WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.560 Imagine a king who is, I mean, just the ultimate 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.960 human contradiction. Right. On one hand, you 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.400 have this incredibly sensitive artistic soul. 00:00:07.929 --> 00:00:11.730 A man who, and this is the story, literally held 00:00:11.730 --> 00:00:14.210 Leonardo da Vinci in his arms as he took his 00:00:14.210 --> 00:00:16.690 final breath. A true Renaissance man. Exactly. 00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:19.789 He's the visionary who built these gorgeous chateaus 00:00:19.789 --> 00:00:22.589 all over France. And, well, he basically invited 00:00:22.589 --> 00:00:24.789 the entire Renaissance to pack its bags and move 00:00:24.789 --> 00:00:27.010 to Paris. But then you flip that coin. Yeah. 00:00:27.109 --> 00:00:30.070 You flip it over and this same guy is a brutal. 00:00:30.730 --> 00:00:33.369 muddy boots warrior out there fighting in the 00:00:33.369 --> 00:00:35.289 trenches himself. Yeah. He's the one writing 00:00:35.289 --> 00:00:37.810 letters home from a Spanish prison cell, you 00:00:37.810 --> 00:00:40.030 know, saying all's lost save honor. He's a king 00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:43.030 who made alliances that just shocked the entire 00:00:43.030 --> 00:00:45.350 Christian world. And who, when he was pushed, 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:49.259 could unleash this just. unbelievably fiery, 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:51.659 brutal persecution on his own subject. It's a 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:53.579 lot to hold to one person. It is. It is a lot 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:56.100 to reconcile. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:58.100 we're unpacking the life and reign of Francis 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:02.759 I of France. He ruled from 1515 to 1547. And 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.040 if you look at the history books, the sources, 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:07.920 he's often called the father and restorer of 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:12.040 letters, a very lofty title. But the sources 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:14.359 we're looking at today. also highlight a different 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.760 nickname, one that was apparently pretty common 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:19.280 at the time. Francois Grande. Francis of the 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.590 Large Nose. Yep. France is of the large nose. 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:23.810 It paints a very specific picture, doesn't it? 00:01:23.890 --> 00:01:27.290 But our mission today isn't just to, you know, 00:01:27.329 --> 00:01:29.650 critique his profile. Right. We want to figure 00:01:29.650 --> 00:01:32.790 out how this man, big nose, and all managed to 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:35.609 drag France kicking and screaming out of the 00:01:35.609 --> 00:01:38.450 Middle Ages. We want to understand how he wrestled 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:41.329 with a Europe that was changing incredibly fast. 00:01:41.689 --> 00:01:44.109 Religiously, politically, everything was in flux. 00:01:44.189 --> 00:01:47.030 Everything. And how he, in the end, essentially 00:01:47.030 --> 00:01:49.329 laid the cultural foundations for the modern 00:01:49.329 --> 00:01:52.780 French state. And to really get Francis, you 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:55.219 have to get the exact moment he steps onto the 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:57.540 stage. Shut the scene for us. It's January 1st, 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:01.760 1515. He succeeds Louis XII, who was his cousin 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.120 and also his father -in -law. A little complicated. 00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:06.980 A little, yeah. But the vibe in Europe at this 00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:10.439 point is just electric. The Italian Renaissance 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:13.479 is in full bloom, right? But it's just starting 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:16.039 to kind of bleed northward over the Alps. So 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:18.180 France is still a bit behind the curve. Very 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:20.479 much so. Yeah. It's still quite medieval in a 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.759 lot of ways. You've got damp fortresses, feudal 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.360 lords, a lot of Gothic gloom. But Francis is 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.800 standing there, and he is ready to kick the door 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:32.969 wide open to the modern world. Okay, so let's 00:02:32.969 --> 00:02:35.169 start with that. Let's unpack this Renaissance 00:02:35.169 --> 00:02:38.270 patron side of him first. Because when you think 00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:40.430 of the French Renaissance, he really is the face 00:02:40.430 --> 00:02:43.150 of it. He is. The sources call him le père et 00:02:43.150 --> 00:02:46.050 restaurateur des lettres, father and restorer 00:02:46.050 --> 00:02:48.240 of letters. What does that actually look like 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:50.439 in practice? Was he just, you know, writing checks 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.800 to painters to look cool? It was so much more 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.000 active than that. I mean, he was personally deeply 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.460 obsessed with Italian culture. And the crown 00:02:57.460 --> 00:02:59.759 jewel of this whole obsession, without a doubt, 00:02:59.819 --> 00:03:02.219 is the Leonardo da Vinci connection. This is 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:03.699 the part of the story I absolutely love. He didn't 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:05.819 just buy his art. He actually convinced da Vinci 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:08.639 to move to France. He did. Yeah. He persuaded 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.680 an elderly Leonardo to leave Italy, to leave 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:14.539 Rome, and spent his final years in the Loire 00:03:14.539 --> 00:03:17.159 Valley as a guest of the king. And this isn't 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:18.939 just a sweet little anecdote about being nice 00:03:18.939 --> 00:03:22.479 to an old artist. This one move had a massive, 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.379 tangible impact on the world today. A huge impact. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.259 Because when Leonardo came, he brought his luggage. 