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- BIOGRAPHY
Antoine was the son of Jean V de Bueil, seigneur de Bueil, and his first wife Jeanne de Montejean. He was chancellor of King Charles VII and was chosen by Charles as the husband of his daughter Jeanne by his mistress Agnès Sorel. Jeanne was born in Beauté-sur-Marne, and raised at the château de Preuilly by Pierre Frotier, seigneur d'Azay le Ferron, councillor and chamberlain of Charles VII, and seneschal of Poitiers. The wedding of Antoine and Jeanne took place on 23 December 1461. They had two children, Jacques and Renée; both married, but only Jacques had progeny. Some 140 years later Antoine and Jeanne's great great granddaughter Jacqueline de Bueil would be mistress of another king of France, Henri IV.
In 1456 Antoine became lord of the estate of Ussé in the Loire valley, and between 1460 and 1462 he undertook the rebuilding of the castle, transforming it from a medieval fortress into a magnificent Renaissance château. The reconstruction of Ussé coincided with similar work on the castles of Chaumont, Plessis-Bourré and Langeais in the Loire valley. Jeanne brought Antoine a dowry of 40,000 gold écus, but despite this considerable sum he became highly indebted. In 1485 he sold Ussé to Jacques d'Espinay, son of the chamberlain to François II de Bretagne, and himself the chamberlain to Charles VIII and then to Louis XII.
Antoine died after 1506.
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