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Summary
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Francis I (also known as François I), born 1494, reigned 1515 to his death in 1547. His father was the cousin of King Louis XII. Francis was the latter's heir-presumptive as Louis died childless. Because of the Salic Law which prevented women inheriting the French throne, Francis became King when Louis died as he was the descendant of the eldest surviving male line of the Capetian Dynasty. He married twice and had 7 children of whom 3 survived to marry.
 Francis I, painted by Jean Clouet |
Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances. He was a contemporary of King Henry VIII of England and of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, his great rivals. |
By the time Francis ascended the throne in 1515, the Renaissance had noticeably arrived in France. The King was an important supporter of the change and became a major patron of the arts. He supported many of the greatest artists of the time and encouraged them to come to France. One of these was Leonardo da Vinci, whom Francis convinced to leave Italy in the last and least productive part of his life.
 | Following the death of Leonardo's patron Giuliano de' Medici in March of 1516, Francis employed the Maestro on terms that were generous to him and his entourage, granting him a handsome stipend and the substantial manor house Clos Lucé (pictured left) near the royal court at Amboise. Leonardo's title was "Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect of the King". Francis was Leonardo's last and perhaps most generous patron of all. |
While Leonardo did little painting in France, suffering as he did from a paralysis of the right hand, he did bring with him many of his great works, including the "Mona Lisa" painting, and these remained in France upon Leonardo's death in 1519. According to tradition, Leonardo died on 2nd May 1519 at Clos Lucé with his head cradled in the arms of his patron the King, though if that were true the King must have used a United Federation of Planets transporter as he was as far away as St. Germain en Laye only the day before.
above: Amboise
Francis sent agents to try and acquire artworks by Italian masters such as Michelangelo, Titian, and Raphael and ship them to France. Efforts to move Leonardo's "Last Supper" (which is painted onto a wall) to France proved impractical. When Francis ascended the throne, French royal palaces possessed only a few great paintings, and not a single piece of sculpture either ancient or modern. During his reign, the magnificent art collection of the French monarchy which can still be seen in the Louvre was truly begun.
Francis earned the title "the Father and Restorer of Letters" because he supported numerous major writers of the period, and was a (mediocre) poet. He improved and expanded the royal library and, unusual in royal annals, read the books obtained for it. Francis employed agents in Italy looking for rare books and manuscripts, just as he had looking for art works. He set an important precedent by opening his library to scholars from around the world in order to spread knowledge.
Francis embarked on an impressive building programme. He began construction of the magnificent Château de Chambord, very obviously inspired by the styles of the Italian Renaissance, which was perhaps designed by Leonardo whose talents encompassed architecture. Francis rebuilt the Louvre, turning it from a gloomy medieval fortress into a building of Renaissance splendour. His largest project was the reconstruction and expansion of the royal château of Fontainebleau, which became his favourite place of residence. Each of Francis' projects was luxuriously decorated both inside and outside. Fontainebleau, for instance, had a gushing fountain in its courtyard where quantities of wine were mixed with the water.
However, militarily and politically, Francis was unsuccessful, apart from re-conquering the Milan city-state in 1515. He tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor. He pursued a series of wars in Italy. He spent his reign mostly fighting his sworn enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles ruled over both Germany and Spain and was thus a threat to France. Francis tried but failed to arrange an alliance with Henry VIII of England. The negotiations took place at the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold of 1520 (an incident which must rank in the top 10 of historic events drilled into British schoolchildren). Francis was captured by Charles V at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, and compelled to make major concessions to Charles before he was freed. Upon his return to France, however, Francis argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress and he repudiated it.
In 1524, Francis assisted the citizens of Lyon to finance the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazzano to North America. During that expedition, Verrazzano claimed Newfoundland for France. In 1534, he 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 gold and other riches"). In 1541 he sent Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval to settle Canada and to provide for the spread of "the Holy Catholic faith".
In 1539, Francis proclaimed French as the administrative language instead of Latin. That same edict required priests to register births, marriages and deaths and to establish a registry office in every parish. This established the first records of vital statistics with filiations available in Europe.
Francis raised his country's cultural prestige but severely damaged the nation's economic well-being in order to do so. In his old age, Louis XII had worried that Francis his heir-presumptive "would spoil everything". Louis XII had left France well off economically and with the monarchy ascendant over the feudal lords. Though Francis continued to strengthen the crown, he undermined the nation's economy. Because his building program and acquisition of artworks and writings were very extremely expensive, as were his wars against the Habsburgs, he imposed heavy taxes e.g. the tax (taille) on peasants more than doubled and salt tax (gabelle) was tripled. Francis also sold many of the crown jewels and began disposing of crown lands (which were assets) and offices for quick revenue. He began the trend which would eventually undermine the entire French government and was arguably an original contributor to the unrest that led to the French Revolution.
In the last years of Francis' reign, divisions in the Christian religion erupted. Martin Luther denounced the corruption and self-indulgence of the Church, leading to the formation of the Protestant movement which spread throughout Europe including France. At first Francis was fairly tolerant of the new movement as it turned many German Protestant princes against Charles V. But in October 1534, notices appeared in Paris and major French cities denouncing the Papal Mass. One notice even appeared on the door to the King's room. The most fervent Catholics were outraged and Francis saw Protestantism as a plot against him. Many thousands of Protestants were jailed and executed, whole villages destroyed, and censorship imposed. When Francis died, in 1547, it is said that he died complaining about the weight of a crown that he had first perceived as a gift from God. The persecution began a civil war in France which ended decades later, in 1598, with the Edict of Nantes.
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