Background
She was a daughter of Adrien de Pisseleu, seigneur d'Heilly, a nobleman of Picardy, who, with the rise of his daughter at court, was made seigneur of Meudon, Master of waters and forests of Île de France, of Champagne and of Brie.
She was a daughter of Adrien de Pisseleu, seigneur d'Heilly, a nobleman of Picardy, who, with the rise of his daughter at court, was made seigneur of Meudon, Master of waters and forests of Île de France, of Champagne and of Brie.
She came to court before 1522 and was one of the maids-of-honour of Louise of Savoy, Duchess of Angoulême, the mother of Francis I. Francis made Anne his mistress, probably upon his return from his captivity at Madrid (1526), and soon gave up his long-term mistress, Françoise de Foix, for her. Anne was described as being sprightly, pretty, witty and cultured, "the most beautiful among the learned and the most learned among the beautiful". She succeeded in keeping the favour of the king until his death in 1547.
The liaison received some official recognition. When the new Queen of France, Eleanor of Austria, entered Paris in 1530, the King and Anne occupied the same window. The influence of the Duchess of Étampes, especially in the last years of the reign, was considerable.
She cooperated with the King's sister, Marguerite de Navarre. Following Francis's death, Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II of France, had the Duchess dismissed from the court. Though her court favorites were humiliated in every way upon her dismissal, she was permitted to die in obscurity much later, probably in the reign of Henry III.