Francis I of France

1494 – 1547 · Generation IX · King of France (r. 1515–1547)

Francis (1494 – 1547). King of France (r. 1515–1547). Married Eleanor in 1530. Chief rival of Charles V; married Eleanor of Austria under the 1526 Treaty of Madrid. The great builder-king of the French Renaissance, he drew Italian masters to his court — Leonardo da Vinci among them, bringing the Mona Lisa — raised Chambord, transformed Fontainebleau, and began remaking the Louvre from fortress into palace. A poet and collector, he opened his library to scholars and decreed that a copy of every book sold in France be deposited there, and his services to the French language earned him the name “Father and Restorer of Letters.” Under him Jacques Cartier claimed lands in the Americas for France. Encircled by Habsburg territory, he courted Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold; nothing came of it, and he turned instead to the Ottoman sultan Suleiman — a pact that scandalised the Christian world yet endured, serving the interests of both sides.

Partners

Married Eleanor of Austria (1498 – 1558) in 1530

Life

1494 — Born
1530 — Married Eleanor
1547 — Died