Francis I de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, Duke of Estouteville (6 October 1491 – 1 September 1545), was a French prince and important military commander during the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

. Francis was the second son of

Francis, Count of Vendôme Francis of Bourbon or François de Bourbon, (In a date range from January 7, 1470 to December 31, 1470 – 30 October 1495), was the Count of Vendôme and a French '' prince du sang''. Life Francis was the son of John VIII de Bourbon, Count of ...

and Marie de Luxembourg, Countess of Saint-Pol. As such he was a '' prince du sang'' in France. His

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

, the countship of St. Pol, came from his mother's

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

inheritance. Armoiries François Ier d'Estouteville

His marriage on 9 February 1534 with the heiress Adrienne, Dame d’Estouteville, brought him several baronies which comprised the lands of the Norman House of Estouteville: Vallemont, Varengeville, Berneval, and Cleuville. These were erected for Francis into the dukedom of Estouteville by royal

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

registered 12 September 1534 in the ''

Parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fr ...

'' of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

, the couple's marriage contract being registered by the ''Parlement'' of Paris on 16 April 1540. In 1537 he exchanged the countship of St. Pol for that of

Montfort-l'Amaury Montfort-l'Amaury () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region, north central France. It is located north of Rambouillet. The name comes from Amaury I de Montfort, the first ''seigneur'' (lord) of Montfort. Geogra ...

with

King Francis I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) 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 ...

, but in 1544 it was returned to him to enjoy as before the war. He was knighted by

Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (c. 1476 – 30 April 1524) was a French knight and military leader at the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, generally known as the Chevalier de Bayard. Throughout the centuries since his ...

after the

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in 1515. He participated in the defence of Mézières in 1521, fought under Bonnivet and Bayard at the lost Battle of the Sesia (1524) and was made prisoner at the

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in 1525. In 1527 he became governor of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

, and was as such responsible for the French operations against Savoy and Piedmont. His army was destroyed and he was taken prisoner in the

Battle of Landriano The Battle of Landriano took place on 21 June 1529, between the French army under Francis de Bourbon, Comte de St. Pol and the Imperial–Spanish army commanded by Don Antonio de Leyva, Duke of Terranova in the context of the War of the Leagu ...

, until the

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in 1529. He was present at the meeting between

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) 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 on ...

and

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

in Marseille in 1533. In 1542, he joined the Dauphin in

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and Luxembourg. In 1543, he was part of the French command against the English and Spanish in Picardy. In the

Italian War of 1542–1546 The Italian War of 1542–1546 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive ...

, he was charged with the conquest of Savoy. He advised against the

Battle of Ceresole The Battle of Ceresole (; also Cérisoles) took place on 11 April 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–1546, outside the village of Ceresole d'Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy. A French army, commanded by François de Bourbon, Count of ...

(1544), but was overruled by

Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc Blaise de Monluc, also known as Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Monluc, (24 July 1577) was a professional soldier whose career began in 1521 and reached the rank of marshal of France in 1574. Written between 1570 and 1576, an account o ...

, who won the battle.

Marriage and children

He married, on 9 February 1534, Adrienne, duchesse d'Estouteville 1512-1560: * Francis II de Bourbon-Saint-Pol (1536-1546), * Marie (1539-1601), his successor, married his first cousin

Jean, Count of Soissons and Enghien Jean de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and Enghien (6 July 1528 or 1526 – 10 or 15 August 1557) was a French '' prince du sang'' from the House of Bourbon-Vendome, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon (itself a cadet branch of the Capetian dynast ...

, and then Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville.

References

*Charles Gavard, «Galerie Historique du Palais de Versailles. Vol.VIII» (1846) Imprimerie Royale. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourbon, Francis De, Count Of St. Pol 1491 births 1545 deaths Military leaders of the Italian Wars Counts of Saint-Pol People from Somme (department)