Marie Gaudin

Considered to be the most beautiful woman of her time,[1] Marie Gaudin, was the first ("unofficial") mistress of Francis I of France[2] at the very beginning of his reign, but their relationship did not become public.

[5] In 1515, Marie Gaudin and Philibert Babou accompanied the French king during his stay in Bologna, where she met and had an affair with Pope Leo X.

[6] On 11 December 1515,[7] at Francis's meeting with the pope, Leo X gave her a diamond of great value, since called the Diamant Gaudin,[1][8] in memory of the "favours" she had granted him.

In 1520, Francis gifted to Marie Gaudin the 14th century castle of La Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire,[9] which she and Babou decided to rebuild.

As early as 1828 it was suspected that the figure came from the chapel of Notre-Dame de Bondésir, which was demolished in 1780, and that it was the gravestone of Marie Gaudin.