FRANCIS I OF VALOIS, King of France. - B. Sept. 12, 1494 to Charles of Orléans and Louise of Savoy. The death of his father and the lack of children of Louis XII assured him the succession to the throne (Jan. 19, 1515), which he inaugurated with a great military success won over the Swiss (Marignano, Sept. 13-14) and with the consequent acquisition of the duchy of Milan.
But the program of the conquest of the Milanese inherited from Louis XII was bound to take on broader proportions, when the imperial election of Charles of Habsburg (June 28, 1519) placed France under the necessity of engaging in a struggle that was not to end even with the death of the two rival monarchs. The first phase closed with the defeat of Pavia (Feb. 24-25, 1525). F. I, taken prisoner, had to undertake to renounce his aspirations in Italy and in Burgundy (treaty of Madrid, Jan. 14, 1526); but, having returned to freedom, he naturally resumed the war, which ended, through other disasters, with the peace of Cambrai (Aug. 3, 1529): by it at least Burgundy was saved. Having gained the English and Turkish alliance, the king again attempted in 1535 the occupation of Piedmont and the Milanese; but success was followed by mutual weariness that counseled an armistice (July-Nov. 1537).
The following year a 10-year truce was concluded at Nice, with the mediation of Pope Paul III, founded on the principle of uti possidetis, and the two rivals, having met on July 14 at Aigues-Mortes, now seemed well disposed to respect it. But in 1541 an incident was enough to cause hostilities to flare up again. The shift of England in favor of Charles V (Feb. 1543) decided the fortunes of the war in the north and frustrated the advantages obtained by the French in the south. The peace of Crépy (Sept. 18, 1544) closed this other phase of the struggle: F. I had once again to accept the status quo ante, renouncing Nice and, naturally, the Milanese. Three years later he died at Rambouillet (March 31, 1547), while the situation had become more aggravated than ever. His son Henry II was to resume the struggle and carry it on until the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559).
The principal directive of F. I's policy was the anti-Habsburg struggle. Against Charles V he found himself in agreement with Clement VII who in 1533, weary in turn of Spanish tutelage, allied his house with the Valois by giving Catherine de' Medici as wife to the Dauphin Henry. Likewise this directive determined his attitude toward the question of the Council: the understanding with Rome of 1533 was in this regard useful to the Pope, who wished to postpone the convocation (F. I was well aware of what political advantages the Council would have been the harbinger of for Charles V, had the religious pacification of Germany been obtained). When the Council finally began its work at Trent, France (which had opposed even the choice of Mantua or Vicenza as its seats), then attended the debates with scant interest. Instead, the persecution against heretics was intensifying in that period, as in several French cities they were continually arrested and tried.
F. I was a magnificent patron and favored Italian artists and French humanists who illustrated his court with the splendor of the Renaissance. He lavished much money; yet it cannot be said that he was a bad administrator. Moreover, the moment imposed on him the necessity of directing all his forces to foreign policy alone. During his reign France experienced not only the harshness of war, but also good and wise measures. The very alliance with the Turk that drew so much infamy on the head of the one who had contracted it assured lasting advantages to French commerce.
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Carlo De Prede