feudal powers of the Dark Ages, "and at
the sumptuous court which Francois opened to them they learned to ruin
themselves and to obey." In the middle of this century, there was only
one great feudal house remaining, that of Bourbon-Navarre, the head of
which, Antoine, was quite without influence. Below were the grand
seigneurs, the Montmorencys, the Guises, the La Tremouilles, the
Chatillons, and others, but deprived of all the rights of the powerful
feudal vassals of the king of former times; the clergy had been reduced
to a condition of dependence upon the king by the concordat of 1516,
which made him the unique dispenser of benefices; the _tiers
etat_--which included "the men of letters, who are called men of the
long robe; the merchants, the artisans, the people, and the
peasants"--had long been accustomed to obedience. "There had formerly
been only manants (rustics, clowns), seigneurs, and fiefs; there is now
a people, a king, and a France."

"If the accession of Francois I was a great occasion for the men," says
M. de Lescure, "it was still more so for the ladies. In fact, it might
be said that they ascended the throne with the new king. Admitted for
the first time to the banquets, to the tourneys of the Hotel des
Tournelles, this hardy innovation gave the measure of their new
destinies and of the credit reserved by the most gallant of monarchs for
the fairest half of the human species." Unfortunately, the king was not
inclined to make any distinctions among these new ornaments to his
court, and while his predecessors had made strenuous efforts to reduce
the license of manners, we find him issuing such edicts as this:

"Francois, by the grace of God, King of France, to our friend and loyal
treasurer of our exchequer, Maitre Jehan Duval, salutation and
dilection. We desire, and we command you, that from the deniers of our
aforesaid exchequer you pay, give, and deliver ready-money to Cecile de
Viefville, dame des filles de joie, attending our court, the sum of
forty-five livres tournois, making the value of twenty ecus of gold sol
at forty-five sols apiece, of which we have made and do make by these
presents donation, as much for her as for the other women and girls of
her vocation, to divide among themselves as they may advise, and this
for their right for the month of May passed...."

The court of the French kings itself is dated by their historians from
this reign. Before Francois I, it did not exist. "Grave c