View source for Francis, Duke of Anjou

{{Short description|French prince (1555–1584)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Francis
| title = [[Duke of Alençon]], Château-Thierry, [[Duke of Anjou|Anjou]], [[Duke of Berry|Berry]], and [[Duke of Touraine|Touraine]]
| image = François, Duke of Anjou NGA.jpg
| caption = The Duke in 1572
| full name = Hercule François de France
| house = [[House of Valois-Angoulême|Valois-Angoulême]]
| father = [[Henry II of France]]
| mother = [[Catherine de' Medici]]
| birth_date = 18 March 1555
| birth_place = 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1584|6|10|1555|3|18|df=y}}
| death_place = 
| burial_date = 27 June 1584
| burial_place = [[Basilica of St Denis]], France
}}
[[File:Emanuel van Meteren Historie ppn 051504510 MG 8739 francois van valoys.tif|thumb|Engraving of Francis, Duke of Anjou]]

''[[Monsieur]]'' '''François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon''' ({{langx|fr|Hercule François}}; 18 March 1555<ref name="Birth date">{{cite book |last= Le Roy Ladurie |first= Emmanuel |title= L'État Royal |year= 1987 |publisher= Hachette |location= Paris |isbn= 2-01-009461-1 |page= 227}}</ref> &ndash; 10 June 1584) was the youngest son of King [[Henry II of France]] and [[Catherine de' Medici]].

==Early years==

He was scarred by smallpox at age eight, and his pitted face and slightly deformed spine did not suit his birth name of ''Hercule''. He changed his name to Francis in honour of his late brother [[Francis II of France]] when he was [[Confirmation (Christian sacrament)|confirmed]].

The royal children were raised under the supervision of the governor and governess of the royal children, [[Claude d'Urfé]] and [[Françoise d'Humières]], under the orders of [[Diane de Poitiers]].

In 1574, following the death of his brother [[Charles IX of France]] and the accession of his other brother, [[Henry III of France]], he became heir to the throne. In 1576 he was made [[Duke of Anjou]], [[Duke of Touraine|Touraine]], and [[Duke of Berry|Berry]].
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In 1576 he negotiated the [[Edict of Beaulieu]] during the [[French Wars of Religion]]. In 1579 he was invited by [[William the Silent]] to become hereditary sovereign to the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]]. On 29 September 1580 the Dutch [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] (with the exception of Zeeland and Holland) signed the [[Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours]] with the Duke, who would assume the title Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands and become the sovereign. -->

== Alençon and the Huguenots==

During the night of 13 September 1575, Alençon fled from the French court after being alienated from his brother King Henry III as they had had some differences.<ref>Knecht, p.53.</ref> Both Henry III and Catherine de' Medici feared he would join the [[French Wars of Religion|Protestant rebels]]. These fears proved well-founded; Francis joined the [[Henri, Prince of Condé (1552–1588)|prince of Condé]] and his forces in the south. In February 1576, [[Henry IV of France|Henry, King of Navarre]] escaped from the French court, whereupon his forces also joined Condé. This combined army was enough to force Henry III, without a pitched battle of any sort, to capitulate and sign the very pro-Protestant "peace of Monsieur", or [[Edict of Beaulieu]], on 6 May 1576. By "secret treaties" which formed part of this peace settlement, many on the Protestant side were rewarded with land and titles. Francis was awarded the [[Duchy of Anjou]] (along with other lands) and thus became the Duke of Anjou. He had the writer [[Jean de La Gessée]] as a secretary.<ref>''Dictionnaire de la littérature française et francophone'', Larousse, 1988.</ref>

