“A COURT WITHOUT WOMEN IS LIKE A GARDEN WITHOUT FLOWERS”
François was tall (at 1.98 meters he is the tallest head of state in French history) and considered handsome. His reign started with a famous military victory in Italy, cementing the idea of a virile young King/chevalier.
His fifteen year old wife Claude, was the daughter of the previous King Louis XII. It wasn’t a love match but François was very protective of her. Claude knew he wasn’t faithful but she was proud to be married to the dashing young King. He slept with her every night when they were together and his dalliances were relatively discreet to the point that one major biographer denies the beautiful Françoise de Châteaubriant was his long term mistress, as is generally accepted.
In the ten years between the marriage and her death at the age of 24, Claude gave birth to seven children.
Shortly after Claude died, François lost a battle in Italy and was taken to Spain as a prisoner of his rival Charles V.* Part of the terms of release included François’ marriage to Charles V’s sister Eleanor.
Eleanor was happy with the deal her brother had made. She would be Queen of France and married to a virile man nearer her own age, unlike her late husband, the middle aged King of Portugal who had already been married to two of Eleanor’s aunts when she married him at 19.
When she arrived in France, Eleanor was treated with great respect as Queen. However, it was not a question of a romantic relationship. Shortly after his release from Spain, François was a 31 year old widower when he met 18 year old Anne de Pisseleu. The blue-eyed blonde became his mistress. François liked smart women and Anne, who was made the Duchesse d’Etampes, was described as
“the most learned of the beauties and the most beautiful of the learned.”
*Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor. His territories surrounded France. He was head of the House of Habsburg (over the Netherlands and Austria) as well as King of Spain, making him king of the Spanish territories in southern Italy. His most fierce dispute with François was over Burgundy (Charles grandmother was Mary of Burgundy).
