Francis I of France

Francis was born in 1494 and came to the French throne in 1515, the year he led an army over the Alps and won the battle of Marignano. He was young, ambitious, and determined to make France the equal of the Italian states in war and in culture.

He invited Italian artists to France, above all Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his last years in the king's service, and he rebuilt and decorated the châteaux of the Loire in a style that mixed French and Italian forms. He founded the Collège de France and collected books and paintings on a scale that made Fontainebleau a capital of the northern Renaissance.

His rivalry with Charles V dominated his foreign policy: the two fought four wars over Italy and the imperial succession, and Francis even allied with the Ottoman sultan to check Habsburg power. He died in 1547, having transformed the culture of his court and left France the strongest monarchy in Europe.

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