Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec
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:
References
[edit]- ^ Tewes 2011, p. 754.
- ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
- ^ de Pins 2007, p. 261.
- ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 1.
- ^ a b Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 133.
- ^ Jones 2001, p. 188.
- ^ Potter 2008, p. 8.
- ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 4.
- ^ a b Soen 2016, p. 97.
- ^ Armstrong 2003, p. 17.
- ^ a b Knecht 1997, p. 10.
- ^ Woodcock 2015, p. 10.
- ^ Walsby 2007, p. 107.
Sources
[edit]- Armstrong, Alastair (2003). France, 1500-1715. Pearson Education.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . 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.
