Claude d'Annebault

Portrait of Claude d'Annebault (around 1535)

Claude d'Annebault , Baron von Retz and La Hunaudaye (* around 1495, † November 2, 1552 in La Fère ) was a French general and statesman. He was one of the most important favorites of King Francis I and was appointed Marshal of France in 1538 and Admiral of France in 1544 . Under Henry II he fell out of favor for a while, but then regained the favor of the court and became an advisor to Queen Catherine de Medici .

Life

Lineage and Early Military Career

Claude d'Annebault came from a noble family of Normandy traceable back to the 11th century , which had possessions in particular in the Pays d'Auge . The local lords of Appeville-Annebault , a village in the Risle valley, emerged from him. During the Hundred Years War the family remained loyal to the French kings. Claude d'Annebault's father, Jean V d'Annebault († 1534), already owned large estates and was a chamberlain to the French King Francis I. He was married to Catherine de Jeucourt and had at least six children with her, namely four daughters (Anne, Jeanne, Jacqueline and Marie) and two sons, Claude and Jacques , the latter became a cardinal and died in Rouen in 1558 .

As a heir to his father, Claude d'Annebault could look forward to a bright future as a young man. Because of his father's position, he was introduced to powerful Normandy families and became acquainted with important personalities in this region. In 1519 he became the king's cupbearer , but in particular he pursued a military career. He first distinguished himself in his participation in the defense of the city of Mézières when it was besieged in 1521 by the Count of Nassau . He then moved as a lieutenant in the company of Count François I de Saint-Pol on February 24, 1525 in the battle of Pavia, which ended unhappily for the French, and with René de Montjean and La Roche du Maine belonged to the small group of court lords, who refused to accompany the Duke of Alençon on his retreat. Instead, he made his way to Franz I and followed him into captivity. He was soon released again, but through this act of great loyalty he won the special favor of the king, who subsequently always granted it to him.

Marriage and offspring

In 1525 or 1526, Claude d'Annebault married Françoise de Tournemine († 1553) and thus became Baron von Retz and La Hunaudaye as well as one of the richest lords in Brittany . The marriage had two children:

1. Jean d'Annebault (* 1527 - December 19, 1562 in the Battle of Dreux ), Baron von Retz, Lord of Machecoul, d'Annebault and La Hunaudaye
2. Madeleine (* 1528 - † June 3, 1568), Viscountess of Pont-Audemer
   1. ⚭ 1. 1544 Marquis Gabriel de Saluces (1501–1548)
   2. ⚭ 2. 1550 Jacques de Silly († 1570), Count of La Rochepot and Rochefort, Lord of La Roche-Guyon and Montmirail

Ascent to one of the main favorites of King Franz I.

After the Battle of Landriano (June 21, 1529), in which the Count of Saint-Pol was captured, Claude d'Annebault led the defeated French troops back to Asti . Then he got his own company, was among other things Bailli von Évreux and then held a powerful position in Normandy. When his father died in 1534, he became a very important figure at the court as his heir.

During the war against the Duke of Savoy, Claude d'Annebault, as general of the light cavalry, was one of the main generals who conquered Piedmont in March 1536 . Then he successfully defended Turin with Burie against the troops of Emperor Charles V. In 1537 he captured the city of Saint-Pol on the front in Picardy and saved Thérouanne by providing this city twice. During the second supply mission to Thérouanne, however, he was captured again and remained, although the French king was immediately ready to pay the high ransom demanded for him, until the conclusion of the peace between Francis I and Charles V in 1538, in which he participated , Prisoner of the Hungarian queen. In February 1538 he was appointed Marshal of France .

In September 1539, Claude d'Annebault was promoted to governor of Piedmont, which post he held until the end of 1543. In a short time he was able to eradicate the mistakes of the clumsy government of his predecessor René de Montjean and laid the foundations for the integration of Piedmont into the French Empire. He put the administration of the region in the hands of competent advisers when he traveled to Venice in November 1539 as envoy extraordinary, together with Alfonso d'Avalos , Marchese del Vasto, who acted as representative of Charles V. Officially, the three powers wanted to forge an alliance against the Ottoman Empire , but each side was actually pursuing its own interests. Contrary to the Emperor's plans, the Venetians and Guillaume Pellicier , the official French ambassador in Venice, secretly negotiated the peace that was concluded between the Republic and the Ottomans in May 1540. In the meantime d'Annebault had returned to the French court via Turin, where he had left Guillaume du Bellay , Seigneur de Langey as his representative to exercise the government in Piedmont.

