Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly

Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly, [http://www.corpusetampois.com/cpe-0016-annedepisseleu.jpg] [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/hb/hb_29.100.197.jpg] duchesse d'Étampes (1508 – 1580), mistress of Francis I of France, was a daughter of Guillaume de Pisseleu, a nobleman of Picardy, who, with the rise of his daughter at court, was made "seigneur" of Meudon, master of waters and forests of Île de France, of Champagne and of Brie.

The life of "courtesan" to a king

She came to court before 1522 and was one of the maids-of-honour of Louise of Savoy, the mother of Francis I, when she was duchesse d'Angoulême. Francis made Anne his mistress, probably upon his return from his captivity at Madrid (1526), and soon gave up his long-term lover, Françoise de Foix, for her.

Anne was described as being sprightly, pretty, witty and cultured, "the most beautiful among the learned and the most learned among the beautiful"; she succeeded in keeping the favor of the king until his death in 1547. The liaison received some official recognition; when Queen Eleanor of Habsburg entered Paris in 1530, the King and Anne occupied the same window. In 1533, Francis gave her in marriage to Jean IV de Brosse, whom he created duc d'Étampes.

The influence of the duchesse d'Étampes, especially in the last years of the reign, was considerable. She upheld Admiral Philippe de Chabot against the Constable de Montmorency, who was supported by her rival courtesan Diane de Poitiers, the dauphin's mistress. She was a friend to new ideas, tolerant of Protestants, whose beliefs she openly embraced after the King's death and she co-operated with the King's sister, Marguerite d'Angoulême.

She used her influence to elevate and enrich her family, her uncle, Antoine Sanguin (d. 1559), being made bishop of Orléans in 1533 and a cardinal in 1539; [ [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1539.htm Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] ] her three brothers were made bishops and two sisters were abbesses, the other sisters making great marriages. The accusations made against her of having allowed herself to be won over by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and of playing the traitor in 1544 and in the lead-up to the Treaty of Crépy (September 1545) rest on no serious proof.

After the death of Francis I she was dismissed from the court by Diane de Poitiers, who was by that time mistress to Henry II. Though her creatures at court were humiliated in every way upon her dismissal, she was permitted to die in obscurity much later, probably in the reign of Henry III.

Notes

References

*1911
* Singleton, Esther "Famous Women as Described by Famous Writers" Mme Bolly on Anne de Pisseleu.

External links

* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/refo/hod_29.100.197.htm Portrait of the duchesse d'Étampes] , attributed to Corneille de Lyon (Metropolitan Museum of Art)