Note 90 — Chapter I
Reading edition
See a letter of Francis II to the bishop of Limoges, May 21, 1506, “De l’ambassadeur espagnol, Perrenot de Chantonnay, et de ses intrigues,” in Paris, Négociations, 584. Thomas Perrenot, sieur de Chantonnay, was a younger brother of the cardinal Granvella and was a native of Besançon. He was named Spanish ambassador in France after the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (Paris, Nég. relatives au règne de François II, 56-60). His official correspondence is in the Archives nationales at Paris, K. 1,492 ff. Quite as valuable is the private correspondence he maintained with his brother and Margaret of Parma, transcripts of which are in the Brussels archives. The originals are divided between Besançon and Vienna. M. Paris pertinently says of him: “On ne sait pas assez toutes des manœuvres de ce personnage.”—Négociations relatives au règne de François II, 56, note. A history of his public career would be a cross-section of the history of the times. He spoke French and German fluently and had a knowledge of Spanish and Italian. Catherine de Medici feared and hated him and in August, 1560, demanded his recall in vain.—Paris, Négociations, etc., 873. In 1564 he was transferred to Vienna (R. Q. H., January, 1879, 19, 20) and was succeeded by Alava. All the official correspondence of the epoch abounds with allusions to him. See Papiers d’état du cardinal de Granvelle, VII, 393, 400, 402, 518, 592; VIII, 353, 383, 387, 457, 513, 523, 557, 568, 574, 594, 679; IX, 1, 36, 65, 94-102, 136, 154, 166, 169, 177, 182-98, 225, 421, 264, 345-52, 358, 361, 377-81, 394, 415, 430, 434-37, 446, 452, 461, 468, 482, 489, 510, 514, 522, 538, 540-43, 549-52, 556-58, 562-64, 567, 568, 581-89, 602-9, 615, 625, 628, 654, 668, 671; Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II, II, 27, 48, 89, 108, 121, 163, 171-74; Poulet, Correspondance du cardinal de Granvelle, I, 565, note; R. Q. H., January, 1879, 10-12. Some of his letters which were intercepted by the Huguenots are published in the Mémoires de Condé. M. Paillard has printed a portion of those relating to the conspiracy of Amboise in the Rev. hist., XIV; at pp. 64, 65 is a brief sketch of the ambassador’s life. See also Weiss’s introduction to edition of Papiers d’état du cardinal de Granvelle, I.