Claude Gouffier was a French nobleman and book collector. He was the model for the "Marquis de Carabas" from the story ''

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

'' by Charles Perrault.

Biography

He was the son of Artus Gouffier, tutor to the count of Angoulême who eventually rose to the throne as Francis I. Under Francis I, the Gouffier family prospered and were important patrons of both art and literature. This important dynasty was seated at the estate of

Château d'Oiron The Château d'Oiron is located in Oiron, in the Deux-Sèvres ''département'' of western France. It has its origins in the 15th century war with the English for control of France when a victorious Charles VII of France gave the domain and great ...

. Claude Gouffier was granted knighthood in 1533, and in 1546 created Marquis of Boissy and Caravaz. He served at the

Battle of Pavia The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, ...

, where he was one of the knights taken prisoner along with Francis I after the disastrous defeat of the French army. He was eventually released but was captured again during a later French campaign in Italy by

Ferrante Gonzaga Ferrante I Gonzaga (also Ferdinando I Gonzaga; 28 January 1507 – 15 November 1557) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the House of Gonzaga and the founder of the branch of the Gonzaga of Guastalla. Biography He was born in Mantua, th ...

in 1536. He was ransomed two years later by Francis for the huge sum of 6000 gold crowns in 1538. Gouffier manuscript

Gouffier's official title was Grand Écuyer de France, or Master of the King's Stables, to Henri II, although his life's main vocation seems to have been the collection of books and unusual objects. He was said by Charles Isaac Elton to be ''"a collector of an essentially modern type. He bought autographs and historical portraits, as well as rare MSS. and good specimens of printing, and was careful to have his books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding."'' He was married five times. His first wife was Jacqueline de La Tremoille, whom he wed in 1527. She attempted to murder him by poisoning and was sentenced to prison (and her confessor, to death.) She died in 1544. His next wife was Françoise de Brosse de Britain, who died in childbirth in 1558, and the next was Mary de Gaignon de St. Bohaire, lady in waiting to Catherine de Medici, who perished in 1565. In 1567 he married Claude de Beaune, who also died. His fifth marriage was in 1569, to Antoinette de La Tour-Landry, lady in waiting to

Catherine de Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...

. Like many other wealthy aristocrats of the Renaissance, Gouffier maintained a Wunderkammer or "Cabinet of Curiosities", which included an assortment of scientific and zoological artifacts. This has been expanded in the current day to include diverse works of art from all over the world. The original Wunderkammer collection is preserved to this day at the Château d'Oiron – and now includes a lifelike wax figure of Gouffier himself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouffier, Claude 1510 births 1570 deaths French book and manuscript collectors