ETAMPES, ANNE DE PISSELEU

This article appears in Volume V09, Page 804 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ETAMPES, ANNE DE PISSELEU D'HEILLY, DUCHESSE D' (1508-c. 1580), mistress of Francis I. of France, daughter of Guillaume de Pisseleu, sieur d'Heilly, a nobleman of Picardy. She came to court before 1522, and was one of the maids of honour of Louise of Savoy. Francis I. made her his mistress, probably on his return from his captivity at Madrid (1526), and soon gave up Madametde Chateaubriant for her. Anne was sprightly, pretty, witty and cultured, and succeeded in keeping the favour of the king till the end of the reign (1547). The liaison received some official recognition; when Queen Eleanor entered Paris (1530), the king and Anne occupied the same window. In 1533 Francis gave her in

marriage

MARRIAGE

to Jean de Brosse, whom he created duc d'Etampes. The influence of the duchesse d'Etampes, especially in the last years of the reign, was considerable. She upheld Admiral Chabot against the constable de Montmorency, who was .supported by her rival, Diane de Poitiers, the dauphin's mistress. She was a friend to new ideas, and co-operated with the king's sister, Marguerite d'Angouleeme. She used her influence to elevate and enrich her family, her uncle, Antoine Sanguin (d. 1559), being made bishop of Orleans in 1535 and a cardinal in 1539.1 The accusations made against her of having allowed herself to be won over by the emperor Charles V. and of playing the traitor in 1544 rest on no serious proof. After the death of Francis I. (1547) she was dismissed from the court by Diane de Poitiers, humiliated in every way, and died in obscurity much later, probably in the reign of Henry III.
See Paulin Paris, Etudes sur Francois Ie1' (Paris, 1885).
{ETAMPES, a town of northern France,

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

of an arrondissement in the department of Seine-et-Oise, on the Orleans railway, 35 M. S. by W. of Paris. Pop. (1906) 8720. Etampes is a long straggling town hemmed in between the railway on the north and the Chalouette on the south; the latter is a tributary of the Juine which waters the eastern outskirts of the town. A fine view of Etampes is obtained from the Tour Guinette, a ruined keep built by Louis VI. in the 12th century on an eminence on the other side of the railway. Notre-Dame du Fort, the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

church,

dates

DATES

from the 11th and 12th centuries; irregular in plan, it is remarkable for a fine Romanesque tower and spire, and for the crenellated

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

which partly surrounds it. The interior contains ancient paintings and other artistic works. St Basile (12th and 16th centuries), which preserves a Romanesque doorway, and St Martin (12th and 13th centuries), with a leaning tower of the 16th century, are of less importance. The civil buildings offer little

interest

INTEREST

, but two houses named after Anne de Pisseleu (see above), mistress of Francis I., and Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II., are graceful examples of Renaissance architecture. In the square there is a statue of the naturalist, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, who was born in Etampes. The subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance, and a communal college are among the public institutions of Etampes. Flour-milling,
1 The chateau of Meudon, belonging to the Sanguin family, was handed over to the duchesse d'Etampes in 1539. Sanguin was translated to

Limoges

LIMOGES

in 1546, and became archbishop of Toulouse in 1550.
metal-founding, leather-dressing, printing and the manufacture of boots and shoes and hosiery are carried on; there are quarries of paving-stone, nurseries and market gardens in the vicinity, and the town has important markets for cereals and sheep.
Etampes (Lat. Stampae) existed at the beginning of the 7th century and in the early middle ages belonged to the crown domain. During the middle ages it was the scene of several councils, the most notable of which took place in 1130 and resulted in the recognition of Innocent IL as the legitimate pope. In 1652, during the war of the Fronde it suffered severely at the hands of the royal troops under

Turenne

TURENNE, HENRI DE LA TOUR

.
Lords, Counts and Dukes of Etampes.The lordship of Etampes, in what is now the department of Seine et Oise in France, be-longed to the royal domain, but was detached from it on several occasions in favour of princes, or kings' favourites. St Louis gave it to his mother Blanche of Castile, and then to his wife Marguerite of Provence. Louis, the brother of Philip the

Fair

FAIR

, became lord of Etampes in 1317 and count in 1327; he was succeeded by his son and. his grandson. Francis I. raised the countship of Etampes to the rank of a duchy for his mistress Anne de Pisseleu D'Heilly. The new duchy passed to Diane de Poitiers (1553), to Catherine of Lorraine, duchess of Montpensier (1578), to Marguerite of Valois (1582) and to Gabrielle d'Estrees (1598). The latter transmitted it to her son, Cesar of Vendome, and his descendants held it till 1712. It then passed by inheritance to the families of Bourbon-Conti and of Orleans.

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