Potter David. Henry VIII and Francis I

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350 chapter eight

report of the same period indicates that 4 great galleys and 5 great

‘nefs’ were being transferred from Marseille and that, at Le Havre,

there were two galleys and two carracks and several other great ships

and at Honeur two galleons and several other types. ese were being

armed and supplied under the cover of letters of marque against the

Portuguese.

e commissioning of Jean Ango of Dieppe to oversee

the supply of the King’s ships in January 1544 is perhaps a further

indication of serious plans.

Clearly, though, there were other problems to be faced by France

in 1544. Aer the end of the Anglo-Imperial campaign, the French

responded to English naval raids in Normandy in October 1544

designed to divert French eorts from Boulogne. omas Seymour,

appointed Vice-Admiral, was charged with conveying supplies to

Boulogne at the end of October and then, having found a squad-

ron of French warships at Etaples too strong, went on to attempt to

raid French ships in the Seine estuary. He was defeated by the bad

weather.

e French Admiral d’Annebault gave orders to the governor

of Normandy, Matignon, to ready the galleons Canada and the Dives to

counter this and himself went to Normandy to organise shipping there

and in Brittany.

In December 1544 it was reported that at the French

court ‘all the maps of England and Scotland have been consulted to

understand the routes necessary. e Admiral intends to command

the navy.’

e Ferrarese ambassador noted at the same time talk of a

plan ‘to make war against the island of England’ and that ‘His Majesty

is so committed to this enterprise that he will do everything to pursue

it.’ and that the Admiral would lead the eet in person.

On 3 January,

de Dieppe; et doivent descendre lesd. navires en ung port, si j’ay bien entendu, lequel se

nomme Hamptonne . . . et dud. port s’en doibvent aller dedans le pays d’Angleterre en

ung lieu qui se nomme la Rye.’ e vicomte de Dieppe was Jean Ango.

Spy report, May 1544, NA SP1/187, fo. 241r(276r) (L&P, XIX, i, 573.3).

E. Gosselin, Documents, p. 25 (11 Jan. 1544).

L&P, XIX, ii, 281, 580.

Annebault to Matignon, 20 Oct. 1545, Francis I to Matignon, 20 Oct. 1545, Cor-

respondance de Matignon, pp. 106–107.

Saint-Mauris to Charles V, 28 Dec. 1544, HHSA, Frankreich, 10, ‘Berichte

Saint-Mauris an Karl V, 1544, XII,’ fos. 19–35: ‘l’on a visité les cartes d’Angleterre et

d’Escosse pour entendre la navigation qui fauldra tenir, et fait son compte l’amiral de

conduire l’armee de mer.’; the point was repeated in an intelligence report c. 6 February

1545 (L&P, XX, i, 619).

Alvarotti to Ercole II, 18 Dec. 1544, ASM, Francia, B 20, fo. 108r: ‘per fare la

guerra all’isola d’Inghilterra.’ . . . ‘Sua Maestà è tanto animata à questa impresa che farà

ogni prolia per esequirla.’

the admirals

’

war 351

Francis instructed Richer in Denmark to ask Christian III (though that

king’s alliance had already proved shaky) for a powerful contribution

to the powerful navy (‘puissante armée de mer’) he was assembling

as the best way compel Henry to return Boulogne and make amends

for all his wrongs.

It may be around this time that Francis, in a rare

autograph letter, declared that ‘I have given order to publish general

letters of permission for my subjects in Normandy to arm their ships

to go and make war against my enemies.’

en the King issued letters

patent on 7 January forbidding commerce with the Channels Islands,

while on 10 January Matignon was ordered to prepare supplies for

the army of 8–10,000 men being assembled along the Somme (see

chapter 6).

In May, Saint-Mauris reported that the French intended

to invade ‘an island’ (presumably Wight) with 300 ships.

Naval prep-

arations therefore went hand in hand with the planning of the land

war but the scale of the operations envisaged suggest that, in private

at any rate, the idea of challenging English naval power in the Channel

had been discussed for some time.

e French eet was made up of two components: the l’armée de mer

du Levant (the galley eet stationed in the Mediterranean) and l’armée

de mer du Ponant (stationed in the Atlantic and Norman ports).

Both

eets were commanded by a lieutenant-général (in the Mediterranean

this was the duke of Enghien in 1543) and only very unusually by

the Admiral of France.

