ABSTRACT
Art historians working in the Italian diplomatic archives, especially in Mantua and Cremona, have in recent years gathered some valuable information about the French court in the sixteenth century. Ambassadors liked to describe its manners and customs in their dispatches. Louise seized the opportunity in 1520 of celebrating not only the accession of her ‘Caesar’ but also of returning to her old château and of honouring the husband whom she had lost in 1496. Henry would have liked to seize the opportunity of carving up France with his ally, Charles V, but his offer was rejected.16 So he reverted to being friendly with Francis, while trying to persuade him that he had secured his release from captivity. The court reached Bordeaux from Mont-de-Marsan by way of Roquefort and Bazas. As for Taylor, he arrived in Bordeaux so late that he would not have found a lodging if de Vaux had not put him up.
