Françoise de Rohan (1535 – 1 December 1591) was a French duchess and courtier. She served as lady-in-waiting to queen

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 ...

Life

Françoise was the daughter of René I de Rohan and

Isabel d'Albret of Navarre Isabel d'Albret of Navarre (1512–aft. 1560) was a princess of Navarre. She was the daughter of John III of Navarre (died 1516) and queen Catherine I of Navarre. The same year she was born, the greater part of Navarre was conquered by Aragon, and ...

. She was the granddaughter of Jean d'Albret, King of Navarre, and cousin of Jeanne d'Albret, who was mother of Henri of Navarre, also known as Henri IV. Nemours-duc-Jacques-Savoie

Through her father, Françoise was descended from 11th-15th century Breton dukes, while on her mother's side she was a niece of

Henry d'Albret Henry II (18 April 1503 – 25 May 1555), nicknamed ''Sangüesino'' because he was born at Sangüesa, was the King of Navarre from 1517, although his kingdom had been reduced to a small territory north of the Pyrenees by the Spanish conquest of ...

, King of Navarre, who had married

Marguerite d'Angoulême Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Queen ...

. Her aunt, Queen Marguerite, had Françoise educated with her own daughter, Jeanne, the future mother of Henry IV. Then, in 1549, Queen Marguerite died, and Françoise was sent to the French court. She became a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

. Françoise claimed to be the spouse of Jacques, Duke of Nemours by a secret wedding (1556), with whom she had a son, but Nemours denied this and married Anna d'Este in 1566. Françoise and her best friend Catherine de Parthenay, who was her sister-in-law by marriage to René II de Rohan, acted as the benefactors and protectors of the French mathematician François Viète between 1572 and 1591. He dedicated them his most famous work on new algebra, ''

In artem analyticem isagoge IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * In ...

'' ( fr).

In culture

Also known as the duchess of Ludonois and Lady de la Garnache, her life has been suggested as informing the heroine found in the French novel '' La Princesse de Clèves'' by

Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

. ''La princesse de Clèves'' was the first French

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

and among the first novels in French literature.

References

Sources

* * ''Margaret of France, duchess of Savoy, 1523-74: a biography'' By Winifred Stephens Whale Francoise de Rohan Huguenots 1535 births Year of death missing French ladies-in-waiting {{france-noble-stub