Claude Gouffier

Who was Claude Gouffier?

Claude Gouffier was a French nobleman and book collector. He was the model for the "Marquis de Carabas" from the story Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault.

He was the son of Artus Gouffier, tutor to the count of Angoulême who eventually rose to the throne as Francis I. Under Francis I, the Gouffier family prospered and were important patrons of both art and literature. This important dynasty was seated at the estate of Château d'Oiron. Claude Gouffier was granted knighthood in 1533, and in 1546 created Marquis of Boissy and Caravaz.

He served at the Battle of Pavia, where he was one of the knights taken prisoner along with Francis I after the disastrous defeat of the French army. He was eventually released, but was captured again during a later French campaign in Italy by Ferrante Gonzaga in 1536. He was ransomed two years later by Francis for the huge sum of 6000 gold crowns in 1538.

Gouffier's official title was Grand Écuyer de France, or Master of the King's Stables, to Henri II, although his life's main vocation seems to have been the collection of books and unusual objects. He was said by Charles Isaac Elton to be "a collector of an essentially modern type. He bought autographs and historical portraits, as well as rare MSS. and good specimens of printing, and was careful to have his books well clothed in the fashionable painted binding."