering of Guillaume Postel at the Collège de France. [ 29 ]
In a river basin moment in european delicacy, Francis came to an understanding with the Ottoman Empire that developed into a Franco-Ottoman alliance. The alliance has been called “ the first nonideological diplomatic alliance of its kind between a christian and non-Christian empire ”. [ 30 ] It did, however, cause quite a scandal in the christian world [ 31 ] and was designated “ the impious confederation ”, or “ the blasphemous coupling of the [ French ] Lily and the [ Ottoman ] Crescent. ” however, it endured for many years, since it served the objective interests of both parties. [ 32 ] The two powers colluded against Charles V, and in 1543 they even combined for a joint naval attack in the Siege of Nice.

In 1533, Francis I sent colonel Pierre de Piton as ambassador to Morocco, initiating official France-Morocco relations. [ 33 ] In a letter to Francis I dated 13 August 1533, the Wattassid ruler of Fez, Ahmed ben Mohammed, welcomed french overtures and granted exemption of shipping and protective covering of french traders .

bureaucratic reform and language policy [edit ]

The regulation of Villers-Cotterêts in August 1539 prescribed the use of French in official documents. Francis took respective steps to eradicate the monopoly of Latin as the lyric of cognition. In 1530, he declared French the national language of the kingdom, and that same year opened the Collège des trois langues, or Collège Royal, following the recommendation of humanist Guillaume Budé. Students at the Collège could study Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, then Arabic under Guillaume Postel beginning in 1539. [ 34 ] In 1539, in his castle in Villers-Cotterêts, [ 35 ] Francis signed the significant decree known as ordination of Villers-Cotterêts, which, among early reforms, made French the administrative language of the kingdom as a surrogate for Latin. This same decree required priests to register births, marriages, and deaths, and to establish a register office in every parish. This initiated the first records of vital statistics with filiations available in Europe .

religious policies [edit ]

Divisions in Christianity in Western Europe during Francis ‘ reign created last international rifts. Martin Luther ‘s sermon and write sparked the Protestant Reformation, which spread through much of Europe, including France .
initially Francis was relatively broad of the new movement, despite burning respective heretics at the Place Maubert in 1523. [ 36 ] He was influenced by his beloved sister Marguerite de Navarre, who was authentically attracted by Luther ‘s theology. [ 37 ] Francis tied considered it politically utilitarian, as it caused many german princes to turn against his enemy Charles V. Francis ‘ attitude towards Protestantism changed for the worse following the “ Affair of the Placards “, on the night of 17 October 1534, in which notices appeared on the streets of Paris and other major cities denouncing the Catholic mass. The most ardent Catholics were outraged by the poster ‘s allegations. Francis himself came to view the motion as a plot against him and began to persecute its followers. Protestants were jailed and executed. In some areas whole villages were destroyed. In Paris, after 1540, Francis had heretics such as Etienne Dolet tortured and burned. [ 38 ] Printing was censored and leading protestant church reformers such as John Calvin were forced into exile. The persecutions soon numbered thousands of absolutely and tens of thousands of homeless. [ 39 ] Persecutions against Protestants were codified in the Edict of Fontainebleau ( 1540 ) issued by Francis. major acts of violence continued, as when Francis ordered the execution of one of the diachronic pre-Lutheran groups, the Waldensians, at the Massacre of Mérindol in 1545 .

death [edit ]

Francis died at the Château de Rambouillet on 31 March 1547, on his son and successor ‘s twenty-eighth birthday. It is said that “ he died complaining about the slant of a crown that he had beginning perceived as a give from God ”. [ 40 ] He was interred with his first wife, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Henry II. Francis ‘ grave and that of his wife and mother, along with the tombs of other french kings and members of the royal family, were desecrated on 20 October 1793 during the Reign of Terror at the height of the french Revolution .

image and reputation [edit ]

