Still more powerful was the family of Guise, the children of Claude, Duke of Guise, who died in 1527.

[Sidenote: Francis of Guise] The eldest son, Francis, Duke of Guise, was a great soldier.

His brother, Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, won a high place in the councils of state, and his sister Mary, by her marriage with James V of Scotland, brought added prestige to the family.

The great power wielded by this house owed much to the position of their estates, part of which were fiefs of the French king and part subject to the Empire.

As suited their convenience they could act either as Frenchmen or as foreign nobles.
[Sidenote: Expansion] Under Henry France enjoyed a period of expansion such as she had not had for many years.