duchesse d'Angoulême Louise of Savoy Louise of Savoy, duchesse
d'Angoulême (düshĕsˈ däNgōlĕmˈ) [key], 1476–1531, regent of
France; daughter of Duke Philip II of Savoy and mother of King
Francis I of France and Margaret, queen of Navarre. During
Francis's absence in the Italian Wars, she acted as regent. She
had much influence over Francis, and during his captivity in
Spain (1525–26) she made an alliance with King Henry VIII of
England, in which Henry deserted his alliance with Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V, Francis's opponent in the Italian Wars. She
also negotiated (1529) the so-called Ladies' Peace (see Cambrai,
Treaty of) with Margaret of Austria, Charles V's aunt. See her
journal (in French; ed. by J. F. Michaud and J. J. F. Poujoulat,
1854); D. M. Mayer, The Great Regent (1966). The Columbia
Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia
University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia
articles on: French History: Biographies