ANNE DE MONTMORENCY
Anne de Montmorency (named after his godmother Queen Anne of Brittany) was born at the Chateau of Chantilly in 1493 – the year before François was born in Cognac.
Anne’s family were ancient nobility, direct descendants of Hugh Capet. His father the Baron of Montmorency held important positions at the French Court under François’ predecessors.
When François became heir to the throne and he was brought to live at the Chateau of Amboise, Anne was one of four boys from noble families who were brought to be raised with him there.
When François became King, Montmorency was ever present. He distinguished himself at François’ first battle at Marignan. He accompanied him to the meeting with Henry VIII known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He was also present at the loss at the battle of Pavia, accompanying François to his imprisonment in Spain. Montmorency was released to negotiate the ransom of François and was present when his sons were handed over to be held as ransom in Spain and also there when they were returned to France.
Montmorency took an active role in teaching François’ son Henri about military matters and he became a father figure to the young future king.
When he was 34 Montmorency married François’ first cousin – 17 year old Madeleine of Savoy. (She was the daughter of Louise’ brother René. Known as the Grand Bastard of Savoy).
As a wedding gift Louise and François gave him the Chateau of Fère en Tardenois.
François often visited him there to go hunting in the 250 hectares surrounding the property.
Montmorency transformed the medieval chateau in the Renaissance style and added a 60 meter long covered bridge with a 5 meter wide gallery, which you can still use to access the ruins of the old castle.
The stables still exist and are now a luxury hotel where you can stay (Chateau de Fère). In
the hotel there is a painting of the original castle.
Montmorency was not lacking for housing. He owned more than 130 chateaux and 600 fiefs as well as two mansions in Paris. He had been born in the Chateau of Chantilly which his father had inherited from his uncle. Montmorency renovated the medieval fortress and added the ”petit chateau” which is what can be visited today.
Chantilly is a great place to visit. The grand apartments are on the first floor.
In 1538 Anne de Montmorency had the terrace built which now contains his equestrian statue.
The same year Montmorency built a new chateau at Ecouen on the site of another medieval fortress.
The Chateau has a lot of the original décor still there. The twelve fireplaces were painted.
The Biblical theme chosen by Montmorency for their bedrooms was the story of Jacob from the Old Testament. (This has been associated with the fact that it was a sort of divine intervention leading to the younger son, like Jacob, becoming the heir. The same theme could apply to Henri II. Like Jacob, Montmorency has 12 children. Unlike Jacob, most of them were daughters).
Following a major disagreement on politics (Montmorency was in favour of peace with the Empire while the other major player at court including François’ mistress the Duchess d’Etampes were in favour of war) he had to leave the court permanently. He retired to his new estate at Ecouen and was able to devote a lot of time to the construction. He did not return to court until six years later when François died.
The first thing Henri II did as King was to dismiss the Duchess d’Etampes and recall Montmorency who had all his positions restored. He was made a Duke.
At Ecouen Montmorency built a new wing specially to house the King Henri II in a large apartment on the first floor, directly above Catherine de Medici’s apartment on the ground floor.
It is not hard to understand why Montmorency’s chateau at Ecouen quickly became Henri II’s
favourite place to stay in the countryside. He stayed there on at least 15 occasions.
Henri II thanked Montmorency by giving him two Michelangelo statues. These had been a
gift from Michelangelo to Catherine de Medici’s cousin Roberto Strozzi as a thank you for his
hospitality. Strozzi in turn gave them to the French King. Montmorency built a special
portico on the south wing to display them. They are now displayed at the Louvre.
Like Montmorency, Henri II took an active interest architecture and building.