Francis I has a poor reputation in France—his five-hundredth anniversary was short notice in 1994. democratic and scholarly diachronic memory ignores his build of so many fine chateau, his stunning art collection, his lavish patronage of scholars and artists. He is seen as a playboy who disgraced France by allowing himself to be defeated and taken prisoner at Pavia. The historian Jules Michelet set the negative image. [ 41 ] Francis ‘ personal emblem was the salamander and his latin motto was Nutrisco et extinguo ( “ I nutrify [ the effective ] and stub out [ the regretful ] ” ). [ 42 ] His long nose earned him the dub François du Grand Nez ( “ Francis of the Big Nose ” ), he was besides colloquially known as the “ Grand Colas ” or “ Bonhomme Colas ”. For his personal involvement in battles, he was known as le Roi-Chevalier ( “ the Knight-King ” ) or le Roi-Guerrier ( “ the Warrior-King ” ). [ 43 ] british historian Glenn Richardson considers Francis a achiever :

He was a king who ruled as well as reigned. He knew the importance of war and a high international profile in staking his claim to be a great warrior-king of France. In battle he was brave, if impetuous, which led equally to triumph and disaster. Domestically, Francis exercised the spirit and letter of the royal prerogative to its fullest extent. He bargained hard over taxation and other issues with interest groups, often by appearing not to bargain at all. He enhanced royal power and concentrated decision-making in a tight personal executive but used a wide range of offices, gifts and his own personal charisma to build up an elective personal affinity among the ranks of the nobility upon whom his reign depended …. Under Francis, the court of France was at the height of its prestige and international influence during the 16th century. Although opinion has varied considerably over the centuries since his death, his cultural legacy to France, to its Renaissance, was immense and ought to secure his reputation as among the greatest of its kings.[44]

marriage and issue [edit ]

On 18 May 1514, Francis married his irregular cousin Claude, the daughter of King Louis XII of France and Duchess Anne of Brittany. The couple had seven children :
On 7 July 1530, Francis I married his second wife Eleanor of Austria, [ 45 ] a sister of the Emperor Charles V. The match had no children. During his predominate, Francis kept two official mistresses at court. The first was Françoise de Foix, Countess of Châteaubriant. In 1526, she was replaced by the blonde-haired, culture Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess of Étampes, who with the end of Queen Claude two years earlier, wielded far more political office at court than her predecessor had done. Another of his earlier mistresses was allegedly Mary Boleyn, mistress of King Henry VIII and sister of Henry ‘s future wife, Anne Boleyn. [ 46 ]

Francis I in films, stage and literature [edit ]

The amatory exploits of Francis inspired the 1832 play by Fanny Kemble, Francis the First, and the 1832 play by Victor Hugo, Le Roi s’amuse ( “ The King ‘s Amusement ” ), which featured the jester Triboulet, the inspiration for the 1851 opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. Francis was first played in a George Méliès movie by an unknown actor in 1907, and has besides been played by Claude Garry ( 1910 ), Aimé Simon-Girard ( 1937 ), Sacha Guitry ( 1937 ), Gérard Oury ( 1953 ), Jean Marais ( 1955 ), Pedro Armendáriz ( 1956 ), Claude Titre ( 1962 ), Bernard Pierre Donnadieu ( 1990 ). timothy West ( 1998 ) and Emmanuel Leconte ( 2007– 2010 ). Francis was portrayed by Peter Gilmore in the drollery film Carry On Henry charting the assumed two extra wives of Henry VIII ( including Marie cousin of King Francis ). Francis receives a note in a minor narrative in Laurence Sterne ‘s novel Tristram Shandy. The narrator claims that the king, wishing to win the favor of Switzerland, offers to make the area the godmother of his son. When, however, their choice of name conflicts, he declares war. He is besides mentioned in Jean de la Brète ‘s novel Reine – Mon oncle et mon curé, where the chief character Reine de Lavalle idolises him after reading his biography, a lot to the depress of the local anesthetic priest. He often receives mentions in novels on the lives of either of the Boleyn sisters – Mary Boleyn ( d. 1543 ) and her sister, Queen Anne Boleyn ( carry through 1536 ), both of whom were for a time educated at his motor hotel. Mary had, according to respective accounts, been Francis ‘ erstwhile mistress and Anne had been a favorite of his sister : the novels The Lady in the Tower, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Last Boleyn, Dear Heart, How Like You This? and Mademoiselle Boleyn feature of speech Francis in their history. He appears in Hilary Mantel ‘s Wolf Hall about Henry VIII ‘s minister Thomas Cromwell and is frequently referred to in its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. Francis is portrayed in Diane Haeger ‘s novel Courtesan about Diane de Poitiers and Henri II. Francis appears as the patron of Benvenuto Cellini in the 1843 French novel L’Orfèvre du roi, ou Ascanio by Alexandre Dumas, père. Samuel Shellabarger ‘s novel The King’s Cavalier describes Francis the serviceman, and the cultural and political circumstances of his reign, in some detail. He was a recurring character in the highly inaccurate Showtime serial The Tudors, opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII and Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn. Francis is played by french actor, Emmanuel Leconte. He and his motor hotel set the scene for Friedrich Schiller ‘s ballad Der Handschuh ( The Glove ). Francis I ( played by Timothy West ) and Francis ‘s son Henry II ( played by Dougray Scott ) are cardinal figures in the 1998 movie Ever After, a recite of the Cinderella fib. The plot includes Leonardo district attorney Vinci ( played by Patrick Godfrey ) arriving at Francis ‘s court with the Mona Lisa. He is played by Alfonso Bassave in the TVE series Carlos, rey emperador, opposite Álvaro Cervantes as Charles V .