==Courting Elizabeth I==
{{Sources|date=July 2022}}{{House of Valois-Angoulême}}

In 1579, negotiations commenced for marrying Anjou to [[Elizabeth I of England]]. The Duke of Anjou was in fact the only one of Elizabeth's foreign suitors to court her in person. He made two visits to England, in 1579 and 1581.<ref>[[Estelle Paranque]], ''Elizabeth I of England through Valois Eyes'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 134, 148–49.</ref> He was 24 and Elizabeth was 46. Despite the age gap, the two soon became very close, Elizabeth dubbing him her "frog."<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Elizabeth I to François, Duke of Alençon and Anjou, 19 February 1579 (SP 78/3 f.9) |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/elizabeth-monarchy/elizabeth-i-to-the-duke-of-alencon/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518012340/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/elizabeth-monarchy/elizabeth-i-to-the-duke-of-alencon/ |archive-date=2021-05-18 |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=The National Archives |language=en-GB}}</ref> While a few believe this nickname arose from a frog-shaped earring he had given her, "frog" has been an unflattering slang nickname for the French for centuries. Whether or not Elizabeth truly planned to marry Anjou is a hotly debated topic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Giese |first=Loreen L. |date=2006 |title=Courtships, Marriage Customs, and Shakespeare's Comedies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-09516-9 |doi=10.1007/978-1-137-09516-9|isbn=978-1-349-61581-0 }}</ref> She was quite fond of him, knowing that he was probably going to be her last suitor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mears |first=Natalie |date=2002-12-16 |title=Love-making and Diplomacy: Elizabeth I and the Anjou Marriage Negotiations, c.1578–1582 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.00200 |journal=History |volume=86 |issue=284 |pages=442–466 |doi=10.1111/1468-229x.00200 |pmid=18985963 |issn=0018-2648|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The match was controversial among the English public: English Protestants warned the Queen that the "hearts [of the English people] will be galled when they shall see you take to husband a Frenchman, and a Papist ... the very common people well know this: that he is the son of the [[Jezebel]] of our age,"<ref>From Sir Philip Sidney's letter to Elizabeth I on the subject of Anjou (1579), in Katherine Duncan-Jones and Jan van Dorsten, eds, Miscellaneous prose of Sir Philip Sidney (1973) pp. 46-57</ref> referring to the Duke's mother, [[Catherine de' Medici]]. Among members of Elizabeth's [[Privy Council]], only [[Lord Burghley|William Cecil, Lord Burghley]], and [[Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex]], supported the marriage scheme wholeheartedly. Most notable councillors, foremost among them [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester]], and [[Sir Francis Walsingham]], strongly opposed it, even warning the Queen of the hazards of childbirth at her age.

Between 1578 and 1581 the Queen resurrected attempts to negotiate a marriage with the Duke of Alençon. The Duke put himself forward as a protector of the Huguenots and a potential leader of the Dutch.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} In these years, Walsingham became friends with the diplomat of [[Henry IV of France|Henry of Navarre]] in England, the anti-monarchist [[Philippe de Mornay]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} Walsingham was sent to France in mid-1581 to discuss an Anglo-French alliance, but the French wanted the marriage agreed to first, and Walsingham had instructions to obtain a treaty before committing to the marriage.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} He returned to England without an agreement. Personally Walsingham opposed the marriage, perhaps to the point of encouraging public opposition.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} Alençon was a Catholic and as his elder brother, Henry III, was childless, he was heir presumptive to the French throne. Elizabeth was probably past the age of childbearing and had no clear successor. If she died while married to the French heir her realms could fall under French control. By comparing the match of Elizabeth and Alençon with the match of the Protestant Henry of Navarre and the Catholic Margaret of Valois, which occurred in the week before the [[St Bartholomew's Day massacre]], the "most horrible spectacle" he had ever witnessed,{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} Walsingham raised the spectre of religious riots in England in the event of the marriage proceeding. According to the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth tolerated his blunt opinions and often unwelcome advice, referring to Walsingham as "her Moor who cannot change his colour" with regard to his strong beliefs.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Matheson-Pollock |first1=Helen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDVlDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22her+Moor...+cannot+change+his+colour%22&pg=PA198 |title=Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe |last2=Paul |first2=Joanne |last3=Fletcher |first3=Catherine |date=2018-07-16 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-76974-5 |language=en}}</ref>

Eventually Elizabeth pragmatically judged the union an unwise one, after considering the overwhelming opposition of her advisers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} She continued, however, to play the engagement game, if only to warn [[Philip II of Spain]], another of her suitors, of what she might do if it became necessary. Finally Elizabeth bade him farewell in 1581. On his departure she penned a poem, "[[On Monsieur's Departure]]", which, taken at face value, has lent credence to the notion that she may really have been prepared to go through with the match.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

