She distinguished herself when the village of Leucate was besieged by Spanish forces allied with the Catholic League in 1590, after her husband, the governor, was captured and executed by the enemy.

She was the daughter of the director of the Bureau of Accounts of Montpellier and niece of the governor of Leucate.

After the battle of 1590, King Henry IV made Françoise the governor of Leucate until her son Hercule came of age.

She died in Montpellier in 1614, aged 56, and was buried next to her husband in the chapel of St. Anne Church of St. Paul of Narbonne.

In 1899 a bronze statue of her by the sculptor Paul Ducuing was erected in the Place de la République in Leucate, holding up the keys to the village.