brave. But he wasted his life
and ruined his health in the pursuit of pleasure. His face, as it has
come down to us in contemporary paintings, is disagreeable. He was, as
with unusual candor a {185} contemporary observer put it, a devil even
to the extent of considerably looking it.

While to art and letters Francis gave a certain amount of attention, he
usually from mere indolence allowed the affairs of state to be guided
by others. Until the death of his mother, Louise of Savoy, [Sidenote:
1531] he was ruled by her. Thereafter the Constable Anne de
Montmorency was his chief minister. The policy followed was the
inherited one which was, to a certain point, necessary in the given
conditions. In domestic affairs, the king or his advisors endeavored
to increase the power of the crown at the expense of the nobles. The
last of the great vassals strong enough to assert a quasi-independence
of the king was Charles of Bourbon. [Sidenote: 1523-4] He was
arrested and tried by the Parlement of Paris, which consistently
supported the crown. Fleeing from France he entered the service of
Charles V, [Sidenote: 1526] and his restoration was made an article of
the treaty of Madrid. His death in the sack of Rome closed the
incident in favor of the king. [Sidenote: May, 1527]

The foreign policy of France was a constant struggle, now by diplomacy,
now by arms, with Charles V. The principal remaining powers of Europe,
England, Turkey and the pope, threw their weight now on one side now on
the other of the two chief antagonists. Italy was the field of most of
the battles. Francis began his reign by invading that country and
defeating the Swiss at Marignano, thus conquering Milan. [Sidenote:
September 14-15, 1515] The campaigns in Italy and Southern France
culminated in the disastrous defeat of the French at Pavia. [Sidenote:
February 24, 1525] Francis fought in person and was taken prisoner.
"Of all things nothing is left me but honor and life," he wrote his
mother.

Francis hoped that he would be freed on the payment of ransom according
to the best models of chivalry. He found, however, when he was removed
to {186} Madrid in May, that his captor intended to exact the last
farthing of diplomatic concession. Discontent in France and the ennui
and illness of the king finally forced him to sign a most
disadvantageous treaty, [Sidenote: January 14, 1526] renouncing the
lands of Burgundy, Naples and Milan, and ceding l