de Poitiers, Diane ..............................
(1499–1566)
A famous consort of the French king
Henri II, Diane de Poitiers was born of
aristocratic parents in the castle of Saint-
Vallier, in the French Alps. She married
Louis de Breze, a courtier and grandson of
King Charles VII, at the age of fifteen. On
the death of her husband in 1531, she ar-
ranged to have his titles of seneschal
(king’s representative) of Normandy pass
into her own hands, instead of allowing
that office to return to the king, which
was the traditional practice. After Francis I
took the throne, Diane became a compan-
ion to his sons. When Francis was cap-
tured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, he of-
fered his sons Francois and Henri as
hostages in exchange for his freedom.
When Henri returned to France, at the age
of twelve, Diane became his tutor and
guide. The two grew close and as he ma-
tured Henri fell in love with his mentor.
Well before Henri became king of
France in 1547, Diane became his favorite
mistress, adviser, and companion. As king,
Henri entrusted important correspondence
and documents to her, and relied on her
advice in important matters of state. Di-
ane came to wield more authority in the
French court than Henri’s queen, Cathe-
rine de Médicis, and despite the fact that
Catherine was a distant cousin of Diane,
their rivalry for Henri’s affections made
them bitter enemies. Henri favored Diane
by ordering the castle of Anet built for
her, bestowing on her the title of Duchess
of Etampes, and allowing her the custody
of the crown jewels and the castle of
Chenonceau, one of the most magnificent
royal residences in Europe. In 1559, how-
ever, Henri died of injuries suffered in a
duel, and soon afterward his jealous queen,
Catherine, took possession of the crown
jewels and permanently banished Diane
from Chenonceau.de Soto, Hernando ............................
(1496–1542)
A Spanish explorer who led the first Euro-
pean expedition into the southeastern
United States. De Soto was born into a
poor family in the Estremadura region of
western Spain. He joined the expedition of
Pedro Arias de Avila to Panama in 1514,
and successfully fought for de Avila against
his rival Gil David Gonzales. De Soto ac-
companied Francisco Pizarro to Peru in
1528 but had a falling out with Pizarro af-
ter the Spanish defeated the Incas under
their emperor Atahualpa. The Peru expe-
dition had greatly enriched him, however,
and de Soto returned to Spain in 1536 a
hero for his part in the conquest of the
Incas.
De Soto married and settled down in
Spain. But when King Charles V honored
him with the title ofadelantado(colonial
governor) of Florida, a place the Spanish
still had not fully explored, his ambitions
in the New World returned. He set out in
1539 with six hundred men and nine
ships, landing at a bay he called Espiritu
Santu (Holy Spirit), on the western coast
of Florida. De Soto’s mission was to estab-
lish a permanent settlement, make a claim
for Florida in the name of the king of
Spain, and to find legendary cities of gold.
The expedition, however, spent three fruit-
less years in Florida, suffering hunger, dis-
ease, and the attacks of hostile Native
American tribes. With his men dying at an
alarming rate, de Soto attempted to return
overland to New Spain (Mexico), and led
the expedition across the southeastern
United States, passing through Mississippi,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Running
out of provisions in the dry plains ofde Soto, Hernando