Étienne de Vesc (ca 1445 – 6 October 1501),[1] was a courtier of Louis XI of France and a formative influence on Charles VIII, whom he strongly encouraged in the French adventure into Italy in the First Italian War (1494–95).
He spent his youth in the Dauphiné, not part of France until 1486, finishing a courtly training in the household of the Dauphin at Plessis-les-Tours, where he served as valet de chambre from the age of seventeen, about 1462.
Vesc scarcely had time to reside in his château; he was appointed sénéchal of Carcassonne, then of Beaucaire and Nîmes, largest in extent in France, positions of great importance.
According to Commines' chronicle, Étienne de Vesc was among the most ardent proponents of a chivalrous adventure to recapture the rights of the King of France to Naples, and to gain some duchies in the south, pressed by his own ambition, thirsty for grandeur and titles.
Turin and Asti welcomed the French; Milan was theirs; Piero de' Medici opened the gates of Florence, 17 November: a few days later Charles declared that he was the very champion of Religion against the Turks.
Welcomed as they proceeded, the French troops were in Naples by 19 February, and Charles was able to make his triumphant entry three days later, Alphonso having fled, abdicating his crown to his son.
Vesc, with the viceroy M. de Montpensier and the rest of the French who remained, embarked in a small flotilla laden with booty and artillery for Salerno on 25 October, leaving Naples to the Neapolitans and Ferdinand.