Henry VIII of England, Charles V of the Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottomans, and Francis I of France all were young men who came to their thrones at about the same time. Henry VIII and Francis I, in particular, had a lot in common; both had slightly controversial claims to the throne, both were fond of the ladies, and both sought military glory with indifferent success. Author Leonie Frieda describes Francis in her subtitle as “The Maker of Modern France”, but doesn’t present a lot of evidence for that characterization; he was a patron of the arts, persuading Da Vinci to spend his last years in France, but he also kept using a medieval style of warfare, resulting in a narrow victory at Marignano and a disastrous defeat at Pavia. He doesn’t seem to have been particularly interested in governing, preferring hunting, travel, and women; one courtier commented “Alexander the Great attended to women after attending to business; Francis I attends to business after attending to women”. Contemporaries speculated that this did him in, from syphilis; when he died at age 53 the embalmers described him as “rotten inside” but Frieda considers this unlikely.

Frieda has lively, conversational writing style and I found this an easy read. There are maps of France, the Empire, and Italy; genealogical charts for France and the Empire, and a list of principal characters; plates illustrating most of them; endnotes and a copious bibliography. ( )