Franco-Polish Alliance (1524)

This article is about the 16th-century alliance. For the 20th-century alliance, see Franco-Polish alliance (1921).

Foreign alliances of France

Frankish–Abbasid alliance 777–800s Franco-Mongol alliance 1220–1316 Franco-Scottish alliance 1295–1560 Franco-Polish alliance 1524–1526 Franco-Hungarian alliance 1528–1552 Franco-Ottoman alliance 1536–1798 Franco-English alliance 1657–1660 Franco-Indian alliance 1603–1763 Franco-British alliance 1716–1731 Franco-Spanish alliance 1733–1792 Franco-Prussian alliance 1741–1756 Franco-Austrian alliance 1756–1792 Franco-Indian Alliances 1700s Franco-Vietnamese alliance 1777–1820 Franco-American alliance 1778–1794 Franco-Persian alliance 1807–1809 Franco-Prussian alliance 1812–1813 Franco-Austrian alliance 1812–1813 Franco-Russian alliance 1892–1917 Entente Cordiale 1904–present Franco-Polish alliance 1921–1940 Franco-Italian alliance 1935 Franco-Soviet alliance 1936–1939 Treaty of Dunkirk 1947–1997 Western Union 1948–1954 North Atlantic Alliance 1949–present Western European Union 1954–2011 European Defence Union 1993–present Regional relations Asia Americas Africa

A Franco-Polish Alliance was formed in 1524 between the king of France Francis I and the king of Poland Sigismund I.^[1]

Francis I was looking for allies in Central Europe to create a balance against the power of Habsburg Emperor Charles V.^[1] Queen Bona Sforza, the Italian wife of Sigismund, was instrumental in promoting the alliance, with the objective of recovering sovereignty of Milan.^[2] Sigismund himself was motivated by such an alliance because Charles V was getting closer to Russia, thus threatening Poland on two fronts.^[2]

The negotiations were handled by Antonio Rincon in 1524, who was then followed by Jerome Laski.^[1] Through the agreement, the son of Francis, Henry, Duke of Orléans, was to marry a daughter of Sigismund I, and Sigismund's eldest son was to marry a daughter of Francis I.^[1] According to the same agreement, Sigismund was supposed to support Francis' efforts at reconquering Milan to which Sigismund had some right through his earlier marriage with Bona Sforza.^[1] The alliance was effectively signed in 1524.^[2]

The agreement fell through, however, when Francis I was vanquished by Charles V at the Battle of Pavia in 1525.^[1] When Francis again looked for Central European allies after 1526, he would look at Hungary instead and finally formed a Franco-Hungarian alliance with King Zapolya in 1528.^[1]

See also

• Foreign alliances of France

References

1. The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571) by Kenneth M. Setton p.312
2. The Cambridge History of Poland by Oskar Halecki p.309