Claude de Seyssel had argued powerfully in

1515 for the maintenance of a powerful nucleus of a permanent navy

Instructions to Richer, 3 Jan. 1545, N. Camusat, Mémoires du sieur Richer (Paris,

1625); idem, Mélanges historiques (Paris, 1644), fo. 10v. Francis promised Christian

conquests in England. ge least he expected, though, was that Danes would not be

allowed to serve Henry VIII.

Francis I to Admiral Annebault, 1544–1545, Libr. of Hist. Assoc. of Pennsylva-

nia, Gratz Coll.: ‘J’ay donné ordre de fayre publyer les lettres de congyé general pour

que mes subgects de Normandye peussent armer leurs vaysseus et aler en mer fayre la

guerre à mes ennemys par quoy vous prye byen veylyer en vos cartyers à que les dytes

lettres soyent myses à pronte et deue execucyon et y presser le mouvement, car c’est

choze quy importe au bien de mon servyse et necessyté du present.’

Correspondance de Matignon, pp. 110–111.

Saint-Mauris to Los Cobos, 7 May 1545, L&P, XX, i, 682.

Types of ship: La Roncière, Histoire de la marine, II, pp. 460–489. On a later period,

see D. Buisseret, ‘e French Mediterranean eet under Henri IV,’ MM 50 (1964).

A. James, e Navy and Government in early Modern France, 1572–1661 London,

2004).

28 April 1543, CAF, IV, no. 13021.

352 chapter eight

which could be augmented in time of war.

e key development in

this was the foundation of Havre-de-Grâce as the Channel naval base

by Francis I. At around the same time, a group of contrôleurs, trésori-

ers and commissaires de la marine began to emerge for the nancial

administration of royal ships; this is apparent in the transformation

of the commissions for payment of the Ponant and Levant (issued in

1517 and 1519) into oces in 1519 and 1531 respectively. In the reign

of Francis I (as in the England of Henry VIII) there is no single over-

all command structure; naval administration remained collegial.

e

Admiral of France from the start of 1544, Claude d’Annebault, was

unusually active in his oce,

though normally this involved judicial

authority over the network of admiralty courts. Vice-admirals such as

La Meilleraye in Normandy and Polin de La Garde in Provence, the

governors of Brittany, Normandy, Guyenne and Languedoc also had

signicant authority in naval matters.

In December 1544, the experienced naval commander Antoine

Escalin sr des Aymars, baron de La Garde (called ‘le capitaine Polin’),

as lieutenant général de l’armée de mer venant du Levant, was sent to

Marseille with 90,000 écus to assemble the galley eet of 26 vessels.

e main problem was always that the galley eet was not well adapted

to Atlantic conditions. e Ferrarese ambassador noted that it was ‘a

long journey and some say very dangerous because the English seas

are so uncertain.’

A transfer in the opposite direction (La Rochelle to

Marseille) in July–August 1561 illustrates the point. e commander,

Carcès, was forced to put in to Lisbon by bad weather. Even though this

was the height of summer, the journey was laborious.

As should be

Claude de Seyssel, La Monarchie de France, ed. J. Poujol (Paris, 1961), pp. 199–201.

M. Mollat, ‘Etre roi sur la mer,’ in P. Contamine, Histoire militaire de la France,

vol..I (Paris, 1992); G. Zeller, Les institutions de la France au XVI

siècle (Paris, 1948),

p. 353; R. Doucet, Les institutions de la France au XVI

siècle 2 vols (Paris, 1948), II,

pp. 652–654. P. Hamon, L’argent du roi Les nances sous François Ier (Paris, 1994),

p. 282; on Le Havre, see A. Corvisier (ed.), Histoire du Havre et de son estuaire (Tou-

louse, 1983); P. Manneville, ‘La fondation du port du Havre (1517) et son premier

développement,’ in P. Masson and M. Verge-Franceschi (eds), La France et la mer au

siècle des grandes découvertes (Paris, 1993), pp. 323–328.

Nawrocki, ‘Annebault’ (2009), II, pp. 553–562.

Letters of provision, 22 Jan. 20 March 1545, BnF, Moreau 778, fo. 136, 207.

Alvarotti, 28 Dec. 1544, ASM, Francia, B 20, fo. 108r: ‘un’longo camino, et alcuni

vogliano dire pericolosissimo perche quei mari d’Inghilterra fano grandissime fortune.’

