Princess Louise of Savoy was one of the most formidable royal women in France
who never held the position of Queen-consort. She was born on September 11, 1476
at Pont-d’Ain to Duke Philip II of Savoy and Princess Margaret of Bourbon. From
early in life she learned how cruel the world could be and that she would have
to be made of tough stuff to make her way in it. At the tender age of seven she
lost her mother and was sent to Anne de Beaujeau to be raised. Anne, at that
time, was ruling France as regent for her brother King Charles VIII. For
Princess Louise, her life was mapped out for her almost as soon as she could be
aware of it. Only a few years later, at the age of eleven, she was married to
Charles of Orleans, Count of Angouleme on February 16, 1488. This was not
uncommon at the time and the two did not live together as man and wife until
Louise was fifteen years old. Although he was not a faithful husband, Charles
and Louise had a mostly happy marriage, both had a love of learning and
deep-seated attachment to each other even if “true love” was not to be found. In
1492 Louise gave birth to their first child, Marguerite d’Angouleme and in 1494
to a son, the future King of France, Francois d’Angouleme. Charles also had two
illegitimate daughters; Jeanne and Madeleine, who were raised alongside his own
children by Princess Louise.
Despite his infidelities, Princess Louise
was truly distraught when Charles fell ill and died in 1495, having caught a
chill while out riding. She had faithfully nursed him in his final days and when
he died Louise was left a widow at only nineteen years old. For others, this
might have been the end of the story, but Princess Louise had a much sharper
mind than most supposed and she was determined to do the best she could for her
children. After King Louis XII came to the throne, she took her children and
relocated to the court and made sure that her children received the very best
education, benefiting from the latest flowering of the Italian Renaissance. She
was herself very interested in the latest discoveries and took care to keep
herself well informed about politics, the diplomatic situation and all the
events at court. She was aided in this by her confessor, an Italian Franciscan
named Christopher Numar of Forli, who would go on to great fame himself in the
Catholic Church, being raised to the Sacred College (against his protests) by
Pope Leo X. As her son grew to adulthood, Louise made sure that he remained
close to the King. Francis became such a favorite of the King that he arranged
the marriage of the boy to his daughter Claude in 1514. It all worked out as had
been hoped and King Louis XII chose Francis to be his heir with his wife and
Princess Louise as regents.
The following year King Louis XII died and
King Francis I came to the throne but, for the moment, it was Princess Louise,
mother of the king, who held the most power. Eventually she was given the titles
of Duchess of Angouleme and later Duchess of Anjou but one of her first legal
battles was over the inheritance of the Duchy of Bourbon which she claimed as
did Duke Charles III of Bourbon. In an effort to settle the dispute she offered
to marry the Duke who disparagingly refused her. The old saying that, “Hell hath
no fury…” was never more true as Louise of Savoy turned her wrath against the
Duke, using every bit of influence she had to destroy him and she effectively
did. He was exiled, punished for rebellion against the King, lost his lands and
titles and was never able to recover them while Louise of Savoy gained all she
had claimed. The Duchess of Anjou displayed a great talent in political affairs,
an astute understanding of the diplomatic situation and in general a great
talent in all areas save the person of her son, King Francis, concerning whom
she had a noticeable ‘blind spot’ which should not be considered surprising. She
ruled as regent while he son was off leading his armies and it was Louise of
Savoy who arranged the magnificent display for the visiting King of England at
the “Field of the Cloth of Gold”. It was also Louise of Savoy who managed to
scrape up the money for her son to stand for election for Holy Roman Emperor,
even though (wisely as it turned out) she thought the effort was a
waste.
As, effectively, the most powerful woman in France, Princess
Louise tried to secure strong allies for the kingdom. Her attempt to make peace
with England in 1524 was not immediately successful but she had more success in
reaching out to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She asked for
Turkish assistance in freeing her son (King Francis had been defeated by the
Hapsburg Emperor Charles V and was being held prisoner in Spain) and for the
Turks to launch an attack on the Hapsburg empire in the east to take pressure
off of France. In 1529 she succeeded in making peace between France and the Holy
Roman Empire as the primary French negotiator of the Treaty of Cambrai (aka the
Ladies’ Peace) opposite her sister-in-law Margaret of Austria acting for the
Empire. Not long after, the formidable mother of the King died on September 22,
1531. Still sharp and active to the very end she had been studying a comet when
she caught cold and eventually passed away. Her valuable properties were left to
the French Crown, which would be valuable future assets. Louise of Savoy may not
be one of the best known royal figures in French history but she was one of the
most astute and formidable women ever to hold a leading position in the Kingdom
of France.
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