René of Anjou also known as René I of Naples and Good King René (French Le bon roi René), was Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence (1434–1480), Count of Piedmont, Duke of Bar (1430–1480), Duke of Lorraine (1431–1453), King of Naples (1435–1442;...

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (French: La Pucelle d'Orléans), is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War and was canonized as a Roman Catholic...

Nicholas Jenson was a French engraver, pioneer printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours, and is accredited with being the creator of the first model roman...

Henry VI was King of England 1422–1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and controversial King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realms were governed by regents. Contemporaneously, he was described as a peaceful and pious man, not su...

Louis XI, called the Prudent, was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois. During his 22-year reign, Louis successfully expanded royal power at the exp...

Charles the Bold (or Charles the Rash), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. Known as Charles the Terrible to his enemies, he was the last Valois Duke of Burgundy and his early death was a pivotal, if under-recognised, moment in European...

Wife of Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I), daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The marriage of Mary was a major event in European history, for it established the Hapsburgs in the Low Countries a...

Louis XII, called "the Father of the People" was the thirty-fifth king of France and the sole monarch from the Valois-Orléans branch of the House of Valois. He reigned from 1498 to 1515 and pursued a very active foreign policy. Due to th...

Charles VIII, called the Affable, was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois. His invasion of Italy initiated the long series of Franco-Italian wars which characterized the first half of t...

Louise of Savoy was a French noble, Duchess regnant of Auvergne and Bourbon, Duchess of Nemours, the mother of King Francis I of France. She was politically active and served as the Regent of France in 1515, in 1525–1526 and in 1529....

Jean Fleury (or Florin) (born ? - died 1527) was a French naval officer and privateer. He is best known for the capture of two out of the three Spanish galleons carrying the Aztec treasure from Mexico to Spain in 1522. This was one of the e...

Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian explorer of North America, in the service of the French crown. He is renowned as the first European since the Norse expeditions to North America around AD 1000 to explore the Atlantic coast of North Ame...

Jacques Cartier was a French navigator who first explored and described the Gulf of St-Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named Canada. In 1534, Jacques Cartier set sail hoping to discover a western passage to the...

Francis I of France, called the Father and Restorer of Letters, was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make...

Eleanor of Austria, also called Eleonor of Castile, was born Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and became subsequently in turn Queen consort of Portugal (1518–1521) and of France. She also held the Du...