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:32.159 And in that luggage was a little painting you 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.280 might have heard of. The Mona Lisa. The Mona 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.500 Lisa. La Joconde. Wait, hold on. The reason the 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:39.740 Mona Lisa is in the Louvre today, the reason 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:41.879 millions of people line up to see it in Paris 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:45.000 and not in Florence or Milan, is simply because 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.400 Francis invited da Vinci to come crash at his 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.340 place. That's it. That's the whole story. Francis 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:52.319 acquired it, and it has stayed in the French 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:54.740 royal, now national, collection ever since. That 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:57.039 is incredible. And that image you mentioned, 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.180 the one of Francis holding Leonardo as he died, 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.500 it's a very powerful part of the legend. That's 00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:03.919 probably not true. Well, we should note that 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.030 the famous painting of that scene, the one by 00:04:06.030 --> 00:04:09.830 Ingres, is actually from 1818, so centuries later. 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:12.530 It's definitely romanticized. But it reflects 00:04:12.530 --> 00:04:14.750 the reputation that Francis built for himself. 00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:18.050 He wasn't just a patron who wrote a check. He 00:04:18.050 --> 00:04:21.269 was a devotee. He genuinely revered these artists. 00:04:21.649 --> 00:04:24.040 And looking at the roster in our notes, It wasn't 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:26.079 just da Vinci. It seems like he was trying to 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:28.980 import the entire Italian artistic ecosystem. 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:32.120 He really was. I mean, he had agents in Italy 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:35.759 whose entire job was to hunt down art and, more 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.060 importantly, to hunt down artists and convince 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:40.500 them to come north. Who else did he get? He brought 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:43.540 in Andrea del Sarto. He brought in Benvenuto 00:04:43.540 --> 00:04:45.980 Cellini, the famous goldsmith, to create these 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:48.939 incredibly intricate works like famous Salt Cellar. 00:04:49.290 --> 00:04:52.449 He hired Rosso Fiorentino to decorate his palaces. 00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:55.470 So he was literally building a new visual identity 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:58.250 for the French monarchy. Exactly. Shifting it 00:04:58.250 --> 00:05:01.250 away from the old, dark. gothic style toward 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:04.149 this new, brilliant, classical -inspired look. 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:06.029 And speaking of building, we have to talk about 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:07.910 the architecture. Because if you visit the Loire 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:10.350 Valley today, you are basically walking through 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:12.649 Francis's checkbook. You really are. Yeah. And 00:05:12.649 --> 00:05:14.670 the standout, the one everyone knows, has to 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:16.389 be the Chateau de Chambord. It's breathtaking. 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.350 It is. And if you look at it, it doesn't look 00:05:19.350 --> 00:05:21.490 like a defensive fortress that's meant to stop 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:24.069 an army. It looks like a fantasy castle pulled 00:05:24.069 --> 00:05:26.750 from a storybook. Fantasy castle is the perfect 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:30.120 description. It's just... It's huge. It's spiky. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.319 It's incredibly ornate. It is the physical manifestation 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.639 of his entire reign. I mean, it's got medieval 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:37.920 roots, sure. It has the towers and the moat. 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:42.120 Right. But the style, all the detail, is pure 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:44.959 Italian Renaissance splendor. And there's a da 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:46.959 Vinci connection here, too, isn't there? There 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.839 are theories, and they're pretty well supported 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.720 by the sources, that da Vinci himself might have 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:54.129 had a hand in designing it. particularly that 00:05:54.129 --> 00:05:56.970 famous double helix staircase. Ah, the one where 00:05:56.970 --> 00:05:59.009 two people can go up and down at the same time 00:05:59.009 --> 00:06:01.449 but never actually cross paths? That's the one. 00:06:01.610 --> 00:06:03.750 It just feels like a da Vinci invention, doesn't 00:06:03.750 --> 00:06:06.629 it? So clever and so theatrical. Very much so. 00:06:06.829 --> 00:06:09.189 But he didn't just stop in the countryside. He 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:11.509 turned his attention to Paris as well, to the 00:06:11.509 --> 00:06:14.089 Louvre. Yes, and that's so significant for anyone 00:06:14.089 --> 00:06:16.269 visiting Paris today. The Louvre, you have to 00:06:16.269 --> 00:06:18.829 remember, was originally this grim medieval fortress. 00:06:19.339 --> 00:06:21.720 Right. It was for defense, not for living. Exactly. 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:24.699 It was there to defend the city. Yeah. Francis 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:27.000 is the one who began the transformation from 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.420 a fortress into the grand palace we recognize. 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:33.779 He also poured a ton of money into the Chateau 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:36.139 de Fontainebleau. Which became his favorite spot. 