==Anjou in the Netherlands==
Anjou continued on to the Netherlands. In 1579 [[William the Silent]] had invited him to become hereditary sovereign of the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]], and on 29 September 1580 the Dutch [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] (with the exception of Zeeland and Holland) had signed the [[Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours]] with the Duke, who would assume the title "Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands" and become the sovereign. He did not arrive until 10 February 1582, when William officially welcomed him in [[Flushing, Netherlands|Flushing]]. In spite of the [[Joyous Entry|Joyous Entries]] he was accorded in [[Bruges]] and [[Ghent]] and his ceremonious installation as [[Duke of Brabant]] and [[Count of Flanders]], Anjou was not popular with the Dutch and Flemish, who continued to see the Catholic French as enemies; the provinces of Zeeland and Holland refused to recognise him as their sovereign, and William, the central figure of the ''"[[Politique]]s"'' who worked to defuse religious hostilities, came under extensive criticism for his "French politics". 
<gallery perrow="5" widths="185" heights="185">
File:François, Duc dAnjou, entering Antwerp (1582) Canon fire welcoming François, Duc d’Anjou, and his troops to the city of Antwerp.jpg|''The Duke enters Antwerp, greeted by cannons''
File:Intocht hertog van Anjou in Antwerpen.jpg|''Joyous Entry in Antwerp on 19 February 1582 ([[Rijksmuseum Amsterdam]])''
File:Aankomst van de hertog van Anjou te Antwerpen op 19 en 22 februari 1582.jpg|''The Duke's arrival in Antwerp on 19 and 22 February 1582 (Print Room of the University of Antwerp)''
File:De hertog van Anjou legt de eed af aan de stad Antwerpen voor het Stadhuis op 22 februari 1582.jpg|''Anjou's inauguration in front of Antwerp's City Hall on 22 February 1582 ( Print Room of the University of Antwerp)''
File:De hertog van Anjou te paard onder een baldakijn.jpg|''Anjou on his horse under a baldachin during the Joyous Entry in 1582 (Print Room of the University of Antwerp)''
File:Anjou wordt op het podium gekroond.jpg|''Anjou's coronation on stage - 1582 (Print Room of the University of Antwerp)''
File:Queen Elizabeth I Feeds the Dutch Cow.png|''Satirical Flemish painting painted c.1586, three years after [[French Fury|Anjou's Antwerp fiasco]]; depicting a cow which represents the Dutch provinces. King [[Philip II of Spain]] vainly tries to ride the cow, drawing blood with his spurs. Queen [[Elizabeth I]] feeds it while William of Orange holds it steady by the horns. The cow is defecating on the Duke of Anjou, who holds its tail. ([[Toronto Public Library]])''
</gallery>
He is now thought to have been the patron behind the "[[Valois tapestries]]" presented to Catherine de' Medici, which depicted major figures in Catherine's court against scenes of festivity.<ref>After Anjou's death, she made a present of them in 1589 on the occasion of the wedding of her grand-daughter, Christina of Lorraine, to [[Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]; they remain at the Uffizi.</ref> When Anjou's French troops arrived in late 1582, William's plan seemed to pay off, as even the [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma|Duke of Parma]] feared that the Dutch would now gain the upper hand.

However, Anjou himself, dissatisfied with his limited power, decided to take control of the Flemish cities of [[Antwerp]], [[Bruges]], [[Dunkirk]], and [[Ostend]] by force.

He would personally lead the attack on Antwerp. To fool the citizens of Antwerp, Anjou proposed that he should make a "Joyous Entry" into the city, a grand ceremony in which he would be accompanied by his French troops.{{Citation needed|date= October 2007}} On 18 January 1583, Anjou entered Antwerp, but the citizens had not been deceived. The city militia ambushed and destroyed Anjou's force in the [[French Fury]]. Anjou barely escaped with his life.<ref>see Jean Heritière, ''Catherine di Medici'', Allen and Unwin, p397</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Blason duche fr Anjou (moderne).svg|150px|thumb|Coat-of-arms (after 1576)]]
The debacle at Antwerp marked the end of Anjou's military career. His mother, [[Catherine de' Medici]], is said to have written to him that "would to God you had died young. You would then not have been the cause of the death of so many brave gentlemen."<ref>{{cite book |title= Women of power: the life and times of Catherine dé Medici |last= Strange |first= Mark |year= 1976 |publisher= Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn= 0-15-198370-4 |page= [https://archive.org/details/womenofpowerlife00stra/page/273 273] |url= https://archive.org/details/womenofpowerlife00stra/page/273 }}</ref> Another insult followed when [[Elizabeth I]] formally ended her engagement to him after the massacre. The position of Anjou after this attack became impossible to hold, and he eventually left the country in June. His departure also discredited William, who nevertheless maintained his support for Anjou.

Soon Anjou fell seriously ill with "tertian ague", [[malaria]].{{sfn|Questier|2019|p=153}} Catherine de' Medici brought him back to Paris, where he reconciled with his brother, King [[Henry III of France]], in February 1584. Henry even embraced his brother, whom he had famously called ''le petit magot'' ("little macaque"). By June, the Duke of Anjou was dead.{{sfn|Questier|2019|p=153}} He was 29. His premature death meant that the [[Huguenot]] [[Henry IV of France|Henry of Navarre]] became heir-presumptive, thus leading to an escalation in the [[French Wars of Religion]].

