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This thesis details the rise to power of one of the great families of late sixteenth-century France, the Gondi. Antoine de Gondi, the last of fifteen children, left his native Florence to settle permanently in France in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Like many other Italian immigrants of his time, he established himself in Lyon as a merchant and banker. He later bought the Seigneurie du Perron, and married a woman of Piedmontese origin, Marie-Catherine de Pierrevive. Catherine de’ Medici met the couple and soon after invited them to court, giving them positions in the royal households. Antoine’s children, most notably Albert and Pierre, distinguished themselves at court, and not long afterwards were awarded the highest offices of state and church. Albert became Marshal of France in 1573, and Pierre became Bishop of Paris in 1570. At the same time, they proved themselves indispensable servants to the monarchy, and served the crown diplomatically, politically and financially, both in France and on foreign missions. Both brothers had large Parisian real estate holdings, both inside and outside the city centre. The essential role of the Gondi women in family strategy is also analysed. Albert and Pierre’s sister, Jeanne, became Prioress at the royal Priory of Saint-Louis de Poissy. The cousins of Albert and Pierre, Jean-Baptiste and Jérôme Gondi, stayed closely connected to the world of international banking and, together with other bankers, facilitated loans to the increasingly insolvent crown. The Gondi were often targets of anti-Italian hostility from various segments of French society, and contemporary perceptions of the Gondi family are examined. This study shows the family’s deployment of and reliance on close kin to expand their web of influence throughout France and abroad. This dissertation details the many mechanisms employed by the Gondi family to consolidate and expand their influence during the tumultuous French wars of religion.

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To call something 'inverted' or 'topsy-turvy' in the sixteenth century is, above all, to label it as abnormal, unnatural and going against the natural order of things. The topos of the world upside-down brings to mind a world returned to its initial state of primeval chaos, in which everything is inside-out, topsy-turvy and out of bounds: fish live in trees, children rule over their parents, wives command their husband and rivers flow back to their source. This thesis undertakes a detailed account of the development of the topos of the world upside-down in sixteenth-century French literature and visual culture. By examining different uses of this topos - comic, moralising and polemical - it relates the transformations of the topos to religious, social and political conflicts of the period. To explain the shift of this topos from comic and moralising device to satirical and polemical tool, this thesis argues that troubled times produce troubled texts. In order to demonstrate this hypothesis, two kinds of evidence will be examined: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 present diachronic evidence of the 'polemicisation' of the topos of the world upside-down in literary genres of the period (adages, paradoxes and emblems) and within François Rabelais's body of work; Chapter 3 and 4 provide synchronic evidence of the polemical use of the topos of the world upside-down during the French religious wars in Huguenot and Catholic polemic and in depictions of socio-political turmoil. Charting the variety of uses of the topos of the world upside-down throughout the sixteenth century, this thesis connects the world upside-down and its historical context; and contributes to the scholarship on religious polemic.

This thesis is an examination of the circulation networks and the patterns of collection of Italian printed books in France in the sixteenth century. Although the cultural relations between the Italian and French territory have been studied, a systematic survey to assess the impact of books on the shaping of the French Renaissance has never been attempted. The first section of this study examines the trade routes and networks which facilitated the circulation of Italian printed books across the French territory. Because of the nature of the French early modern book trade, focused primarily on two major centres (Paris and Lyon), a geographical division has been adopted in investigating this phenomenon. Chapter one explores the trade networks existing in sixteenth-century Lyon, from the powerful Compagnie des Libraires to the activity of the libraires italianisants in the second half of the century. Chapter two examines the importance of Italian editions in Paris. Chapter three is devoted to the circulation of Italian books in the provinces and the impact of large regional centres and trade routes on the availability of books locally. Chapter four investigates private networks and their importance in making specific texts available to French readers. The second section of this study investigates the status and importance of Italian printed books within French Renaissance libraries. Chapter five looks into the development of the French Royal library and the role played by Italian items in defining its identity as an institution. Chapter six examines the presence of Italian books in French aristocratic and courtly collections. Chapter seven is devoted to the libraries of the French literary milieu, analysing the extent to which Italian books were cherished as literary exemplars, particularly with regard to vernacular texts. Chapter eight examines the presence of Italian books in professional collections, with particular attention here given to texts in Latin and other scholarly languages imported from Italy. The conclusion draws all of these strands together, looking at the specific role played by Italian culture, through the printed book, on the development of the French Renaissance. A catalogue of about 2,400 Italian printed books with early modern French provenance is included as an appendix volume. This data provides the evidential basis for this study.

Margaret of Austria (1480--1530) ruled the Burgundian Netherlands for over twenty years and was an integral member of the joint Houses of Burgundy and Habsburg. She was also one of the most prolific patrons and collectors of her time. This dissertation examines Margaret's patronage in relation to her contemporary environment with the aim of extending and deepening our understanding of her commissions within the dynamics and discourses of the culture of the early sixteenth century. / Margaret of Austria was a highly conscientious patron and the art and architecture she commissioned intimately reflected her life. Chapter one introduces the historical facts of Margaret's life as well as issues affecting her patronage. Chapter two considers the monastery of Brou in Savoy as Margaret's architectural autobiography. Drawing on documentation and the building itself, it examines Margaret's involvement in Brou's creation. Chapter three looks at several of Margaret's other commissions such as her residence, the Palace of Savoy in Mechelen and the Convent of the Annunciate in Bruges. This chapter considers the potential goals of these projects, as ambitious as founding a capital city, embellishing her authority as a ruler, or attaining sainthood. Chapter four turns to Margaret's self-portraits, that is, images she commissioned of herself. Created in several mediums for a variety of audiences (including herself), Margaret's self-portraits portray her as everything from a widow to a goddess to a saint. Each image was designed for a specific audience and demonstrates Margaret's understanding of the function of images in negotiating a place in the contemporary world and history. Chapter five presents Margaret's view of herself as one of the rulers of a New World Empire with her pioneering collection of artefacts from the Americas. The conclusion considers the unique image of Margaret of Austria that emerges from her commissions.

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This thesis explores the commercial links between Scotland and France in the long seventeenth century, with a focus on the Scottish mercantile presence in France’s Atlantic ports, particularly during periods of domestic and international upheaval. This study questions long-held assumptions regarding this relationship, asserting that the ‘Auld Alliance’ continued throughout the period, despite the widely held belief that it ended in 1560. Such assumptions have led scholars largely to ignore the continuing commercial relationship between Scotland and France in the long seventeenth century, focusing instead on the ‘golden age’ of the Auld Alliance or the British relationship with France in the eighteenth century. Such assumptions have been fostered by the methodological approaches used in the study of economic history to date. While I acknowledge the relevance of traditional quantitative approaches to economic history, such as those pioneered by T. C. Smout and which continue to be followed by historians such as Philipp Rössner, I follow alternative methods that have been recently employed by scholars such as Henriette de Bruyn Kops, Sheryllynne Haggerty, Xavier Lamikiz, Allan Macinnes and Steve Murdoch. These scholars have pioneered methodologies that prioritise private sources, allowing us to delve into the motivations and actions of the individuals who actually effected trade, be they merchants, factors, skippers or manufacturers. The core of my research has therefore entailed the discovery and use of previously untapped archival material including account books, letter books and correspondence, which illuminate the participation of these individuals in international trade. Such a study, while filling a specific gap in our understanding of Scotland’s overseas relations, applies a more social methodology to this topic, suggesting that scholars’ approaches need to be fundamentally altered if we are truly to understand the whole picture of Scotland’s, or indeed any nation’s, commercial relationships or wider economic position.