The king of France is among those supporting Perkin Warbeck, supposedly a prince from the Tower, in his attempt on the English throne

Charles VIII, king of France, marches through the Alps with an army of 30,000, to claim the throne of Naples

Charles VIII captures Naples in February and is crowned there in May, but is forced back across the Alps before the end of the year

The Salic law, preventing inheritance of the throne by or through a woman, is by now accepted as a fundamental law of France

Louis XII is succeeded on the French throne by his cousin and son-in-law, Francis I

The king of France, Francis I, wins a dramatic victory at Marignano and captures Milan

Leonardo da Vinci moves to France, on the invitation of Francis I

The English and French kings, Henry VIII and Francis I, feast and parley on the Field of Cloth of Gold

The French king, Francis I, is taken prisoner by the Spanish at the battle of Pavia

Francis I begins to transform Fontainebleau into a palace, employing artists who establish the mannerist school of Fontainebleau

François Rabelais publishes Pantagruel, the first to appear of his five books about the giant Pantagruel and his father Gargantua

Paris wakes up to find Protestant placards all over the place, mocking the sacrament of the mass

3000 Waldenses are massacred as heretics in the villages of Provence

Ambroise Paré, the greatest surgeon of his day, publishes an account of how to treat gunshot wounds

Joachim du Bellay publishes a manifesto for the group of new French poets who become known as the Pléiade

Pierre de Ronsard publishes the first four books of his Odes

Mary Queen of Scots marries the heir to the French throne, who a year later succeeds as Francis II

A national synod of France's Protestants, the Huguenots, is convened in Paris

A book to teach good handwriting is published by Gianfrancesco Cresci, with examples engraved on copper plates

A year after Mary has become queen of France, her husband Francis II dies

Mary Queen of Scots returns from France to Edinburgh, and to an inevitable clash with John Knox

A massacre of French Protestants, known as the Huguenots, begins in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day

French author Michel de Montaigne, in his library tower, produces Europe's first volume of essays – published in this year under the simple title Essais

The first dramatic ballet, the Balet Comique de la Reine, is presented during French wedding festivities

Royal (or real) tennis is so popular in France that there are now said to be 250 courts in Paris alone