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:38.439 His favorite residence, yeah. And also home to 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:41.500 his official mistress, the Duchess of Etan. We'll 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:43.480 definitely get to the personal drama later, but 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.519 it sounds like Fontainebleau was the real center 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:48.560 of the action. It was the center of court life. 00:06:49.050 --> 00:06:51.589 But what's so fascinating here is that Francis 00:06:51.589 --> 00:06:53.689 wasn't just building nice houses for himself 00:06:53.689 --> 00:06:56.670 and his mistresses. He was consciously building 00:06:56.670 --> 00:06:59.850 a reputation as an intellectual. Okay. The sources 00:06:59.850 --> 00:07:02.350 make a real point to say he was a man of letters 00:07:02.350 --> 00:07:04.569 who actually read the books he bought. Which 00:07:04.569 --> 00:07:07.290 apparently was kind of rare for a king. Surprisingly 00:07:07.290 --> 00:07:09.850 so. I mean, many monarchs collected books as 00:07:09.850 --> 00:07:11.810 status symbols. You know, they'd have these fancy 00:07:11.810 --> 00:07:14.170 bindings made to look good on a shelf. Right, 00:07:14.269 --> 00:07:17.829 for show. For show. Francis engaged with the 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:20.779 material. He seriously improved the royal library. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.560 He appointed the great humanist Guillaume Boudet 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:26.199 as his chief librarian. And here's where it gets 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:27.819 really interesting for the history of knowledge 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:30.879 itself. What did he do? He opened his library 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.300 to scholars. That sounds like a really modern 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:35.920 concept, like open access. It was revolutionary 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.899 for the time. He wanted to facilitate the diffusion 00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:42.759 of knowledge. And then in 1537, he signs the 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.480 Ordinance de Montpellier. The Ordinance of Montpellier. 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:48.670 And this decreed. that his library must receive 00:07:48.670 --> 00:07:52.470 one copy of every single book sold in his kingdom 00:07:52.470 --> 00:07:54.949 wait that's the precursor to the legal deposit 00:07:54.949 --> 00:07:57.410 system we have today like the library of congress 00:07:57.410 --> 00:07:59.750 or the british library getting a copy of everything 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:02.209 that's published exactly it started with francis 00:08:02.209 --> 00:08:04.610 he wanted to capture and preserve the entire 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:06.930 intellectual output of his kingdom that is a 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:09.629 visionary move it's incredible yeah and he wasn't 00:08:09.629 --> 00:08:11.870 just a collector he was in conversation with 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:15.259 thinkers he corresponded with philosophers including, 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:17.860 and this is notable, women like the abbess Claude 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:20.160 de Bechtos. And what was that relationship like? 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:22.759 The sources say he would carry her letters around 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:25.579 with him to show the ladies of the court, saying, 00:08:25.660 --> 00:08:27.639 look at this brilliance, you should all aspire 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:30.959 to this. It shows a man who genuinely valued 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.600 intellect, regardless of where it came from. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.539 So we have this picture of a high -minded, book 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:39.279 -loving, art -collecting intellectual, a true 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.000 Renaissance prince. We do. But now we need to 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.230 pivot, and pivot hard. Because the same man was 00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:47.850 known as the Night King. And his reign wasn't 00:08:47.850 --> 00:08:49.929 just library visits and chatting with philosophers. 00:08:50.169 --> 00:08:53.649 It was constant, brutal warfare. This is the 00:08:53.649 --> 00:08:56.129 great contradiction of Francis de Sigt. You cannot 00:08:56.129 --> 00:08:58.490 tell his story without telling the story of his 00:08:58.490 --> 00:09:01.950 rivalry with one man. Charles V. Charles V, the 00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:04.090 Holy Roman Emperor, the big bad of the story, 00:09:04.190 --> 00:09:06.149 at least from the French perspective. He is the 00:09:06.149 --> 00:09:08.490 ultimate antagonist for Francis. To understand 00:09:08.490 --> 00:09:11.190 why Francis was so constantly at war, you just 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:13.190 have to look at a map from that time. What does 00:09:13.190 --> 00:09:17.110 it show? Charles V ruled Spain, Austria, the 00:09:17.110 --> 00:09:19.990 Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire. France 00:09:19.990 --> 00:09:22.289 was quite literally encircled by the Habsburg 00:09:22.289 --> 00:09:24.769 monarchy. He's surrounded. Completely surrounded. 00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:27.850 Francis felt claustrophobic, and he spent his 00:09:27.850 --> 00:09:30.779 entire reign trying to break out of that box. 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:33.200 And it wasn't just geopolitical. It was personal, 00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:35.679 right? The sources mentioned Francis tried to 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.059 get himself elected Holy Roman Emperor. He did 00:09:38.059 --> 00:09:41.679 in 1519. And he failed spectacularly. Charles 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.379 won partly because he basically threatened the 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:46.740 electors and partly because he just paid them 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:49.480 more. So Francis starts his reign with a massive 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:52.259 chip on his shoulder. A huge one. But, you know, 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:54.659 initially things went very, very well for him 00:09:54.659 --> 00:09:56.970 on the battlefield. We have to talk about the 00:09:56.970 --> 00:09:59.750 Battle of Marignano in 1515. This is right at 00:09:59.750 --> 00:10:01.929 the start of his reign, Francis's first Italian 00:10:01.929 --> 00:10:05.129 war. Right. And it was a massive victory, a stunning 00:10:05.129 --> 00:10:07.750 victory. He just crushes the combined forces 00:10:07.750 --> 00:10:10.129 of the Papal States and the old Swiss Confederacy, 00:10:10.129 --> 00:10:12.250 who were considered the best mercenaries in Europe. 00:10:12.350 --> 00:10:14.929 And the result? He captures Milan. This is the 00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:17.649 moment that cements his reputation. He's a warrior 00:10:17.649 --> 00:10:20.330 king. He's young. He's dashing. He's victorious. 