Louise of Savoy, duchesse d'Angoulême [key], 1476–1531, regent of France; daughter of Duke Philip II of Savoy and mother of King Francis I of France and Margaret, queen of Navarre. During Francis's absence in the Italian Wars, she acted as regent. She had much influence over Francis, and during his captivity in Spain (1525–26) she made an alliance with King Henry VIII of England, in which Henry deserted his alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Francis's opponent in the Italian Wars. She also negotiated (1529) the so-called Ladies' Peace (see Cambrai, Treaty of) with Margaret of Austria, Charles V's aunt.
See her journal (in French; ed. by J. F. Michaud and J. J. F. Poujoulat, 1854); D. M. Mayer, The Great Regent (1966).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: French History: Biographies
