[1][2] François' father had fought in the Italian Wars of Charles VIII and was killed during this conflict in 1495, leaving Marie to raise their children and manage their property (something she would do until her death in 1546).

[3][4][5][6] The house of Bourbon-Vendôme, of which François was a member through his father, descended agnatically (through the male line) from the sixth son of king Louis IX of France, Robert, the comte de Clermont.

[32] The Norman noble Annebault would serve as lieutenant of Saint-Pol's compagnie, he would later become amiral de France, and had seen his first celebrated service during the 1521 siege of Mézières.

François was then invited to take the oaths of his coronation, by which he promised to protect Christians, expunge heresy, show mercy and allow for internal peace within Christendom.

[57] Aware of the coming invasion, the duca di Milano (duke of Milan, king of Aragón, Pope and Holy Roman Emperor formed a defensive league.

Now, an Imperial army threatened the city of Mézières, the capture of which would not only open the door to parts of the province of Picardie to the Holy Roman Emperor but would also damage François' prestige.

[78] Come the end of August, the defence of the city was bolstered with companies numbering 2,000 men under the chevalier Bayard, the baron de Montmorency (who would over the course of François reign progress from maréchal [1521] to grand maître [1526] to connétable [1538]) and the seigneur d'Annebault.

His English ally the cardinal of Wolsey was feeling less bullish about the alliances prospects and looked to attain a truce of eighteen to twenty months with the French king prior to the end of November.

[89] Saint-Pol's brother, Vendôme, was conscious that Picardie had insufficient soldiers for a comprehensive defence of the province, even with the arrival of the vicomte de Thouars at the head of another 2,000 men.

Louise also received information through the seigneur de Maulévrier that one of the most important nobles of the kingdom, who was of royal blood, intended to betray the realm to foreign enemies, and endanger the king's life.

[104] The amiral de Bonnivet commanded the rear-guard which looked to stave off the Imperials, however he was wounded when an arquebus shot tore through his arm, and he had to hand over responsibility for the army to Saint-Pol.

According to the memoirist Brantôme it was not actually his injury that caused his withdrawal from the army, but rather his fear that due to the vicious rivalry that he enjoyed with the duc de Bourbon, he believed that were he to fall into Imperial captivity he would be killed.

Covered in wounds and without his armour or clothing (save only for a shirt), a Spanish soldier, thinking him dead, decided to cut off his finger so that he might claim a ring from his hand.

The queen mother Louise and chancellor Duprat conspired to ensure that the duc d'Orléans (second son of the king) would be his heir, instead of his sister (Françoise d'Alençon), who was Vendôme's wife.

The parlement, frustrated at the installation of a certain 'Chantereau' as abbot of Saint-Euverte rejected the decision to refer the matter to the grand conseil, which was chaired by the chancellor Duprat, who had been involved in a similar dispute earlier in the year over his appointment as archbishop of Sens.

[148] During these years, the grand maître de Montmorency had placed himself at the centre of an international network, receiving reports from the various French captains in the field, and ensuring their logistical needs were met.

[155][152]α While Saint-Pol was spinning his wheels in Asti, the herzog von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (duke of Braunschweig-Lüneberg) had been leading an Imperial campaign of reconquest in the north of the peninsula.

[171][172][168] Urbino refused to mount an attack on Milan, and the former duca di Milano suggested the army be dispersed, according to the historian Duc he proposed that the Venetians make for Monza, the French for Abbiategrasso and his own adherents for Alessandria.

[173] Ill fortune plagued the army as it passed by Landriano on 19 June, the passage slowed by the rain saturated rivers which made the transfer of the artillery across challenging.

[173] The Pope, abandoning the prospect of neutrality, now looked to the Emperor, who he saw as the only potentate capable of halting the Ottomans, combatting heresy and restoring Medici power in Florence.

Upon arriving in the city of Romans, the royal party (among whom was the king, the duc d'Orléans, Catherine, the queen, the comte de Saint-Pol and the chancellor Duprat) were jointly awarded a joyous entry.

Later at the reception in the Louvre, Lorraine was to be found with the king in conversation at a balcony alongside the other two figures that the historian Michon characterises as the key royal favourites of the hour, Saint-Pol and the duchesse d'Étampes.

[17] On 22 May 1540, a key meeting of the conseil secret was undertaken, at which the proposal for a marriage between the king's second surviving son (i.e. his third eldest) the duc d'Orléans and a Spanish infanta (princess) was discussed.

Meanwhile, the duchesse d'Étampes prepared a scene to break her lovers resolve: on 13 February the king entered into her chambers where he was beseeched by Chabot's wife Françoise de Longwy who threw herself at his feet begging for mercy for her husband.

[224] Feeling defeated, Montmorency refused to attend a ball that evening, and then departed the next day without royal leave, never to return to court during François' lifetime.

[226][227] Ambassadors who bore witness to the humiliation of Montmorency began to speculate on who might succeed him in controlling the affairs of the kingdom, with the names of Saint-Pol, Tournon, Annebault, the chancellor Poyet and the duchesse d'Étampes all floated.

[256][257] From June to July 1543, with the king on campaign in the northern frontier, the royal council had been divided into two, with the conseil privé remaining in Paris under the auspices of the cardinal de Tournon to deal with ordinary business.

This was an opportunity that the comte de Saint-Pol and maréchal d'Annebault seized to bring in supplies into Landrecies and replace the weary men in the defence of the place, which they successfully accomplished on 30 October.

[265] As a reward for the endurance and bravery of the three principal captains of the place who were to be relieved of their responsibilities, François made them gentilhomme de la chambre or maîtres d'hôtel (positions in his household).

[7] Michon nevertheless notes, that because Saint-Pol did not play a technical role in the king's administration, as had the comte de Tende who acted fiscally in the royal council, he was always to be a secondary figure.