Life
Francis I said of his son at birth, "a beautiful dauphin who is the most beautiful and strong child one could imagine and who will be the easiest to bring up". His mother, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, said, "tell the King that he is even more beautiful than himself". The Dauphin was christened at Amboise on 25 April 1519. Leonardo da Vinci, who had been brought to Amboise by Francis I, designed the decorations.
One of the most researched aspects of the Dauphin's short life is the time he and his brother Henry (later Henry II of France) spent as hostages in Spain. The king had been badly defeated and captured at the Battle of Pavia (1525) and became a hostage of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, initially in the Alcázar in Madrid. In order to ensure his release, the king signed the Treaty of Madrid (1526). However, in order to ensure that Francis abode by the treaty, Charles demanded that the king's two older sons take his place as hostages. Francis agreed.
On 15 March 1526, the exchange took place at the border between Spain and France. The eight-year-old Dauphin and his younger brother Henry spent the next three years as captives of Charles V, a period that scarred them for life. The Dauphin's "somber, solitary tastes" and his preference for dressing in black (like a Spaniard) were attributed to the time he spent in captivity in Madrid. He also became bookish, preferring reading to soldiering.
Read more about this topic: Francis III, Duke Of Brittany
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“What life have you if you have not life together?
There is no life that is not in community,”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Ma, sooner or later there comes a point in a man’s life when he’s gotta face some facts. And one fact I’ve got to face is whatever it is women like, I ain’t got it.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“Then farewell, world; thy uttermost I see;
Eternal Love, maintain thy life in me.”
—Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)