Louise de Montmorency (1496–1547) was a French aristocrat and courtier. She served as Première dame d'honneur from 1530 to 1535 to the Queen of France, Eleanor of Austria, spouse to Francis I of France. She also played an important role within patronage and as a supporter of Calvinism.
Louise de Montmorency | |
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Born | 1496 |
Died | 1547 | (aged 50–51)
Spouse(s) | Ferri de Mailly Gaspard I de Coligny |
Children | |
Parents |
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Louise was the daughter of Guillaume de Montmorency and Anne Pot and younger sister of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France.[1]
In 1530, Louise was appointed Première dame d'honneur to the new queen, Eleanor of Austria, a new court office installed just a few years earlier, which made her responsible for all of the other ladies-in-waiting of the queen.[2] She retired in 1535 and was replaced by Mme de Givry.[3]
Louise had considerable patronage power independently of her husband,[4][5] and had an important role in spreading the influence of Calvinism in France in the 16th Century.[6]
Louise married her first husband, Ferri de Mailly, in 1511.[1] This marriage produced a daughter;
Ferry died in 1513, and Louise remarried in 1514 to Gaspard I de Coligny.[7] From her second marriage she had three sons, all of whom played important roles in the first period of the French Wars of Religion: