Françoise de Rohan

Who is Françoise de Rohan?

Françoise de Rohan was the daughter of René I de Rohan and Isabel d'Albret of Navarre. She was the granddaughter of Jean d'Albret, King of Navarre, and cousin to Jeanne d'Albret and Henri of Navarre, also known as Henri IV. She claimed to be the secret wife of Jacques, Duke of Nemours, with whom she had a son, but Nemours denied this and married Anna d'Este.

Through her father, Mademoiselle de Rohan was descended from old Breton kings, while on her mother's side she was a niece of Henry d'Albret, King of Navarre, who had married Marguerite d'Angoulême. Her aunt, Queen Marguerite, had Françoise educated with her own daughter, Jeanne, the future mother of Henry IV. Jeanne treated her younger cousin Françoise cruelly, and even beat her. Françoise must have been relieved when Jeanne was married off in 1548. Then, in 1549, Queen Marguerite died, and Françoise was sent to the French court. She became a lady-in-waiting of Catherine de' Medici.

She and Catherine de Parthenay were best friends and sisters-in-law, and both women protected then French mathematician François Viète between 1572 and 1591. He dedicated them his most famous work : Isagoge in Artem Analycitem.