Claude of France (13 October 1499-20 July 1524) was the Duchess of Brittany from 9 January 1514 to 20 July 1524, succeeding Anne of Brittany and preceding Francis III of Brittany. From 1515 to 1524, she was also Queen consort of France as the wife of King Francis I of France.
Biography[]
Claude was born in Romorantin-Lanthenay, France on 13 October 1499, the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany. Claude was initially betrothed to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1501, but the engagement was cancelled by her sickly father four years later, and she was instead engaged to marry the young Duke of Valois, the future Francis I of France. She inherited Brittany from her mother in 1514, and she married her cousin Francis four months later. In 1515, she became Queen consort of France when Francis acceded to the throne. Her mother-in-law Louise of Savoy and her sister-in-law Marguerite de Navarre dominated the court, and Claude decided to devote herself to religion rather than politics or governance. She died in 1524 at the Chateau de Blois at the young age of 24, the result of several failed pregnancies.