Claude d'Urfé

Claude d'Urfé (1501, château de la Bastie d'Urfé-1558) was a French royal official of the 16th century. He acted as governor and bailiff of Forez after that county became a royal domain. He was a friend and confident of Francis I and fought alongside him in the Wars of Italy as well as under his son Henry II. He was also governor of the dauphin (the future Francis II) and the king's other children (the future Charles IX, Henry III, Francis, Duke of Anjou and Margaret of Valois). He was also a major patron for building works in the Italian Renaissance style in Forez, such as his Italian-style extension to his château of Bastie d'Urfé. His grandson was the author Honoré d'Urfé.

The heir to a lordly family from Saint-Étienne-le-Molard, Claude was the son of Pierre II d'Urfé and Antoinette de Beauvau. According to legend, his parents had had no child after five years of marriage and monks from the monastery Pierre had founded at Auvergne had prayed that he might have a son, who arrived a few months later, leading to his nickname as "the miracle child". Orphaned at a young age (his father died when he was seven), he was raised at the French court and became a confident of Francis I, with whom he went to war in Italy aged twenty. The king made him a squire in ordinary in 1522. In 1535 Francis made him governor general and bailiff of the county of Forez, which had been forfeited for treason by Charles III of Bourbon. He was given this title at Montbrison, its capital, in 1536 when Francis came to symbolically take possession of the county.

...
Wikipedia