00:10:20.750 --> 00:10:23.389 He's captured one of the jewels of Italy. He 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:26.360 feels invincible. But of course, history has 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.340 a way of humbling people who feel invincible. 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:31.419 It does. Because 10 years later, we get the absolute 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:35.639 low point, the Battle of Pavia in 1525. And low 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:37.980 point feels like a massive understatement. This 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.980 was a catastrophe. It was a disaster that reshaped 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:43.259 European politics. It was during the Four Years' 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:46.000 War. Francis meets the imperial forces of Charles 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.299 V at Pavia near Milan. And it just goes horribly, 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.330 horribly wrong. What? happened? The French cavalry 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:54.690 gets bogged down in the mud. The sources are 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:56.570 clear that Francis was physically in the thick 00:10:56.570 --> 00:10:58.450 of the fighting. He wasn't commanding from a 00:10:58.450 --> 00:11:00.830 tent in the back. He was a true night king. He 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:03.789 was. And his horse was injured by a man named 00:11:03.789 --> 00:11:06.950 Cesar Herculani. It goes down. And the king of 00:11:06.950 --> 00:11:09.509 France, the son around whom the entire French 00:11:09.509 --> 00:11:11.830 court revolved, was captured on the battlefield. 00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:14.090 Imagine the shockwaves that sent through France. 00:11:14.129 --> 00:11:17.070 The king is just gone. He's in enemy hands. It 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:19.379 was total chaos. There's actually a bit of a 00:11:19.379 --> 00:11:21.460 historical dispute over exactly who caught him. 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:24.080 The sources list a few different Spanish soldiers 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.759 all vying for the credit and the reward. But 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.259 the result was the same. He was taken prisoner. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.600 There's a little bit of trivia here that I love. 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:36.379 Legend says Zupa a la Pavese, it's a type of 00:11:36.379 --> 00:11:38.899 soup with bread and a poached egg, was invented 00:11:38.899 --> 00:11:42.220 on the spot by a peasant woman to feed the captive 00:11:42.220 --> 00:11:45.460 king right after the battle. Wow. Because that's 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:47.470 all she had in her kitchen. Comfort food for 00:11:47.470 --> 00:11:49.490 a captured monarch. And this is where we get 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:52.110 that incredibly famous quote, isn't it? He writes 00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:54.929 a letter to his mother. He does. Of all things, 00:11:54.970 --> 00:11:57.330 nothing remains to me but honor and life, which 00:11:57.330 --> 00:12:00.629 is safe. It's often shortened, as you said, to... 00:12:00.889 --> 00:12:03.789 All is lost save honor. It's so dramatic. It 00:12:03.789 --> 00:12:06.370 captures that chivalric ideal he was trying so 00:12:06.370 --> 00:12:08.830 hard to embody, even when he's sitting in a prison 00:12:08.830 --> 00:12:11.690 cell in Madrid. Absolutely. He's a captive of 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:14.429 his arch rival, Charles V, and he's forced to 00:12:14.429 --> 00:12:16.990 sign a treaty. The Treaty of Madrid in 1526. 00:12:17.570 --> 00:12:21.480 And it was... Oh, it was humiliating. He had 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:24.279 to surrender all his claims to Italy, to Naples 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:26.600 and Milan. He had to recognize the independence 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:28.799 of Burgundy, which was a huge chunk of what he 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:30.720 considered France. And there was a personal sting 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.259 in the tail, too. The final insult. He had to 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:38.340 agree to marry Charles's sister, Eleanor of Austria. 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:40.940 Talk about an awkward wedding. I just crushed 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.039 you in battle and threw you in jail. Now marry 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.500 my sister. Exactly. But here's the twist. This 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:48.019 is the part of the story that really stood out 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:50.399 to me in the notes. He gets released, but there's 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.639 a condition. A trade. A human trade. Yes. This 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:56.000 is the part that is just so hard for modern listeners 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.379 to really stomach. He was released in exchange 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:02.120 for his two eldest sons. The Dauphin Francis 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:05.200 and the younger Henry being taken hostage in 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.720 his place. He traded his kids for his freedom. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.419 He did. Two young boys, I think there were eight 00:13:10.419 --> 00:13:12.879 and seven, sent to a Spanish prison so their 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:16.740 father could go home. That is ruthless. I mean, 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:18.519 on one hand, I guess you can argue it's pure 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:21.159 real politic. The king is the state. He needs 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:22.899 to be free to govern. Sure. But on the other 00:13:22.899 --> 00:13:25.759 hand, as a parent. That is horrifying. It shows 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.000 you the sheer desperation. He was so obsessed 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.179 with breaking that Habsburg encirclement, he 00:13:30.179 --> 00:13:31.759 was willing to do anything. And what happens 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.559 next is just as cynical. Oh, it's peak 16th century 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.840 politics. The moment he crosses the border back 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.919 into France, he immediately repudiates the entire 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:43.500 treaty. On what grounds? He claimed it was void. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.419 He said, I signed it under duress as a prisoner, 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.220 and also my sons were taken hostage, so none 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:52.320 of it counts. he immediately went back to raising 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.580 an army to fight Charles again. The war just 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:57.399 never ends. Which brings us to probably his most 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.480 shocking diplomatic move, the one the sources 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.480 call the impious alliance. Yeah, if you thought 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:05.679 trading his kids was controversial. Apparently 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.100 that wasn't the only line he was willing to cross. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.360 Not even close. Desperate, absolutely desperate 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:13.799 to counter Charles V, Francis reaches out to 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:15.980 the other great power on the European periphery, 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:18.320 Sultan Suleiman, the magnificent of the Ottoman 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:21.279 Empire. A Christian king allying with a Muslim 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:24.960 sultan in the 1500s. I cannot imagine that went 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.200 over well with the pope. It was beyond scandalous. 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.320 It was called the Sacrilegious Union of the Lily 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.460 and the Crescent. It was the first major non 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:35.120 -ideological alliance between a Christian and 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.399 a non -Christian empire in modern history. But 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:39.929 Francis just didn't care about the optics. Not 00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:41.750 at all. He cared that the Ottomans were also 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:44.289 sworn enemies of the Habsburgs. It's the classic, 00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:46.809 the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And it wasn't 00:14:46.809 --> 00:14:49.450 just a paper alliance, right? They actually coordinated 00:14:49.450 --> 00:14:52.690 militarily. The sources mention a joint naval 00:14:52.690 --> 00:14:57.009 assault on Nice in 1543. Yes. You have Ottoman 00:14:57.009 --> 00:14:59.690 ships wintering in French ports. The Ottoman 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.450 fleet under Barbarossa sailing alongside French 00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:05.250 ships to attack a Habsburg city. It's an incredible 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:08.190 image. It just shows how far Francis was willing 00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:10.669 to go. He was a complete pragmatist, but he was 00:15:10.669 --> 00:15:14.029 masked as this chivalric knight. A perfect way 00:15:14.029 --> 00:15:16.570 to put it. And we see the same kind of competitive, 00:15:16.710 --> 00:15:19.049 pragmatic spirit in his dealings with England, 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:22.490 specifically with Henry VIII. Ah, the field of 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:25.500 the cloth of gold. 1520. This sounds like the 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:28.059 precursor to a G7 summit, but with, you know, 00:15:28.059 --> 00:15:30.480 way more velvet and fountains flowing with wine. 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:33.039 And more wrestling. What? It was this incredibly 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.700 lavish diplomatic meeting. They built temporary 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:38.159 palaces out of wood and canvas covered in gold 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.700 cloth. There were literal fountains of wine. 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:43.379 The goal was to solidify an alliance between 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:46.000 France and England against Charles V. But it 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.539 didn't work. It didn't. The sources note that 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:50.820 Francis and Henry were just too competitive with 00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:53.679 each other. They were two young, powerful, athletic 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.639 kings, and they were constantly trying to one 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:59.100 -up each other. And they actually wrestled, like 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:02.279 physically grappled. Yes. The story goes that 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:04.299 they had a friendly wrestling match, and Francis, 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:07.559 who was known for his strength, won. He captured 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.159 Henry in a throw. Henry VIII does not seem like 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:11.799 the kind of guy who would take that well. He 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.490 did not. He was famously proud. So in the end, 00:16:15.509 --> 00:16:17.909 despite all the gold cloth and all the partying, 00:16:18.090 --> 00:16:21.110 no real agreement was reached. Henry eventually 00:16:21.110 --> 00:16:23.929 allied with Charles V anyway, though he flipped 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:26.210 back and forth later on. It just highlights that 00:16:26.210 --> 00:16:28.509 Francis was constantly juggling these massive 00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:31.409 personalities, Suleiman, Henry, the Pope, all 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.330 in a desperate bid to keep France from being 00:16:33.330 --> 00:16:35.730 crushed by Charles. That was the single obsession 00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:37.750 of his foreign policy. Okay, so speaking of the 00:16:37.750 --> 00:16:40.049 wider world, we have to look west. Francis wasn't 00:16:40.049 --> 00:16:42.230 just looking at his European rivals. He was looking 00:16:42.230 --> 00:16:45.389 across the Atlantic at the New World. But he 00:16:45.389 --> 00:16:48.330 had a problem. A big one. The Treaty of Tordesillas. 