Philippe de Chabot

Philippe Chabot, Seigneur De Brion, Count of Charny and Buzançois (c. 1492 – 1 June 1543), also known as Admiral De Brion, was an admiral of France. Biography The Chabot family was one of the oldest and most powerful in Poitou. Philippe was a cadet of the Jarnac branch. He was a companion of Francis I as a child, and on that king's accession was loaded with honors and estates. After the battle of Pavia he was made Admiral of France and governor of Burgundy (1526), and shared with Anne de Montmorency the direction of affairs. He served as ambassador to England in 1533 and 1534. He was at the height of his power in 1535, and commanded the army for the invasion of the states of the duke of Savoy; but in the campaigns of 1536 and 1537 he was eclipsed by Montmorency, and from that moment his influence began to wane. He was accused by his enemies of peculation, and condemned on 10 February 1541 to a fine of 1,500,000 livres, to banishment, and to the confiscation of his estates. Through the good offices of the king's mistress Madame d'Étampes, however, he obtained the king's pardon almost immediately (March 1541), was reinstated in his posts, and regained his estates and even his influence, while Montmorency in his turn was disgraced. But his health was affected by these troubles, and he died soon afterwards on 1 June 1543.