"Anne de Pisseleu, Duchess of Étampes, was maîtresse en titre of François I, one of the f irst really high prof ile f igures in such a position. This chapter provides a number of perspectives, combining profound suspicion of non-royal women in political power and assumptions about women, marriage, and political power. Artists and writers provide one perspective. Cellini was notoriously sour about her; poets celebrated her favors; architects found in her a patron. Another emerges from her unusual ‘afterlife’, since she lived nearly half her lifetime after the death of François I (until her death in 1580). In that period, she recovered from personal and political disaster in 1547 and became an energetic businesswoman, promoter of her family’s interests, and a notable Protestant."