François de Bourbon, comte de Saint-Pol (6 October 1491 – 1 September 1544/1545) was a French governor, soldier, royal favourite and Prince du sang (prince of the royal blood). The son of François de Bourbon and Marie de Luxembourg, François was the heir to the comté de Saint-Pol from his mother. At the advent of the reign of the king François I, Saint-Pol participated in the successful Italian campaign which culminated at the decisive battle of Marignano. In 1519 he became governor of the Île de France in lieu of his elder brother (the duc de Vendôme). Saint-Pol had an important role to play in the French campaign of 1521 against the Holy Roman Empire, aiding in the defence of Mézières by seeing the city resupplied. After the failure of the Imperial siege he followed the royal army as it chased their adversaries back towards Valenciennes. He would again play an important role in the campaign of the following year, garrisoning first Doullens and then Corbie against the Anglo-Imperial army. In the Italian campaign of 1523 to 1524, Saint-Pol would take charge of the French army to lead its retreat from the peninsula after the seigneur de Bonnivet was wounded. With the return of the French army into Italy in 1525, Saint-Pol participated in the disastrous battle of Pavia and was made an Imperial captive, though he soon escaped from his imprisonment.

After king François returned from captivity, Saint-Pol participated in many of the acts by which he reasserted his authority over the kingdoms parlements and in negotiations with the English. As part of a new French war against the Holy Roman Empire, Saint-Pol received the honour of leading a French army into Italy. After some initial successes, his army was destroyed by the Imperial commander de Leyva at Landriano and Saint-Pol became a prisoner for a second time. Released as a term of the 1529 peace of Cambrai, he returned to the centre of French affairs, alongside the king for the return of his children, the marriage of his second son and the royal response to the affair of the Placards. With the renewal of war against the Holy Roman Empire in 1536, Saint-Pol conquered Bresse and Bugey for France before retiring from the army back to the court.

By 1540, Saint-Pol was one of the handful of chief favourites of the king, though not a paramount one. He supported the seigneur de Chabot in his struggles after the latter's disgrace and imprisonment. He played a role in Chabot's rehabilitation and was rewarded for his loyalty. With the renewal of war against the Empire in 1542, Saint-Pol played a role in the eastern campaign into Luxembourg, and in the defence of Landrecies against the siege of the Emperor. With the death of Chabot, he briefly served as lieutenant-général de Normandie, though he would be replaced in December 1543 by the seigneur d'Annebault who inherited Chabot's primacy in royal favour. In 1544 he counselled against allowing the French army in Italy to engage the enemy, but was overruled by the king. He died in September of either 1544 or 1545.

Early life and family Birth and parents

François de Bourbon was born in Ham on 6 October 1491 the son of François de Bourbon, comte de Vendôme (count of Vendôme) and Marie de Luxembourg the dame de Saint-Pol. François' father had fought in the Italian Wars of Charles VIII and was killed during this conflict in 1495, leaving Marie to raise their children and manage their property (something she would do until her death in 1546).

The house of Bourbon-Vendôme, of which François was a member through his father, descended agnatically (through the male line) from the sixth son of king Louis IX of France, Robert, the comte de Clermont. This made François a prince du sang (prince of the royal blood)

In 1475, the Luxembourg families' fortunes (of which François' mother Marie was a member) had received a heavy blow by the execution of the comte de Saint-Pol. By the 1480s, the dispossessed Marie de Luxembourg was the theoretical heir to the inheritance that had been confiscated from her family. Charles VIII restored her to much of the Luxembourg inheritance for the occasion of her marriage to François' father, the comte de Vendôme. By this means, Marie became the comtesse de Saint-Pol, de Marle, de Soissons; vicomtesse de Meaux; dame d'Enghien, Dunkerque, Gravelines, Ham, La Roche, Bohain, Beaurevoir and Châtelain (castellan) of Lille. Through the marriage the Luxembourg family was tied to the junior royal branch of the Bourbon-Vendôme.

François was heir to parts of his mothers' extensive property, which straddled the border of France and the Holy Roman Empire. In particular he received from her the comté (county) de Saint-Pol in Artois which was of vital strategic importance, as well as the richest territory in the province.

The comté de Saint-Pol had been one of the chief holdings of a branch of the Luxembourg family. In the contract of François' parents' marriage it had been stipulated that the territory would fall in perpetuity to their second son, i.e. François. The territory was confiscated by the Imperial (i.e. Holy Roman) side at the start of every war with France, but the neutrality of the territory was respected by the French king until 1537.