Carcès to King of Navarre, Lisbon 26 July 1561, BnF fr. 15875, fo. 80: ‘je n’ay

voulu fallir de donner advis à vostre magesté de l’arrivé des gallaires en ce lieu, où j’ay

esté contraincts à venir prandre port à cause du mauvais temps, ayant esperance en

the admirals

’

war 353

obvious, the galley eet depended on crews of slaves (forcés/forsados),

whose physical condition was usually poor.

Polin de La Garde was charged with moving the eet in the win-

ter, commissioned in March 1545 to bring the galleys separately from

the ‘navires et vaisseaux rondes’ In fact, the task of suppressing the

Vaudois of Provence delayed him until the end of May and this delayed

the great naval enterprise in the Channel, much to the King’s dismay.

Another unfortunate consequence was the emerging feud between

La Garde and the Strozzi brothers, Florentine exiles whose role in the

galley eet was critical. is was made worse when La Garde conferred

command of the vaisseaux rondes on Claude de Manville instead.

Early in June, 12 galleys, 4 galleasses and three ships of the avant-garde

were signalled o Malaga. e rest, the arrière-garde, did not pass the

Straits of Gibraltar until two months later, though this still le well

over 30 ships for the guard of the Mediterranean coast.

La Garde

himself took up his station in his agship, the magnicent La Réale,

a quinquereme garnished with cloth of gold and crimson satin hang-

ings and ornamented with the salamander of Francis I, crowned Fs and

eurs de lys.

As for the Atlantic eet, problems were revealed at the end of 1544.

An enquiry into how many ships of 300 t. were available in Brittany

revealed according to Jacques Cartier that there were none capable

of putting to sea of more than 100 t. though others claimed some of

200 t.

However, during 1544 six more galleys were being built under

Dieu de me rendre à Marseille pour le xv

du moys prochain. Je feray aspalmer les

gallaires auparavant que passer le detroict de Gibertaire pour aller plus surement. . . . de

La Rochelle icy sommes venuz en trente deux jours, joinct le peu d’arrest qu’avons

faict en chemyn, n’aians touché en terre d’Espaigne que à Caliz, Gibelhar, Cartagenes

et Roys, et encores ce a esté seullement pour y prendre de l’eaue et rafrechissemens.’

Same to same, Marseille, 15 Aug. 1561, BN fr. 15875, fo. 132.

BnF Moreau 778, fos. 75–76, depositions of the baron de La Garde; M. François, Le

cardinal François de Tournon, homme d’état, mécène et humaniste, 1489–1562 (Paris,

1951), pp. 201–208; La Roncière, Histoire de la marine, III, p. 412.

C. Fernandez Duro, L’armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla

y de Aragón, 9 vols. (1895–1903), I, pp. 432–433. Compte of Michel Veyny for 1545:

32 galleys, some fregates, 2 galleasses, 1 galleon, 6 carracks, 22 other ships (BnF fr.

17329, fo. 193).

Inventory of La Réale, April 1545, AD Bouches-du-Rhône, B 1260 fo. 440; BnF

Moreau 737, fo. 169.

Depositions in response to royal letters ‘pour faire rolles de navyres de troys cents

tonneaux.’ Saint-Malo, 17 Dec. 1544 (F. Jouon des Longrais, Documents sur Jacques

Cartier (Rennes, 1888), p. 59).

354 chapter eight

the supervision of Pierre de Caux, capitaine général des galères, and

and Pont de l’Arche. Gosselin, who studied the notarial (Tabellionage)

acts concerning shipping in the Seine, noted that there was an enor-

mous increase of activity in 1544 and 1545, with the King building

150 ships and 20 galleys.

Most of the ships being gathered were ‘navires’ (galleons, vaisseaux

rondes). Terminology for ships is ambiguous in this period, but basi-

cally the main division in French was between bateaux longs (galleys)

and bateaux ronds (sailing ships), the dierence in ratio of length to

width being 1:3 and opposed to 1:4 or 5. ough the term navire was

employed, one of the most common terms for sailing vessels was nef, a

development from the medieval cog and up to 3–400 tons (but some-

times used of ships as small as 60 tons). It had a square mainsail and was

of carvel rather than clinker construction. e great ship (grosse nef )

of 500–1000 tons was certainly a feature of the 16th century, such

as the Grosse françoise being built at Le Havre in 1522. e Grande

Maistresse had been built around 1520 and belonged to the Grand

maître René de Savoie. is illustrates neatly the point that in France

it was fairly common for great ships to be commissioned and owned

by leading courtiers and employed by the crown on active campaigns.

e Grand Maistresse formed part of Mediterranean eet against the

Duke of Bourbon in 1524 but was paid its monthly wage costs of 1500

écus by the crown. More is known about it than for most other French

royal ships because of legal disputes concerning its acquisition by the

crown.

