Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages.
Explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of the Renaissance monarchy in
France under Francis I.
Passage A
During the troubles of the second half of the sixteenth century Frenchmen looked back to the reign of Francis I with nostalgia. They called him ‘the great king Francis’, but later on the king’s reputation declined. For Jules Michele, the nineteenth-century French historian, Francis was anything but great. He summed up the king’s career in two words: ‘women’ and ‘war’, or, as he put it, ‘war to please women’. Francis has until recently been given less serious attention than he deserves. His fondness for women and his liking for war are not to be denied, but his long reign marked a significant stage in the development of the French monarchy.
Essentially he was an outdoor type, who delighted in every kind of sport. Above all, he enjoyed hunting and devoted a substantial part of each day to it. He loved to shed cares of state and disappear into a forest, sometimes for several days, with a small band of companions. Foreign ambassadors were occasionally infuriated by the king’s elusiveness, deeming it irresponsible, but the king could depend on able ministers. Ultimately, he was always in charge of affairs, even at the end of his reign, when his health was seriously undermined. Part of each morning was usually devoted to business, each afternoon to hunting, and each evening to dancing or some other courtly entertainment. Such routine could, of course, be disrupted by war, which filled much of his reign.
R. J. Knecht, French Renaissance Monarchy: Francis I and Henry II, published in 1984.
Passage B
Francis I was far from stupid, either in terms of diplomacy or his appreciation of the arts and literature. Although his own artistic achievements were essentially modest, he was a man who was keen to present himself as a patron of the intellectual arts. Before Francis’s accession, French kings had shown little interest in Renaissance and Humanist culture. It was he who saw how an artistic revival could be channelled in a way that would bring glory and prestige to the monarchy. Inspired by his travels through Italy, particularly his visits to Medici-ruled Florence and papal Rome, he was tempted to move beyond the traditional image of a king and to embrace the Italian concept of the ‘universal man’. He would be a new kind of French monarch, one as much influenced by Humanism and philosophical ideas as by battle strategies and complex diplomacy, and to this end he set about making the French court a place where the arts and learning were not just tolerated, but encouraged in all their forms.
Leonine Frieda, Francis I: The Maker of Modern France, published in 2018.
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Answer