Ancestors [edit ]

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

further understand [edit ]

  • Clough, C.H., “Francis I and the Courtiers of Castiglione’s Courtier.” European Studies Review. vol 8, 1978.
  • Denieul-Cormier, Anne. The Renaissance in France. trans. Anne Fremantle and Christopher Fremantle. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1969.
  • Grant, A.J. The French Monarchy, Volume I. New York: Howard Fertig, 1970.
  • Guy, John. Tudor England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Isom-Verhaaren, Christine. “‘Barbarossa and His Army Who Came to Succor All of Us’: Ottoman and French Views of Their Joint Campaign of 1543–1544.” French Historical Studies 30:3 (2007): 395-425 online.
  • Jensen, De Lamar. “The Ottoman Turks in Sixteenth Century French Diplomacy” Sixteenth Century Journal 16:4 (1985): 451–470. online
  • Jensen, De Lamar, ed. Renaissance Europe. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1992.
  • Knecht, R.J. Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Francis%20I&f=false online
  • Knecht, Robert J. “A Battle of Giants.” History Today (2016) 88#1 pp 49–54 on Battle of Marignano, Italy in 1515.
  • Knecht, R.J. Francis I (Cambridge University Press, 1982) online
  • Knecht, R.J. French Renaissance Monarchy: Francis I and Henry II (2nd ed. 1997), historiography excerpt
  • Knecht, R. J. “An Update on the Reign of Francis I.” History Compass 1.1 (2003) pp 1–9.
  • Knecht, R. J. “Francis and Paris” History 66#216 (1981) onl;ine
  • Knecht, Robert J. “‘Born between two women…’Jules Michelet and Francis I.” Renaissance Studies (2000) 14#3: 329-343 online.
  • Major, J. Russell. From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy. (Johns Hopkins UP, 1994).
  • Mansfield, Lisa. Representations of Renaissance monarchy: Francis I and the image-makers (2016).
  • Parker, Geoffrey. Emperor: A New Life of Charles V (Yale UP, 2019).
  • Potter, D. L. Renaissance France at War – Armies, Culture and Society, c.1480–1560. (Boydell Press., 2008).
  • Reston Jr, James. Defenders of the Faith: Christianity and Islam Battle for the Soul of Europe, 1520-1536 (Penguin, 2009), popular history.
  • Richardson, Glenn. “Le roi-chevalier.” History Today (May 2015) 65#5 pp 39–45 short biography of Francis I by a scholar
  • Richardson, Glenn. “Field of the Cloth of Gold” History Today (July 2020) 70#7 pp 28–39.
  • Richardson, Glenn. “Good friends and brothers?” History Today (1994) 44#9 pp 20–26, his relations with Henry VIII.
  • Seward, Desmond. Franco-Ottoman Alliance of Francis I Prince of the Renaissance. New York: MacMillan, 1973. online
  • Media related to Francis I of France at Wikimedia Commons

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