Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec

Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, sketched by Jean Clouet (early 16th century).

Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec (1485 – 15 August 1528) was a French military leader. As Marshal of France, he commanded the campaign to conquer Naples, but died from the bubonic plague in 1528.

Biography[edit]

Odet was the son of Jean de Foix-Lautrec[1] and Jeanne d'Aydie. He and his two brothers, the seigneur de Lescun and the seigneur de l'Esparre or Asparros, served Francis I of France as captains; and the influence of their sister, Françoise de Châteaubriant, who became the king's mistress, gained them high office.[2][3]

In 1516, as marshal of France, Odet was made governor-general of the Milanese duchy,[4] but his severity made the French occupation insupportable.[3] He was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold being in Francis I's royal entourage.[5]

Odet arrived to resume the siege of Brescia, and on 26 May 1521, the Spanish and German garrison surrendered.[6] The surrender was caused by the dissonance between the two factions, while Brescia was given over to Venetian commissioner, Andrea Gritti.[6] In 1521 he succeeded in defending the Milan against the Spanish army. In 1522, under pressure from unpaid Swiss troops,[7] Odet attacked entrenched Spanish-Imperial positions and was completely defeated at the Battle of Bicocca, losing Milan in the process.[8] Odet fled back to France, and supervised the hostage exchange of Francis' sons following the latter's defeat at Battle of Pavia.[9]

Sometime after his wife's death, Odet married Jeanne de Croy.[10] In 1527 he received command of the army to conquer the kingdom of Naples.[11] The defection of Andrea Doria and an outbreak of the plague or cholera in the French camp brought on a fresh disaster.[12][3] Odet himself caught a disease and died on 17 August 1528.[12]

Marriage[edit]

Odet married Charlotte d'Albret (1495–1527) in 1520.[10] They had:

  • Gaston (1522–1528)
  • Henry (1523–1540)[13]
  • Claude (died 1549)[14]
  • Francis (died 1528)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tewes 2011, p. 754.
  2. ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^ de Pins 2007, p. 261.
  5. ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 1.
  6. ^ a b Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 133.
  7. ^ Jones 2001, p. 188.
  8. ^ Potter 2008, p. 8.
  9. ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 4.
  10. ^ a b Soen 2016, p. 97.
  11. ^ Armstrong 2003, p. 17.
  12. ^ a b Knecht 1997, p. 10.
  13. ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 10.
  14. ^ Walsby 2007, p. 107.

Sources[edit]

  • Armstrong, Alastair (2003). France, 1500-1715. Pearson Education.
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lautrec, Odet de Foix, Vicomte de" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 289.
  • Knecht, R.J. (1997). Catherine de'Medici. Routledge.
  • Mallett, Michael Edward; Shaw, Christine (2012). The Italian Wars 1494-1559: War, State and Society in Early Modern Europe. Routledge.
  • de Pins, Jean (2007). Pendergrass, J.N. (ed.). Letters and letter fragments. Librairie Droz.
  • Potter, David (2008). Renaissance France at War: Armies, Culture and Society, C.1480-1560. Boydell Press.
  • Soen, Violet (2016). "The Chievres Legacy, the Croy Family and Litigation in Paris. Dynastic Identities between the Low Countries and France (1519–1559)". In Geevers, Liesbeth; Marini, Mirella (eds.). Dynastic Identity in Early Modern Europe: Rulers, Aristocrats and the Formation of Identities. Taylor & Francis.
  • Jones, Archer (2001). The Art of War in the Western World. University of Illinois Press.
  • Tewes, Götz-Rüdiger (2011). Kampf um Florenz: die Medici im Exil (1494–1512) (in German). Bohlau.
  • Walsby, Malcolm (2007). The Counts of Laval: Culture, Patronage and Religion in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century France. Ashgate.
  • Woodcock, Philippa (2015). "Living like a king? The entourage of Odet de Foix, vicomte de Lautrec, governor of Milan". Royal Studies Journal. 2 (2): 1–24. doi:10.21039/rsj.v2i2.30. ISSN 2057-6730.
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