Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly

Anne de Pisseleu d' Heilly, duchesse d' Etampes ( probably * 1508, † after 1552) was a mistress of the French King Francis I.

Life

Anne de Pisseleu d' Heilly was the daughter of Guillaume de Pisseleu, a knight from Picardy. She arrived before 1522 as one of the maids of honor of the queen mother Louise of Savoy to the French court. Probably after his return from captivity in Madrid in 1526 made ​​her his mistress of Francis I.. It replaced in this position Françoise de Foix.

Anne was beautiful, witty, educated and successful in obtaining the favor of the king. 1536 she married the mediation of the king Jean IV de Brosse and given the Duchy of Etampes. The influence of the Duchess on the king, especially in the last years of his reign was remarkable. She protected Admiral Philippe de Chabot against Anne de Montmorency, who was supported by her rival Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of the heir to the throne. It was open to new influences and ideas and cooperated with the king's sister, Marguerite d' Angoulême. She used her influence to rise and to enrich their family. Her uncle Antoine Sanguin († 1559 ) was appointed bishop of Orléans in 1535 and in 1539 a cardinal. After the king's death, she was humiliated by Diane de Poitiers and expelled from the court. She later died under mysterious circumstances in oblivion, probably during the reign of Henry III.