Described usually as a grand nef, sometimes a galion, she was

bought from René’s widow in the summer of 1526 for 30,000 lt. (t-

tings included but not artillery). Valuations of the hull of the ship alone

varied from 3 to 4000 écus (roughly, 6–8000 lt.) on the argument that,

at 6 years old, it was half way through its maximum life, so the equip-

ment was clearly a major factor.

e Grand Maistresse was struck by

E. Gosselin, Documents, pp. 46, 44–45 (e.g. contract with Auxilia, 5 June 1544

for metal galley ttings, including ‘les chaines qui seront necessaires pour attacher les

forçats’).

M. Guérout, La Grande Maîtresse, nef de François Ier (Paris, 2001), pp. 19–29, 49.

See also P. Hamon, L’argent du roi, p. 237. For his earlier detailed study of the French

royal ship in 1512, see his Le dernier combat de la Cordelière (Paris, 2002).

Valuations in Guérout, La Grande Maîtresse, pp. 41–157 passim. ‘Attendu que

ladicte nef est de six ans, qui est la moictié du service qu’elle peut faire ou à plus près.’

(p. 111) Guérout, p. 262 points out the life expectancy of a Mediterranean ship was

the admirals

’

war 355

lightning and burned out in the port of Toulon in September 1533.

Another ship of the same name had taken its place in the eet by 1545,

this time probably a galley or a galiace (partially oared ship) of which

there were a number in the royal eet as well as smaller types such as

barques, chaloupes and carvelles.

Francis I took continuing interest in

the eet and harbour at Le Havre throughout his reign. ere, he had

ordered the laying of the keel for a monster warship called the Grande

Françoyse in 1520 as a rival to the Henry Grâce à Dieu. But the project

was dogged with failure. e rst historian of Le Havre, Guillaume

de Marceille, claimed it was to be of 2000 tons and 52 toises (nearly

100 m) long; its ttings were fabulously luxurious, including a fort,

chapel, kitchens and many sculptures. Unfortunately, it proved too big

to get out of the port in 1524. In October 1534, Francis was planning

to go there to inspect his ‘grant navyre,’ and other ships and had sent

large supplies of artillery and gunpowder for them and in 1537 a nal

attempt was made to launch it, again met by failure.

In 1544–1545, all the ports from Bordeaux to Dieppe were charged

with assembling ships, though it seems that the strongest contingent

was from Dieppe, with 46 vessels.

A planning document for early 1547

lists the royal ships at Rouen as great ships, galleons and nefs, though

as far as we can tell there was little dierence in the carrying capacity

of the two latter: the Gallaire royalle, the Dauphine, the Duchesse, the

Gallion du roy, the Prior of Capua’s nef, the nef of Nix Johannin his

lieutenant, the galleon de la Renterie, the galleon Sermanie, the gal-

leon Vento, the nef de Vento, the nef Bilhoty, Hubert Rostaing’s nef

and Cabogne’s nef.

Most of them carried 2–400 soldiers with crews

more like 7 years in view of accidents and events. F.C. Lane suggested ten years for

Venetian ships.

On terminology, see J. Bernard, Navires et gens de mer à Bordeaux (vers 1450–

vers 1550), 2 vols. plus appendix (Paris, 1968). R. Gardiner and R.W. Unger, Cogs,

Caravels and Galleons: the Sailing Ship 1000–1650, Conway History of the Ship (Lon-

don, 1994).

G. de Marceilles, Mémoires de la fondation et origine de la ville de Françoise de

Grâce ed. J. Morlent, 1847. News report, 24 Oct. 1534, NA SP1/86, fo. 86 (L&P, VII,

1302): ‘Le Roy s’en va en Normandie au partir de ce pays de Touraine weoir son

grant navyre et autres navyres pour les faire mectre en ordre. Il y a faict mener grant

quantité d’artillerie.’; same, 25 Oct. 1534, L&P, VII, 1303. Francis did not get to Le

Havre until April 1535.

