This book offers a full and comprehensive account of one of the most colourful and formative reigns in French history, that of Francis I (1515-47), and is published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of his birth in September 1494.

Francis was the contemporary and rival of Henry VIII of England and of the Habsburg Emperor Charles V. He was also an outstanding patron of the arts and of learning, and the builder of world-famous chateaux such as Chambord and Fontainebleau. Professor Knecht aims to do justice to all aspects of Francis's rich cultural legacy, and takes into account much recent research on the king's administration, and financial and religious policies.

The king's ambivalence towards the challenge of Protestantism also offers the historian scope for controversy, as does the overall nature of his rule: how far was Francis an absolute monarch? In the course of examining such aspects, Knecht surveys the economy and society of France during the Renaissance, as well as the political background of wars in Italy and of the rivalry between Francis I and Charles V.

1. This book is a completely revised version of Knecht's earlier study of the king, Francis I, first published in 1982 and for many years the standard work on the subject. That edition is now superseded by this substantially larger work, in which much new written and illustrative material has been included. No other English work on the subject is as up-to-date or as authoritative.