page_title: Francis I of France
section_title: Military action
hierarchical_section_title: Francis I of France / Reign / Military action
caption_attribution_description: manufactured in Bruxelles
context_page_description: Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a son.
  A prodigious patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work for him, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which Francis had acquired. Francis' reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire.
  For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres. He was also known as François du Grand Nez, the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier for his personal involvement in the wars against his great rival Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain.
  Following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars.
context_section_description: Although the Italian Wars (1494–1559) came to dominate the reign of Francis I, the wars were not the sole focus of his policies.  Francis merely continued the incessant wars that his predecessors had started and that his successors on the throne of France would drag on after Francis' death.  Indeed, the Italian Wars had begun when Milan sent a plea to King Charles VIII of France for protection against the aggressive actions of the King of Naples. Militarily and diplomatically, Francis' reign was a mixed bag of success and failure.  Francis tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor at the Imperial election of 1519.  However, there were also temporary victories, such as in the portion of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516) and, more specifically, to the final stage of that war, which history refers to simply as "Francis' First Italian War" (1515–1516), when Francis routed the combined forces of the Papal States and the Old Swiss Confederacy at Marignano on 13–15 September 1515. This victory at Marignano allowed Francis to capture the Italian city-state of Milan. Later, in November 1521, during the Four Years' War (1521–1526) and facing the advancing Imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire and open revolt within Milan, Francis was forced to abandon Milan, thus, cancelling the triumph at Marignano.
  Much of the military activity of Francis's reign was focused on his sworn enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis and Charles maintained an intense personal rivalry. Charles, in fact, brashly challenged Francis to single combat multiple times. In addition to the Holy Roman Empire, Charles personally ruled Spain, Austria, and a number of smaller possessions neighboring France. He was thus a constant threat to Francis' kingdom.
  Francis attempted to arrange an alliance with Henry VIII of England at the famous meeting at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520, but despite a lavish fortnight of diplomacy they failed to reach an agreement.
  Francis suffered his most devastating defeat at the Battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525, during part of the continuing Italian Wars known as the Four Years' War. Francis was actually captured by the forces of Charles V after Cesare Hercolani was able to injure his horse, leading Francis to be captured by Diego Dávila, Alonso Pita da Veiga and Juan de Urbieta, from Guipúzcoa. For this reason, Hercolani was named "Victor of the battle of Pavia". Zuppa alla Pavese was supposedly invented on the spot to feed the captive king right after the battle. There are allegations that Francis would have been killed by mistake by one of Charles' soldiers had Pedro de Valdivia —the future conqueror of Chile— not intervened.
  Francis I was held captive in Madrid. In a letter to his mother he wrote, "Of all things, nothing remains to me but honour and life, which is safe." This line has come down in history famously as "All is lost save honour." In the Treaty of Madrid, signed on 14 January 1526, Francis was forced to make major concessions to Charles V before he was freed on 17 March 1526. An ultimatum from Ottoman Sultan Suleiman to Charles V also played an important role in his release. Among the concessions that Francis I yielded to Charles V were the surrender of any claims to Naples and Milan in Italy. Francis I was also forced to recognise the independence of the duchy of Burgundy, which had become part of France since the death of Charles, Duke of Burgundy on 5 January 1477, during the reign of Louis XI.
  Furthermore, France was required to give up all claims to Flanders and the Artois. Additionally, Francis I was allowed to return to France in exchange for his two sons, Francis and Henry, but once he was free he argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress. He also claimed that the agreement was void because his sons were taken hostage with the implication that his word alone could not be trusted. Thus he firmly repudiated it.
  Francis persevered in his hatred of Charles V and desire to control Italy by conquest. The repudiation of the Treaty of Ma
caption: Detail of a tapestry depicting the Battle of Pavia, woven from a cartoon by Bernard van Orley (c. 1531)
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