François de Boivin

Who was François de Boivin?

François de Boivin, Baron de Villars was a French chronicler.

He entered the service of Marshal Charles de Brissac, as secretary, and accompanied him to Piedmont in 1550 when the marshal went to take command of the French troops in the war with Spain. Remaining in this service he was sent after the defeat of the French at St Quentin in 1557 to assure the French king Henry II of the support of Brissac.

He took part in the negotiations which led to the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in April 1559, but was unable to prevent Henry II from ceding the conquests made by Brissac.

Boivin wrote Mémoires sur les guerres meslees tant en Piedmont, qu'au Montferrat et Duché de Milan par Charles de Cossé, comte de Brissac, which, in spite of some drawbacks, is valuable as the testimony of an eye-witness of the war. An edition, carefully revised, appears in the Mémoires relatifs de l'histoire de France, tome x., edited by JF Michaud and JJF Poujoulat. He also wrote Instruction sur les affaires d'état.