Chateaubriand, Francoise de Foix

Daughter of Jean de Foix, Viscount de Lautrec and Jeanne d'Edi, Countess de Commenges . The second cousin of Queen Anna of Breton , brought up at her court, knew Latin, Italian, wrote poetry. Engaged in 1505 with Jean de Laval- Montmorency , Count de Chateaubriand (married in 1509). She had a daughter, Anna (March 11, 1508 - April 12, 1521). The couple lived in Chateaubriand (Brittany).

Francis I, who believed that the courtyard without women “was a year without spring and spring without roses”, had heard about the beauty of Countess Chateaubriand and demanded that her husband be introduced to him. Contrary to the Count’s wishes, Francoise arrived at the royal court in 1516 or early 1517. The king made the countess’s husband the company commander; her older brother, Viscount de Lautrec , became governor of the Duchy of Milan . The other two brothers - Tom , senor de Leken, and Andre , senor de L'Esparre, also received high posts. Francoise eventually became the king's mistress.

Jean de Chateaubriand and his wife attended the ceremony of christening dauphin Francis on April 25, 1519 in Amboise . Francoise stood next to the princesses, it was a sign that she was recognized as the official royal favorite (fr. La mye du roi ). The rise of the de Foix family provoked the discontent of Queen Louise of Savoy . When the time came, she made every effort to remove her unwanted passion from the road. Francis, being in Spanish captivity after the defeat at Pavia , did not forget the Countess de Chateaubriand: they regularly exchanged letters.

On March 18, 1526, the liberated king was met in Bayonne by his mother and her retinue: Francoise was not there. Louise of Savoy presented the king with an eighteen-year-old beauty - Anna de Pissle . Between the two favorites began a two-year rivalry for the king. In the end, Francoise pleaded defeated and returned to her domain in Brittany. She was destined to see Francis one more time in 1532, when they regained their relationship for three weeks.

Regarding the death of the countess, there is a legend. Variyas , referring to the archives, Shatobrianov wrote that after returning to her husband she was locked in a room upholstered in black cloth, and after six months of imprisonment, the count ordered her to be killed by opening her veins. According to this version, the count bought the removal of all charges, transferring part of his land holdings to Anna de Montmorency . Variyas attributes the event to 1526 ^[3] , which, however, contradicts the date on the tombstones of Francoise (October 16, 1537). Given what Variyas wrote a century and a half after the events, his testimony is doubtful. Neither Margarita of Navarre nor Brantom mentions this. The countess is buried in the Trinitarian church in Chateaubriand, on the tombstone is the epitaph of Clement Marot , whom she once patronized.

Francoise de Foix is ​​identified with the unnamed "Francis I metressa" from Brantom's anecdote, which the king almost convicted of treason with Admiral Bonivet .

• Chossinan-Nogare G. Everyday life of wives and lovers of French kings (from Agnes Sorel to Marie Antoinette) / Translation from French by S.V. Arkhipova. Scientific Editorial and Preface by A.P. Lewandowski . - M .: The Young Guard. Palimpsest, 2003 .-- pp. 39–41. - 249 p. - (Living story: The daily life of mankind). - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-235-02521-0 .
• Georges Bordonove . Les rois qui ont fait la France. Les Valois, de François Ier à Henri III, 1515-1589. - 2003. - ISBN 2-85704-836-X .
• Brantôme . Oeuvres complètes, Tome XII, (1894). - Kraus Reprint, 1977.
• Abbé J.-J. de Expilly . Dictionnaire géographique, historique et politique des Gaules et de la France (1763). - Kraus Reprint, 1978.
• Abbé Goudé . Châteaubriant, baronnie, ville et paroisse . - 1869.
• Louis-Gabriel Michaud . Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne. - 1854.