C. Desmarquets, Mémoires chronologiques pour servir à l’histoire de Dieppe, et

à celle de la navigation française; avec un recueil abrégé des priviléges de cette ville,

2 vols (Paris, 1785), I, p. 117.

Nawrocki ‘Annebault’ (2009) II, p. 841 (BnF Moreau 737, fos. 169–173). is

356 chapter eight

ranging from 50 to 90. e Gallaire royale carried 400 soldiers and 80

mariners. To these should be added the Philippe (usually described

as a carracon/ carrack, a vessel a little lighter than a great ship but

still formidable) and the Grande Maistresse. Venetian vessels were

also commandeered. ese were the Contarina, the Ragazzona and

the Foscarina, the rst of which had to be used as his agship by the

Admiral when the second Grand Maîtresse struck a reef in July 1545.

An inspection of 1548 recorded 18 galleys (including three quatri-

remes), 1 ‘fuste’ (a light galley) and a frigate in the Atlantic eet; all

were in good order.

Galleys, though, were generally expensive to run

(roughly three times the cost of a nef ), despite the availability of forsa-

dos. e trésorier de la marine came to Marseille in 1539 with no less

than 60,000 écus for the pay of the galleys contained in a coer and six

barrels. In 1545, Alexandre de Manille received 4725 lt. for the pay of

his two galleys, maintained at his own expense, for three months.

Vessels were brought from Dieppe and Bordeaux to assemble at

La Havre. At Rouen, Jean Ango, as commissaire pour l’advitaillement

de l’armee de mer, took charge of the organisation and supply of

the eet.

Commanders included not only La Garde but the Italians

Piero Strozzi and Leone Strozzi, Prior of Capua, galley commanders

with whom La Garde’s relations had deteriorated further, partly as a

eet is almost certainly the one described by Saint-Mauris in March 1547: ‘le roy

fait armer plusieurs grosses navires de guerre tant à Dieppe que au Havre de grace

qui n’est à autre n sinon pour aller rober en mer les subgectz de vostre Majesté’ (in

revenge for the loss of a ship of the Admiral) ‘je puis sire adjouster à ce que dessus que

tous les capitaines des galleres ont esté appellez en la cour.’ Saint-Mauris to Charles V,

12 March 1547, HHSA, Frankreich 14, Berichte S-M an Karl, 1547, III, fos. 31v–32r;

‘Toutes leurs galleres se mectent en ordre, et fut livré nagueres argent aux capitaines

d’icelles pour les rendre en tout prestes naviguer deans la n d’avril et se arment

environ de dix à douze grandes navires.’ (ibid., fo. 68v, 25 March).

CSP Venice V, p. 131; Guidiccione, 21–22 July 1545, ANG, III, p. 378.

La Roncière, III, p. 414 mentions Pierre de Blacas d’Aulps as capitaine general

des galeres du Ponant. (AN X/2a 97) Declaration by Jehan de La Motte, ‘Argosin

royal’ of the galleys of the Atlantic eet that all ships are in good condition: 2 (one a

quatrireme) under St. Blancard, 3 (one a quatrireme) under Baccio Marteli, 2 under

Piero Strozzi, 2 (one a quatrireme) under Villegaignon, 2 under Moret, 1 under the sr.

de Morlet, 2 under sr. de Carcès, 2 under capt. Parisot, 1 under Bernard Dornezan, sr.

de Montargut, 1 under the sr. de Cipierre (BnF fr. 26132, no. 211, 27 Oct. 1548).

Tabellionage of Rouen, 2 March 1545, Gosselin, Documents, p. 48. P. Hamon,

« Messieurs des nances » Les grands ociers de nance dans la France de la Renaissance

(Paris, 1999), p. 121.e galley L’Arbaletrière cost 900 lt. p.m. in 1537, whereas the nef

Grand Maistresse cost 300 lt. p.m. (CAF, VIII, 3024; BnF fr. 20502, fo. 86).

On the famous Ango see P. Gaarel, Jean Ango (Rouen, 1889).

the admirals

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war 357

result of his failure to appoint them as his lieutenants.

e records

of the Tabellionage of Rouen are full of detail on the tting out of the

eet in 1545. In March 1545, Pierre de Saint-Martin, captain of three

galleys, contracted for their supply for three months, consisting of

200 queues of cider, 40 muids of wheat, 5 of beans and 3 of peas with

50 barrels of beer, bacon, meat both salt and live. Artillery was brought

to the eet from a number of repositories, including Compiègne, which

contributed 5 cannon, 6 batards, and 20,000 livres of powder.

