Commission signed by Francis I for the vicomte de Turenne

Commission signed by Francis I for the vicomte de Turenne

Written in French and dated to 30 December 1524, this document consists of a brevet, or commission, granted to the viscount of Turenne, Antoine de La Tour d’Auvergne, seigneur d’Oliergues (1474–1527), bestowing the rank of captain and the charge of twenty-five lances and fifty men-at-arms. It is signed by the French king, Francis I, in his distinctive scrawl: “françoys.” Politically, the document attests to Francis’s preparations for a new attack on Milan as part of the Italian war of 1521–26. Ultimately, this military campaign would end disastrously for the King, concluding abruptly with the decisive French defeat at the Battle of Pavia in February 1525, where the King was captured and held hostage for several years. Through this document, we become party to a strategic decision, personally approved by the king and issued less than two months prior to this ill-fated expedition.

1524

Manuscript on parchment, 1 fol.

University of Pennsylvania, Miscellaneous Manuscripts. Box 3 Folder 9

France