00:16:48.610 --> 00:16:51.669 Right. The Pope had basically drawn a line down 00:16:51.669 --> 00:16:54.789 a map and divided the entire non -Christian world 00:16:54.789 --> 00:16:57.570 between Spain and Portugal. And Francis was, 00:16:57.809 --> 00:17:00.730 understandably, pretty annoyed by this. He has 00:17:00.730 --> 00:17:02.889 this fantastic quote, one of my favorites. Let's 00:17:02.889 --> 00:17:05.410 hear it. He said, I would very much like to see 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:08.210 the clause of Adam's will by which I should be 00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:11.609 denied my share of the world. Adam's will. That 00:17:11.609 --> 00:17:13.789 is such a brilliant, witty comeback. He's basically 00:17:13.789 --> 00:17:16.309 saying, show me the fine print in the Bible where 00:17:16.309 --> 00:17:18.970 it says Spain gets all of America. Exactly. So 00:17:18.970 --> 00:17:21.130 he just ignored the treaty. He started sending 00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:24.609 his own explorers. He sent Giovanni da Verrazzano 00:17:24.609 --> 00:17:27.390 in 1524. Where did he go? Verrazzano explored 00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:30.170 the North American coast, and he actually sailed 00:17:30.170 --> 00:17:32.910 into what is now New York Harbor. He named the 00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:35.549 site of present -day New York City New Angulim 00:17:35.549 --> 00:17:38.309 after his own ducal title. Start spreading the 00:17:38.309 --> 00:17:40.880 news. I'm leaving today for... New Angoulême. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:42.880 It doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.079 it? Not at all. And then 10 years later, in 1534, 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.880 he sends Jacques Cartier to explore the St. Lawrence 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:52.660 River. He was looking for gold and a passage 00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:55.480 to Asia. He didn't find either of those. No, 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.440 but what he did do was lay the claim for what 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.420 would become Quebec and French Canada, a massive 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:04.819 part of France's future empire. And the notes 00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:06.940 also mention he was looking east too, right? 00:18:07.019 --> 00:18:09.779 Something about these Dieppe maps. Yes, this 00:18:09.779 --> 00:18:12.920 is fascinating. At the same time, French ships, 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:15.240 mostly from the port of Dieppe, were starting 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:18.619 to reach places like D in India and even Sumatra 00:18:18.619 --> 00:18:21.480 in Indonesia. That's a long way for the 1530s. 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:23.759 It is. And it led to the creation of the Dieppe 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:26.640 maps, which were these incredibly detailed, advanced 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.799 world maps for their time. So you can see, even 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:32.059 while he was losing battles in Italy, he was 00:18:32.059 --> 00:18:34.799 planting the seeds for a future global French 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:38.009 presence. OK, so we've covered the patron, the 00:18:38.009 --> 00:18:40.750 warrior, the diplomat. But we also need to look 00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:43.109 at what he did inside France, because the sources 00:18:43.109 --> 00:18:45.869 mentioned some state building that sounds a bit 00:18:45.869 --> 00:18:48.950 dry on paper like language reform, but is actually 00:18:48.950 --> 00:18:51.089 huge. The Ordinance of Villers -Cotterêts in 00:18:51.089 --> 00:18:53.930 1539. This is absolutely monumental. I know this 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:55.470 one. This is the one that made French the official 00:18:55.470 --> 00:18:57.869 language, right? That's the headline. Yes. It 00:18:57.869 --> 00:19:01.230 replaced Latin as the official language of administration, 00:19:01.670 --> 00:19:04.960 law and government. And this is a massive cultural 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.980 shift. How so? Well, before this, if you were 00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:10.960 a regular person dealing with the court system 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:13.259 or any legal document, everything was in Latin, 00:19:13.380 --> 00:19:15.880 a language you almost certainly didn't speak 00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:18.960 or read. It is a barrier. A huge barrier. By 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:21.319 mandating French, the language of the people, 00:19:21.779 --> 00:19:24.819 Francis was, in a way, unifying the country culturally. 00:19:25.099 --> 00:19:27.420 He was creating a shared identity. He was saying, 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:30.859 this is who we are. We are French, and we speak 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:32.920 French. The ordinance also mentions something 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.319 about vital statistics. Yes, and this is another 00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:37.019 one of those boring -sounding things that is 00:19:37.019 --> 00:19:39.720 actually revolutionary. It required priests in 00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:42.500 every parish to register all births, marriages, 00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:44.740 and deaths. That's the beginning of the modern 00:19:44.740 --> 00:19:46.740 state, knowing who its citizens are? It's the 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:49.000 foundation of census data, of syllable records, 00:19:49.259 --> 00:19:51.740 of everything. It's a huge step toward a centralized 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:53.769 state. And he also tried to reform the military, 00:19:53.950 --> 00:19:56.309 establishing these national legions. He did, 00:19:56.490 --> 00:19:59.390 inspired by the old Roman legions. He wanted 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:02.230 a standing professional army, not just the old 00:20:02.230 --> 00:20:04.190 feudal system where you have to rely on your 00:20:04.190 --> 00:20:06.710 nobles to bring their peasants to a fight. Which 00:20:06.710 --> 00:20:08.789 would give him more direct control. Way more 00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:11.349 control. It was expensive. The taxes to pay for 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:13.410 it were very heavy. But again, it was another 00:20:13.410 --> 00:20:15.890 step away from feudalism and toward a modern 00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:18.730 nation state. OK, let's unpack the topic of religion, 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:21.829 because this is where the shiny Renaissance prince 00:20:21.829 --> 00:20:25.009 image gets a little dark. The outline describes 00:20:25.009 --> 00:20:28.849 a pretty stark shift from tolerance to persecution. 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:31.430 It's a really tragic arc, actually. Initially. 00:20:32.029 --> 00:20:34.910 Francis was quite tolerant of the new Protestant 00:20:34.910 --> 00:20:37.529 ideas that were bubbling up. Why was that? Well, 00:20:37.569 --> 00:20:39.750 a big influence was his beloved sister, Marguerite 00:20:39.750 --> 00:20:42.849 de Navarre. She was very sympathetic to religious 00:20:42.849 --> 00:20:45.470 reform. She read Martin Luther. She protected 00:20:45.470 --> 00:20:48.230 reformers in her own court. She wrote these spiritually 00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:50.809 complex texts like the Heptameron. And Francis 00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:53.980 loved his sister. He adored her. So he tolerated 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:56.480 her circle and their ideas. Plus, there was a 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:58.720 political angle. Of course. The Protestant Reformation 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:01.200 was causing a world of trouble for his rival, 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:04.319 Charles V, in the German parts of the Holy Roman 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.319 Empire. So Francis kind of thought, hey, if it 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.259 annoys and weakens Charles, I can live with it. 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:11.940 So it was a calculated tolerance. Yeah. Then 00:21:11.940 --> 00:21:15.019 came the affair of the placards. 1534. This is 00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:17.900 the absolute turning point. What happened? Overnight. 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.660 Anti -Catholic posters placards appeared all 00:21:20.660 --> 00:21:23.339 over Paris and several other cities. They didn't 00:21:23.339 --> 00:21:26.099 just question Catholic doctrine. They viciously 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:29.220 denounced the mass in very harsh terms. And one 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:32.480 of them was put somewhere. Personal. Yes. One 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:34.559 was allegedly placed on the door of the king's 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.160 own bedchamber at the Chateau d 'Amboise. Wow. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:39.539 That's not just a theological debate anymore. 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:41.599 That's a massive security breach and a direct 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.599 insult to the king. Exactly. He took it incredibly 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:47.039 personally. He saw it not just as a religious 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:49.940 disagreement, but as a seditious plot against 00:21:49.940 --> 00:21:52.400 his authority and his person. The gloves came 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:54.960 off. And the crackdown was immediate. Immediate 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:57.779 and absolutely brutal. The sources describe a 00:21:57.779 --> 00:22:01.180 wave of arrests. Censorship of printing was ramped 00:22:01.180 --> 00:22:03.980 up. John Calvin, who would go on to define a 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:06.759 huge branch of Protestantism, was forced into 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:09.819 exile in Geneva. People were publicly burned 00:22:09.819 --> 00:22:12.269 at the stake. And this policy of persecution 00:22:12.269 --> 00:22:15.369 culminates in the massacre of Marendal in 1545. 00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.369 This is the darkest stain on his entire reign. 00:22:18.670 --> 00:22:21.250 The Waldensians were a pre -Lutheran reformist 00:22:21.250 --> 00:22:23.009 group, and they were mostly living peacefully 00:22:23.009 --> 00:22:25.609 in villages in the south of France. And Francis 00:22:25.609 --> 00:22:27.430 turned on them. He signed an order for their 00:22:27.430 --> 00:22:30.109 extirpation. It was effectively a military operation 00:22:30.109 --> 00:22:32.769 against civilians. Whole villages were destroyed. 00:22:33.009 --> 00:22:35.390 The sources say thousands were killed or sold 00:22:35.390 --> 00:22:38.799 into slavery. It's... It's startling to reconcile 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.180 the man who championed the Mona Lisa and open 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:43.380 libraries with the man who ordered the massacre 00:22:43.380 --> 00:22:45.660 of Marindal. It serves as a really stark reminder 00:22:45.660 --> 00:22:48.700 that these Renaissance rulers were not modern 00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:51.400 liberals. They were absolute monarchs. They valued 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.019 order and unity, their order and unity above 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:56.119 all else. And when he felt that was threatened. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.660 Whether it was by Charles V on the battlefield 00:22:58.660 --> 00:23:01.980 or by heretics in his own kingdom, he reacted 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.920 with extreme, overwhelming violence. Let's move 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:08.019 to something a bit more. Domestic. His personal 00:23:08.019 --> 00:23:10.359 life. We've mentioned his sister Marguerite a 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:12.880 few times. You really can't overstate her influence. 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:16.299 Marguerite Navarre was a true powerhouse. She 00:23:16.299 --> 00:23:19.019 was his intellectual equal, his political advisor, 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.960 and his closest confidant his entire life. They 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:24.859 were very close. Incredibly. They, along with 00:23:24.859 --> 00:23:27.220 their mother, Louise of Savoy, called themselves 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.000 the Trinity. They were a formidable political 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.509 unit. And then there were wives and, of course, 00:23:32.609 --> 00:23:35.849 the mistresses. His first wife, Claude, was the 00:23:35.849 --> 00:23:38.289 Duchess of Brittany. She was vital politically. 00:23:38.509 --> 00:23:40.829 She gave him seven children, including his heir, 00:23:41.009 --> 00:23:43.250 and she secured the union of Brittany with France. 00:23:43.630 --> 00:23:46.069 But she was often overshadowed by the more glamorous 00:23:46.069 --> 00:23:48.269 women at court. And after she died. After she 00:23:48.269 --> 00:23:50.930 died, his official mistress, Anne de Pissalieu, 00:23:51.069 --> 00:23:53.730 who became the Duchess of Etampes, became incredibly 00:23:53.730 --> 00:23:55.869 powerful. And the sources note he was the first 00:23:55.869 --> 00:23:59.109 king to actually use the formal title Matissantite. 00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:03.210 Official mistress. Yes, he basically institutionalized 00:24:03.210 --> 00:24:05.930 the role. And Anne Pizzolo was not just a pretty 00:24:05.930 --> 00:24:09.309 face. She was described as blonde, very cultured, 00:24:09.309 --> 00:24:12.390 and extremely politically savvy. She wielded 00:24:12.390 --> 00:24:15.210 real power at court, often clashing with Francis' 00:24:15.410 --> 00:24:17.890 top military leaders. So she set a precedent. 