== Titles ==

*1560–1584: Duke of Évreux
*1566–1584: [[Duke of Alençon]]; Duke of Château-Thierry; [[Count of Perche]]; [[Count of Meulan]]; Count of Mantes
*1576&ndash;1584: [[Duke of Anjou]]; [[Duke of Berry]]; [[Duke of Touraine]]
*1580–1584: [[Lord of the Netherlands]]
*1582–1584: [[Duke of Brabant]], [[Count of Flanders]]

==Ancestors==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
| 1 = 1. '''Francis, Duke of Anjou (née Hercules)'''
| 2 = 2. [[Henry II of France]]
| 3 = 3. [[Catherine de' Medici]]
| 4 = 4. [[Francis I of France]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=131–132}}
| 5 = 5. [[Claude of France|Claude, Duchess of Brittany]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=131–132}}
| 6 = 6. [[Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino]]{{sfn|Whale|1914|p=43}}
| 7 = 7. [[Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne]]{{sfn|Whale|1914|p=43}}
| 8 = 8. [[Charles, Count of Angoulême]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=210–211}}
| 9 = 9. [[Louise of Savoy]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=210–211}}
|10 = 10. [[Louis XII of France]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=126–128}}
|11 = 11. [[Anne of Brittany|Anne, Duchess of Brittany]]{{sfn|Anselme|1726|pp=126–128}}
|12 = 12. [[Piero the Unfortunate|Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici]]{{sfn|Tomas|2003|p=7}}
|13 = 13. [[Alfonsina Orsini]]{{sfn|Tomas|2003|p=7}}
|14 = 14. [[John III, Count of Auvergne]]{{sfn|Whale|1914|p=43}}
|15 = 15. [[Jeanne de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon|Jeanne of Bourbon]]{{sfn|Whale|1914|p=43}}
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |title=Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France |volume=1 |trans-title=Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France |last=Anselme de Sainte-Marie |first=Père |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k76026j/f149.image |publisher=La compagnie des libraires |location=Paris |language=fr |edition=3rd |year=1726 |ref={{harvid|Anselme|1726}} }}
*{{cite book
  | last = Holt
  | first = Mack P.
  | title = The Duke of Anjou and the Politique Struggle during the Wars of Religion
  | publisher = Cambridge University Press
  | year = 1986}}
*{{cite book |last1=Knecht |first1=Robert J. |title=The French Religious Wars 1562-98 |date=2002 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84176-395-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/frenchreligiousw00knec_0/page/53 53] |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchreligiousw00knec_0/page/53 }}  
*{{cite book
  | last = Lockyer
  | first = Roger
  | title = Tudor and Stuart Britain 1471-1714
  | publisher = Longman Group UK Limited
  | year = 1985}}
* {{cite book |first=Natalie R. |last=Tomas |title=The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence. |location=Aldershot, UK |publisher=Ashgate |year=2003 |isbn=0-7546-0777-1 }}
*{{cite book |title=Dynastic Politics and the British Reformations, 1558-1630 |first=Michael |last=Questier |year=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/latrmoillefami00whalrich#page/n65 |title=The La Trémoille family |last=Whale |first=Winifred Stephens |date=1914 |publisher=Boston, Houghton Mifflin |pages=43 }}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* [https://derniersvalois.canalblog.com/archives/francois_d_anjou/index.html Portraits of François, Duke of Anjou] (in French).

{{Dukes of Anjou}}
{{Catherine de' Medici|Francis, Duke of Anjou}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anjou, Francois, Duke Of}}
[[Category:People from Fontainebleau]]
[[Category:1555 births]]
[[Category:1584 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century dukes of Brabant]]
[[Category:16th-century French nobility]]
[[Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis]]
[[Category:House of Valois-Angoulême|Francois, Duke of Anjou]]
[[Category:Heirs presumptive to the French throne]]
[[Category:French people of the French Wars of Religion]]
[[Category:French people of the Eighty Years' War]]
[[Category:People of the Elizabethan era]]
[[Category:Dukes of Évreux]]
[[Category:Dukes of Alençon|201]]
[[Category:Dukes of Château-Thierry]]
[[Category:Dukes of Anjou]]
[[Category:Dukes of Berry]]
[[Category:Dukes of Perche]]
[[Category:Counts of Dreux]]
[[Category:Counts of Meulan]]
[[Category:Counts of Mantes]]
[[Category:Deaths from malaria]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]
[[Category:Dukes of Touraine]]