Siblings and nephews

François had an elder brother, Charles (1489–1537) who would succeed to the title of Vendôme upon the death of their father in 1495, and marry Françoise d'Alençon; and a younger brother Louis (1493–1553) who would be elevated to the cardinalate. Through his elder brother Charles, François would be the great-uncle of king Henri IV, who ascended to the throne after the extinction of the Valois male line in 1589. François' eldest sister, Antoinette entered the House of Lorraine when she married the comte de Guise in 1513, while the younger sister became the abbess of Fontevraud.

Two of François' nephews through his elder brother Charles (François, the comte d'Enghien and Jean, the comte de Soissons) would live with him during their youth. This was a common practice for young nobles, something that the historian Neuschel describes as a 'period of apprenticeship'. One of them would go on to marry François' daughter (and their first cousin).

François would take the step to challenge the French king François I over the plans for the marriage of his daughter Madeleine to the Scottish king James V. Instead, he favoured a match for the Scottish king with his niece (a daughter of his elder brother Vendôme). He was joined in opposition to the party that favoured the marriage (the baron de Montmorency, the king's sister Marguerite) by the cardinal de Lorraine, though the latter had a different idea as to who James should marry instead.

Marriage and children François married Adrienne d'Estouteville, the daughter of Jacqueline d'Estouteville and the two would have issue: François de Bourbon, duc d'Estouteville. Marie de Bourbon, married first Jean de Bourbon, comte de Soissons, and then François de Clèves duc de Nevers.

By his marriage, François became the duc d'Estouteville (duke of Estouteville), and the most powerful seigneur (lord) in haute Normandie. This strong influence in the region meant that he became an important figure even without holding office in the wider province. Thus, on 25 November 1536, his mother-in-law wrote to the seigneur de Matignon requesting that a particular Norman noble be punished for their excesses and that her son-in-law was involving himself in this process.

Physical appearance The historian Nawrocki notes that while physical attractiveness was important for many courtiers in king François' court, it was not a requirement for François (who was reputedly 'ugly'), as a prince du sang he enjoyed a position at the court by right.

Patronage and associates Henceforth, François is referred to through this article by the title by which he is best known, the comte de Saint-Pol. The Bourbon-Vendôme family at large, served as patrons to the more obscure du Bellay family, helping them break through into prominence. The cardinal Jean du Bellay, who also produced poems, would dedicate several of his Juvenilia (works of his youth) to the family.

Saint-Pol was one of the closest confidents of the duc de Bourbon, who was also his cousin.

Through the lands he possessed in the Pays de Caux in haute Normandie, he became a neighbour of the Annebault family. He would serve as one of the patrons for Claude d'Annebault, who would go on to serve as amiral de France (admiral of France) and a royal favourite.

The sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, recounts in his memoires a dark joke of Saint-Pol's in 1544. François had become concerned that Cellini might leave France to return to his native Italy. Cellini alleges that Saint-Pol jokingly reassured the king that he would ensure Cellini remained in France, by hanging him. This caused the king's mistress, the duchesse d'Étampes (duchess of Étampes) to fall into laughter, opining that the sculptor deserved it. She was followed by the king, who noted he had no objection to the idea, so long as Saint-Pol could find an equally talented replacement for the artist.

Incomes and finances During the 1520s, Saint-Pol would enjoy a royal pension of 10,000 livres (pounds, one of the French coinages) and during the 1530s this would be increased first to 12,000 and then to 20,000 by 1536.

The Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano would name several geographic features for the family in his explorations of the North American coast. The largest river he encountered he named Vendôme in honour of Saint-Pol's elder brother. Saint-Pol himself saw a hill by the sea named for him. Other nobles who Verrazzano named geographical features after would include the duc d'Alençon and the cardinal de Lorraine.

Saint-Pol was one of the many high-profile debtors to the surintendant des finances (superintendent of the finances) the baron de Semblançay. Other prominent men Semblançay was a creditor for include the king of Navarre and the marchese di Saluzzo (marquis of Saluzzo). Saint-Pol would also rack up around 4,700 livres in debt to a certain Lambert Meigrit between 1519 and 1526.

At some point in the late-1530s, the paymaster of Saint-Pol's compagnie, a certain Claude Grandin, was compelled to send a clerk to Lyon to track down his predecessor in the position, a certain Hector Personne, so that the latter figure might provide money the compagnie was owed. The trouble would be resolved by August 1539, after a considerable wait.

Honours Saint-Pol would receive elevation as a chevalier (knight) of the Ordre de Saint-Michel (Order of Saint-Michel, highest order of French chivalry founded by Louis XI). As a chevalier of this ordre, he would participate in a tribunal condemning a man to the gallows for critiquing the conduct of the war.

Compagnie d'ordonnance Alongside his elder brother Vendôme, Saint-Pol was the captain of a compagnie d'ordonnance (the aristocratic heavy cavalry that formed the core of the French army). Other great nobles who held this honour in this period were the