Raiding in the Channel became a constant problem in 1545. Early

in February, the English were reported as having taken 50 or 60 ships

and as having a eet of 80 to 100 in the Channel. In March they took

in Seine estuary a huge prize in the form of a ship belonging to natu-

ralised Spaniards at Rouen worth 30,000 écus.

en late in April a

squadron of 7 French galleys appeared o Boulogne (perhaps some

of them the newly-built vessels from Normandy). ese were being

driven north-eastward but caused alarm about security in the narrow

seas.

In mid-May the English captured a galleon and drove a galley

ashore at Boulogne.

Some thought, in any case, that galleys would not

serve eectively in northern seas; they were oared by convicts whose

stamina would neither survive the winter nor the current outbreak of

plague. One observer reported a galley abandoned at La Crotoy, all its

slaves having died of plague.

e assembly of the French eet was pressed on energetically, by

Matignon, armed with special powers to defend the coast, assemble

supplies, ‘to have oversight of all matters concerning the coast of our

land of Normandy . . . and power to assemble provisions’ and order

expenditure by the trésorier de la marine de Ponant. ese powers

were amplied once the eet had sailed, in the form of authority to

AN K 1485, fo. 178.

Gosselin, Documents, pp. 47–48, acts dated 2 and 27 March from the Tabellion-

age of Rouen.

Habsburg intelligence report, 6 Feb. 1545, L&P, XX, i, 619, wrongly dated; Alva-

rotti, 12 March 1545, ASM, Francia, B 20, fasc. 4, p. 70 (decipher).

Chamberlain to Paget, 1 May 1545, L&P, XXI, i, 633; Cave to Johnson, 2 May

1545, ibid., no. 640.

Chapuys to Bave, 19 May 1545, L&P, XX, i, 771 (reported during Chapuys’ brief

visit to Flanders).

Chapuys to Granvelle, Bourbourg, 25 June 1545 and enclosure, L&P, XX, i, 1036

and 1036ii. An undated mandate of Francis I orders malefactors to be handed over to

a captain of galleys because all his rowers are dead of plague (CAF VII, 461,25722).

358 chapter eight

commandeer ships and supplies for the eet on campaign.

e assem-

bly of a navy in the 16th century had many characteristics in common

with that of a land army. Each ‘bande’ of 1000 foot or of 100 hommes

d’armes were to have 100 pieces of chicken and 200 livres of bacon as

well as beef and lamb in the étapes. Infantry troops had to be moved

and embarked. Four companies were initially directed from Normandy

and Brittany to Honeur but were then redirected to Abbeville for

the land army but in May 10,000 Gascon foot being brought from

Guyenne were allocated étapes for their journey to Le Havre.

3000

pioniers were summoned. Pierre de Salcedo, of Spanish origin though

naturalised in France, was responsible for nding wine (200 tonneaux)

and cider (400 tonneaux) for the eet, for which 3000 lt. was allocated;

in the event the cider proved impossible to buy and was substituted by

wine.

en in June, the King gave orders for the feeding of the 25,000

men he had now assembled for the eet during the 12 days they would

be waiting for muster and embarkation, despatching 6000 lt. for this.

At the end of June, the prince of Mel was commissioned to oversee

the musters and embark the men.

One side-eect of the creation of

this great force in the context of the subsistence crisis of 1545 was that

soldiers with no commission were ocking into Normandy to live o

the land. Francis gave orders for them to be cut to pieces.

Correspondance de Matignon, pp. XLII, LV, 124 n. 1 (letters patent of 24 July

1545): ‘avoir l’oeil et regard a toutes choses qui concerneront la seureté de la coste de

nostre pays de Normandie . . . et pouvoir de faire amas et provisions de vivres’; 128–129

Letters patent, 30 July 1545: ‘faire provision d’artillerie, boullets, poudres et moni-

cions’ and act as ordonnateur of expenditure; no. CLXXIII.

Monluc recounts that he brought 50 or 60 ensigns from Gascony as maître de

camp (Commentaires, p. 179). e point about the resemblance of a naval force to a

land army is made by Rodger, Safeguard of the Sea, p. 183.

