Career
The Chabot family was one of the oldest and most powerful in Poitou. Philippe was a cadet of the Jarnac branch. 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.
His tomb, removed to the Louvre, thought to be by Jean Cousin the Elder, is a fine example of French Renaissance work. Chabot was instrumental in arranging the voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier. On 10 January 1526, Chabot married Françoise de Longwy, Dame de Pagny and de Mirebeau (c1510- after 14 April 1561), the eldest daughter of Jean IV de Longwy, Seigneur de Givry, Baron of Pagny and of Mirebeau (died 1520), and Jeanne of Angoulême, Countess of Bar-sur-Seine, the illegitimate half-sister of King Francis.