[Born at Cognac, in France, 1494. Died at Rambouillet, 1547. Aged 53.]
The son of Charles of Angoulême, and cousin-german of Louis XII. of
France, whose daughter he married, and whom he succeeded on the French
throne. A libidinous king, with many knightly qualities, and with all
the bigotry and self-absorption that characterized too many of the
despotic rulers of his time. He was a great encourager and patronizer of
letters and the fine arts: but he had no mercy towards the heretic, and,
in 1535, he forbade printing in France under pain of death. Not a
successful warrior; he was taken prisoner at Pavia, during a war with
Spain, and detained at Madrid for the space of a twelvemonth. His
meeting with our own Henry VIII. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, in
1520, is known to every reader of history. A lustre is shed upon the
reign of this monarch in consequence of his magnificent patronage of
art, but his life otherwise presents as little for admiration as the
satyr-looking bust which no doubt faithfully records the lineaments of
the man. His passions were violent and gross: and though he received the
dignity of knighthood from the hands of a subject, yet even the sword of
a Bayard could not endow him with virtue enough to protect him from
wilful prodigality, selfish follies, and open debaucheries.
[From the bronze in the Louvre by Jean Cousin, representing the king
in complete armour, interesting as a work of the time, but far less
real as a portrait than the head 299A, which is from the celebrated
monument at St. Denis, by P. Bontemps, where the king is sculptured
lying dead, and perfectly naked.]
299A. FRANCIS I. _King of France._