After Anne de Montmorency fell out of favor, Claude d'Annebault gained even more influence and was accepted into the royal council as early as November 1540. However, Francis I did not install a successor to Montmorency so quickly. From August to October 1541, d'Annebault was back in Italy in preparation for a new war. Together with Philippe Chabot , the Count of Saint-Pol and the Cardinal of Tournon , Philippe Chabot , who had returned to the favor of Francis I after a brief disgrace, he was one of the most powerful men in France and the king's main beneficiaries. With this constellation, the confidants of the Duchess of Étampes , a mistress of the king, were in power, while the party of the Dauphin Henry (II) was inferior. In June 1542, d'Annebault marched into Italy as commander-in-chief of the French army without doing much. He then suffered failures in military operations off Perpignan and, after returning to Piedmont, before Coni : when crossing the Alps over Mont Cenis in January 1543, he lost part of his soldiers in a snow storm. Nevertheless, Francis I granted him his favor unchanged.

King Henry VIII of England and Emperor Charles V, meanwhile, formed an alliance against France that led to a new war. Claude d'Annebault commanded the troops in Hainaut in 1543 and then conquered Landrecies and Luxembourg . When Chabot died in June 1543, he became the king's first minister, in February 1544 Admiral of France , then also governor of Normandy. The war of 1544 developed very unfavorably for Francis I; the emperor invaded France and threatened Paris . D'Annebault was one of the negotiators of the Peace of Crépy (September 1544), which briefly ended the Franco-Habsburg disputes.

Since France's war against King Henry VIII continued - the English had conquered Boulogne in September 1544 - Claude d'Annebault equipped a fleet of 150 large and 60 smaller warships and 25 galleys for a landing in the winter of 1544/45 the British Isles to try. The English fleet was clearly inferior to the French in size. D'Annebault achieved some minor successes against the British in July 1545 at the Isle of Wight, such as the sinking of one of their warships, the Mary Rose , but he could not take Portsmouth and not carry out the intended landing. The next year he negotiated the Peace of Ardres with the Admiral of England (June 1546) and then traveled to England to ratify the treaty.

In the last years of Francis I's reign, Claude d'Annebault was his first advisor, organized his audiences, worked closely with the Cardinal von Tournon and had a significant influence on French financial management, diplomacy and military affairs. From 1546 he led more and more government affairs for the sick king, who always had the last word. D'Annebault put the state finances back on a solid footing and worked in secret diplomacy on an anti-emperor alliance with England and Protestant princes, which did not materialize due to the death of Francis I (March 31, 1547). He led the funeral procession of the late king to the cathedral of Saint-Denis .

Career under Henry II and death

Francis I had bequeathed a legacy of 100,000 livres to Claude d'Annebault on his deathbed and had urgently advised the Dauphin to use the services and advice of his favorite. But as the new king, Henry II ignored his father's recommendation and replaced the recalled Montmorency in the place of d'Annebault, who fell out of favor, lost his marshal dignity and now took care of the government of Normandy. Montmorency resented d'Annebault, who otherwise had not made many enemies when he was in power, and also enjoyed the support of the powerful Guise family, who were friends with him . So after some time he was reinstated in a leading position in the civil service.

As an admiral, Claude d'Annebault initially played an important role during a new French war against England. In September 1550 he prepared the arrival of the Scottish queen widow Marie de Guise in France. After Henry II declared war on Charles V in the spring of 1551, d'Annebault reinforced the ports and requested a new fleet command. At the same time he initiated the return of Maria Stuart to Scotland. Before the French king marched against Lorraine in early 1552 , he appointed d'Annebault lieutenant general to Queen Catherine de Medici, who was left behind as regent . D'Annebault took his place on the royal council again, commanded the “Queen's Army” and in early June 1552 recaptured Stenay , which was occupied by the Hungarian queen's troops . Then he led his troops to Henry II, who had returned from Lorraine and besieged Damvillers ; Damvillers was conquered. On behalf of the king he then went to the defense of Picardy and helped the Duke of Vendôme in the reconquest of Hesdin . Attacked by a fever, he retired to Le Fère and died there on November 2, 1552.

literature

• Émile Dermenghem: Annebaut (Claude d '). In: Dictionnaire de Biographie française. Volume 2: Aliénor - Antlup. Letouzey et Ané, Paris 1936, col. 1356-1358.
• François Nawrocki: L'Amiral Claude d'Annebault, conseiller favori de François Ier (= Bibliothèque d'histoire de la Renaissance. 7). Classiques Garnier, Paris 2015, ISBN 978-2-8124-3167-8 .

Web links

• François Nawrocki: L'amiral Claude d'Annebault