Louise de Montmorency

Louise de Montmorency (1496 – 12 June 1547Template:Sfn) 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.

Life

Louise was the daughter of Guillaume de Montmorency and Anne Pot and younger sister of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn She retired in 1535 and was replaced by Mme de Givry.Template:Sfn

Louise had considerable patronage power independently of her husband,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and had an important role in spreading the influence of Calvinism in France in the 16th Century.Template:Sfn

Marriages

Louise married her first husband, Ferri de Mailly, in 1511.Template:Sfn This marriage produced a daughter;

• Madeleine de Mailly.Template:Sfn

Ferry died in 1513, and Louise remarried in 1514 to Gaspard I de Coligny.Template:Sfn From her second marriage she had three sons, all of whom played important roles in the first period of the French Wars of Religion:

• Odet, Cardinal de ChâtillonTemplate:Sfn
• Gaspard, Admiral of FranceTemplate:Sfn
• François, Seigneur d'Andelot.Template:Sfn

Sources

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