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:21.589 She absolutely set a precedent for the powerful 00:24:21.589 --> 00:24:24.269 royal mistress that would be a feature of the 00:24:24.269 --> 00:24:26.569 French court. all the way until the French Revolution. 00:24:26.950 --> 00:24:28.849 We also have to talk about its branding, the 00:24:28.849 --> 00:24:31.930 salamander. If you go to Chambord or Fontainebleau, 00:24:32.089 --> 00:24:34.769 you see salamanders carved into everything. It 00:24:34.769 --> 00:24:37.269 was his personal emblem, the salamander, surrounded 00:24:37.269 --> 00:24:42.930 by flames. And his motto was, I nourish and extinguish. 00:24:43.150 --> 00:24:45.930 Exactly. It refers to the legendary belief that 00:24:45.930 --> 00:24:47.849 salamanders could not only live in fire, but 00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:49.869 could also put it out. So what's the message? 00:24:50.150 --> 00:24:53.150 The message is one of power and control. I nourish 00:24:53.150 --> 00:24:56.190 the good fire. of the arts of knowledge and i 00:24:56.190 --> 00:24:59.650 extinguish the bad fire of my enemies of heresy 00:24:59.650 --> 00:25:02.150 it's a statement of absolute authority and of 00:25:02.150 --> 00:25:04.289 course we have to come back to the nose francois 00:25:04.289 --> 00:25:06.890 de grome he was a very large man very tall for 00:25:06.890 --> 00:25:09.509 his time and the nose was a prominent feature 00:25:09.509 --> 00:25:12.049 he seems to have owned it It was part of his 00:25:12.049 --> 00:25:14.890 imposing, larger -than -life physical presence. 00:25:15.150 --> 00:25:18.950 So Francis died in 1547 at the Château de Rambouillet. 00:25:19.190 --> 00:25:21.849 He was buried at the Basilica of Saint -Denis, 00:25:21.930 --> 00:25:24.569 though the sources note his tomb was desecrated 00:25:24.569 --> 00:25:27.960 during the French Revolution later on. When we 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:31.500 look back at this whole reign from 1515 to 1547, 00:25:31.619 --> 00:25:33.799 how do we sum it all up? It really feels like 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:36.160 a mixed bag. It is absolutely a mixed bag. I 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.680 think the historian Glenn Richardson puts it 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:40.680 really well. He ruled as well as reigned. Meaning 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:42.940 he wasn't just a figurehead. Not at all. He was 00:25:42.940 --> 00:25:46.140 actively in charge. And he left an immense, undeniable 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:49.140 cultural legacy. Without Francis I, the French 00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:51.000 Renaissance simply doesn't happen the way it 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:53.700 did. The chateaus, the art in the Louvre, the 00:25:53.700 --> 00:25:55.759 French language itself as a tool of the state. 00:25:56.420 --> 00:25:59.700 That is all him. But on the flip side, the negatives. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:01.619 On the flip side, he was a king who suffered 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:04.279 humiliating military defeats. He lost Milan, 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.559 which he'd won so brilliantly at the start. He 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:08.779 was captured. He left the country bankrupt from 00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:10.980 his constant wars. And the religious persecutions. 00:26:11.390 --> 00:26:15.069 And he initiated those brutal religious persecutions 00:26:15.069 --> 00:26:17.630 that would tear France apart in the wars of religion 00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:20.509 for decades after his death. It's the complexity, 00:26:20.529 --> 00:26:22.349 I think, that makes him so interesting. He's 00:26:22.349 --> 00:26:25.750 not a simple cartoon hero or a cartoon villain. 00:26:25.950 --> 00:26:28.390 Precisely. He was a man of huge appetites for 00:26:28.390 --> 00:26:31.589 art, for war, for women, for knowledge, for territory. 00:26:32.089 --> 00:26:35.930 And he pursued all of them with the same relentless 00:26:35.930 --> 00:26:39.990 and sometimes ruthless intensity. I want to leave 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:41.710 our listeners with a final thought that really 00:26:41.710 --> 00:26:43.930 came up for me while reading about his obsession 00:26:43.930 --> 00:26:47.250 with Charles V. Francis spent his entire life, 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:49.809 his entire reign, trying to beat this one guy. 00:26:49.950 --> 00:26:52.109 They fought. They insulted each other. They made 00:26:52.109 --> 00:26:54.250 treaties. They broke treaties. They even wrestled. 00:26:54.289 --> 00:26:57.059 It defined him. It did. But when you look at 00:26:57.059 --> 00:26:59.279 what Francis is actually remembered for today, 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.140 the Mona Lisa, the Chateau de Chambord, the exploration 00:27:02.140 --> 00:27:04.420 of Canada, the ordinance of Villiers -Cotterêts 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:06.900 making French the official language, none of 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:08.480 that really had anything to do with fighting 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:11.680 Charles V. That is a really profound observation. 00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:15.619 His military legacy is mixed at best, but his 00:27:15.619 --> 00:27:18.279 cultural legacy is immortal. So it raises the 00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:21.099 question for me, how much of history is shaped 00:27:21.099 --> 00:27:24.839 not by some grand strategic plan, but by leaders 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:26.720 just trying to outdo their personal enemies? 00:27:27.140 --> 00:27:29.740 And considering that his new Angoulême is now 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:32.160 New York City, the financial capital of the world, 00:27:32.380 --> 00:27:35.140 how different would the globe look today if Francis 00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:37.640 had focused a little less on conquering Milan 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.819 and a little more on that clause in Adam's will? 00:27:40.059 --> 00:27:41.980 It's one of the great what -ifs of history, isn't 00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:44.759 it? If France had turned west with its full force 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:47.730 suitor instead of obsessing over the south. Yeah, 00:27:47.849 --> 00:27:49.390 we might all be speaking French in Manhattan 00:27:49.390 --> 00:27:52.529 today. A fascinating deep dive into a king who 00:27:52.529 --> 00:27:55.009 was truly larger than life and had the nose to 00:27:55.009 --> 00:27:56.890 match. Thank you for listening. Thank you.