Francis I to Matignon, 2, 26 May 1545, Correspondance de Matignon, nos. CLXXIV,

CLXXV; order of Matignon to Bray, 22 May 1545, ibid. p. 117, n. 1; Francis I to

Matignon and La Meilleraye, 14 June 1545, ibid., no. CLCCVII. e four companies

redirected to Picardy were those of Kerrouen, La Moyenne, Renouard and Saultrice.

Salcedo: Francis I to Matignon, 21 June, 6 July 1545, ibid., nos. CLXXXII, CLXXXV.

He was naturalised in February 1546 (CAF, 14789) and was also active in the provi-

sion of supplies in Picardy.

Letters-patent for Matignon, 13 June 1545, ibid., p. 118, n. 1; Francis to Mati-

gnon, 14, 26 June, ibid., nos. CLXXVIII, CLXXXIV. e number 25,000 is conrmed

by a quittance by the sr. de Pontaucourt, élu of Arques, for expenses in levying a

tax for the supplies of 25,000 men to be embarked at Le Havre (BnF, nafr. 3644,

no. 1043).

Letters-patent for Matignon, 5 July 1545, Correspondance de Matignon, p. 123, n. 3.

the admirals

’

war 359

It had been thought since December 1544 that Annebault would

lead the eet in person. Not until 27 June, however, did he receive his

powers as lieutenant général du roi en son armée de mer.

e King

himself came to Touques and Hareur early in July to witness the

sailing of the eet. e slowness on the part of La Garde in bringing

the Mediterranean eet inevitably delayed the whole project but at the

end of May, having picked up some vessels on the way, he arrived at

Brest with 60 ‘nave grosse’ to join another 80 from Bordeaux and La

Rochelle. e ships from the western ports had luckily been able to

take the cover of a Flemish merchant eet to avoid the hundred or so

English ships waiting for them under Carew, Hawkins and Wynter.

Shortly aer, Lorges sailed with his eet to Scotland as if to under-

line the serious strategic threat to England.

e reality of these plans

requires some certain knowledge of numbers.

When nally assembled at Le Havre, the eet was estimated by

Monluc, not an enthusiastic sailor, as ‘more than two hundred and

y sail and the nest ships in the world, with the galleys.’

is at

least implies that the galleys were counted separately, making perhaps

300 in all. 150 of them were ships of the largest size. Francis I him-

self, in an instruction for the information of the King of Denmark

claimed a force of 300 ships, 35,000 foot and 3000 horse. His land

army was to be 10,000 landsknechts, 3000 Italians, 15,000 French and

1,200 hommes d’armes.

How far can we trust these gures? 25,000

men were paid at the rate of 5 lt. pm for soldiers and 4 for sailors. e

For the report of Annebault’s likely command in December 1544, see Alvarotti

to Ercole II, 18 Dec. 1544, ASM, Francia, B 20, fasc. 2, fo. 108r: ‘se dire ancho che

Monsignor l’armiraglio andarà personalmente quale sul mare à questa Impresa, et è

verisimile essendo questo la principal’ sua carica d’haver cure delle cose del’mare.’ For

his patent of appointment in June 1545: Matignon, p. 123 n. 1; Pinard, Chronologie

historique militaire 8 vols. (Paris, 1760–1772), II, p. 235. La Roncière, Marine, III,

p. 417 asserted that Annebault’s appointment came at the last minute and disturbed the

expected command structure: Enghien as Lieutenant general with Taix and Guigues

Guirey de Boutières as his lieutenants. ere is no good evidence for this. Enghien

had been suggested as commander of the Scottish expedition (L&P, XX, i, 619) but

the idea that Annebault was inserted at the last minute is absurd.

B. de Medici to Cosimo I, 27 May 1545, Desjardins, Négociations . . . Toscane, III,

p. 162; Nawrocki ‘Annebault’ (2009), I, pp. 374–375.

Guidiccione, 1 June 1545, ANG III, pp. 357–359.

Monluc, Commentaires, (ed. Courteault, Pléiade), p. 179: ‘plus de deux cents

cinquante voiles et des plus beaux vaisseaux du monde, avec les galères.’

Du Bellay, Mémoires IV, p. 286; ‘cent cinquante gros vaisseaux rondes, sans

compter soixante ovins et vingt cinq galleres.’ Francis I to Christophe Richer, Touques,

5 July 1545, (letter in cipher sold privately in 1980).