Philippe de Chabot, Seigneur De Brion, Count of Charny and Buzançois (c. 1492 – 1 June 1543), also known as Admiral De Brion, was an

admiral of France Admiral of France (french: Amiral de France) is a French title of honour. It is the naval equivalent of Marshal of France and was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France. History The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, dur ...

Biography

The Chabot family was one of the oldest and most powerful in

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

. Philippe was a cadet of the Jarnac branch. He was a companion of Francis I as a child, and on that king's accession was loaded with honors and estates. After 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, ...

he was made

Admiral of France Admiral of France (french: Amiral de France) is a French title of honour. It is the naval equivalent of Marshal of France and was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France. History The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, dur ...

and governor of Burgundy (1526), and shared with Anne de Montmorency the direction of affairs. He served as ambassador to England in 1533 and 1534. He was at the height of his power in 1535, and commanded the army for the invasion of the states of the duke of Savoy; but in the campaigns of 1536 and 1537 he was eclipsed by Montmorency, and from that moment his influence began to wane. He was accused by his enemies of

peculation Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

, and condemned on 10 February 1541 to a fine of 1,500,000

livre LIVRE (, L), previously known as LIVRE/Tempo de Avançar (, L/TDA), is a green political party in Portugal founded in 2014. Its founding principles are ecology, universalism, freedom, equity, solidarity, socialism and Europeanism. Its symbol i ...

s, to banishment, and to the confiscation of his estates. Through the good offices of the king's mistress Madame d'Étampes, however, he obtained the king's pardon almost immediately (March 1541), was reinstated in his posts, and regained his estates and even his influence, while Montmorency in his turn was disgraced. But his health was affected by these troubles, and he died soon afterwards on 1 June 1543. His tomb, removed to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, thought to be by

Jean Cousin the Elder Jean Cousin (1500 – before 1593) was a French painter, sculptor, etcher, engraver, and geometrician. He is known as "Jean Cousin the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Jean Cousin the Younger, also an artist. Career Cousin was born at ...

, is a fine example of French Renaissance work. It was his nephew,

Jarnac Jarnac (; ; Saintongese: ''Jharnat'') is a commune in the Charente department, southwestern France.François de Vivonne, seigneur de la Châtaigneraie, in 1547, at the beginning of the reign of Henry II. Chabot was instrumental in arranging the voyages of

Giovanni da Verrazzano Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlanti ...

and Jacques Cartier.

Marriage and children

Tombeau Philippe Chabot Louvre MR1779 orange

On 10 January 1526, Chabot married Françoise de Longwy, Dame de Pagny and de Mirebeau (c.1510- after 14 April 1561), the eldest daughter of Jean IV de Longwy, Seigneur de Givry, Baron of Pagny and of Mirebeau (died 1520), and Jeanne of Angoulême, Countess of Bar-sur-Seine, the illegitimate half-sister of King Francis. They had six children: * Leonor Chabot, Count of Charny (1526–1597), married firstly Claude Gouffier, by whom he had two daughters; and secondly Françoise de Longwy-Rye, Dame de Longwy, by whom he had another four daughters, including Marguerite de Chabot, Countess of Charny (1565- 29 September 1652), who married Charles I of Lorraine (province), the

Duke of Elbeuf The Seigneurie of Elbeuf, later a marquisate, dukedom, and peerage, was based on the territory of Elbeuf in the Vexin, possessed first by the Count of Valois, Counts of Valois and then the Counts of Meulan before passing to the House of Harcourt. ...

. * François Chabot, Marquis of Mirebeau, married firstly, Françoise, Dame de Lugny, by whom he had one daughter; and secondly on 25 December 1565, Catherine de Silly, by whom he had seven children. * Françoise Chabot de Charny, married Charles de La Rochefoucard, Seigneur de Barbesieux, by whom she had three daughters. * Antoinette Chabot de Charny, married Jean VI d'Aumont, Count of Chateauroux, by whom she had one son. * Anne Chabot de Charny, married Karl van Halewijn, Marquis of Maignelais, by whom she had one daughter. * Jeanne Chabot de Charny, Abbess of Porcelet (died 1593)

Sources

The main authorities for Chabot's life are his manuscript correspondence in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

, Paris, and contemporary memoirs. See also E. de Barthlemy, ''Chabot de Brion'', in the ''Revue des questions historiques'' (vol. xx. 1876); Martineau, ''L'Amiral Chabot'', in the ''Positions des l'hses de l'Ecole des Chartes'' (1883).

Fictional portrayals

His conflict with Montmorency is depicted in a 17th-century play by

George Chapman George Chapman (Hitchin, Hertfordshire, – London, 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been speculated to be the Rival Poet of Shakesp ...

and

James Shirley James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...

entitled '' The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France'' (1639).Chapman, George. The Plays. New York: Russell & Russell, 1961. A fictionalized version of Chabot appears in the 2007 Showtime series ''

The Tudors ''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...

'', played by Philippe De Grossouvre. This is in season 2, episode 6.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chabot, Philippe De 1490s births 1543 deaths People from Poitou-Charentes Counts of Charny Counts of Buzançois Admirals of France Chabot Philippe Ambassadors of France to England