Flippancy
Sir: 1 consider Eric Christiansen's review of R. J. Knecht's book, Francis I, unworthy of the Spectator (6 March). Here is a book, which has been long in the making, written by a notable scholar, about one of France's more important kings. Surely it should have been given a serious review, not a flippant one. And what nonsense your reviewer writes! Does he really believe that France's total revenue at this time 'could easily have been absorbed' by satisfying the king's 'ap- petite for hunting, women, dancing, books and art'? None of these things would have cost as much as the building of one fortress (and Francis was a great builder of for- tresses and left France's eastern frontiers well protected when 'he died).
It is also rather silly to talk about his desire to conquer Milan as a 'crass obses- sion'. Since France was already surrounded by lands belonging to the Emperor Charles V, and since Milan was in a strategic position
for passing Charles's armies from Spain to Franche Comte and the Netherlands, or from Spain to the Tyrol, it was quite sensi- ble, it seems to me, to try and keep it out of Charles's hands. And what can one make of the sentence which describes Francis as merely 'a very rich man who had a lot of fun at other people's expense'?
S. R. Atkins
Enderley, Rhyd Clydach, Brynmawr, Gwent
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