French Renaissance

The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the late fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in central Italy in the fourteenth century. The French Renaissance traditionally extends from (roughly) the French invasion of Italy in 1494 during the reign of Charles VIII until the death of Henry IV in 1610. This chronology notwithstanding, certain artistic, technological or literary developments associated with the Italian Renaissance arrived in France earlier (for example, by way of the Burgundy court or the Papal court in Avignon); however, the Black Death of the fourteenth century and the Hundred Years' War kept France economically and politically weak until the late fifteenth century and this prevented the full use of these influences.

The reigns of Francis I of France (from 1515 to 1547) and his son Henry II (from 1547 to 1559) are generally considered the apex of the French Renaissance. After Henry II's unfortunate death in a joust, the country was ruled by his widow Catherine de' Medici and her sons Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III, and although the Renaissance continued to flourish, the French Wars of Religion between Huguenots and Catholics ravaged the country.

Notable developments during the French Renaissance include the beginning of the absolutism in France, the spread of humanism; early exploration of the "New World" (as by Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier); the importing (from Italy, Burgundy and elsewhere) and development of new techniques and artistic forms in the fields of printing, architecture, painting, sculpture, music, the sciences and vernacular literature; and the elaboration of new codes of sociability, etiquette and discourse.