Françoise de Louvain

Françoise de Louvain (circa 1540 - 1620) was a French Protestant printer, bookseller and publisher.

Françoise de Louvain married two booksellers-printers, Pierre du Pré and Abel L'Angelier, that she worked with. From 1610, she managed the business.

Life
On 28 August 1565, Françoise de Louvain married Pierre du Pré, a Huguenot bookseller at the Palais. Geneviève Le Blanc agreed to lease the house on rue Gervais-Laurent to her son and daughter-in-law  :38-40. Françoise de Louvain and Pierre du Pré have a son named Pierre, second of the name  .

Pierre du Pré died around 1570-1571  . On January 8 or 18, 1572, Françoise de Louvain presented a request to the court, threatened by Galliot II du Pré who wanted to deprive her of her stall in the Palais. This allowed her to publish several new titles, including a work by Jacques Aubert .

Françoise de Louvain met Abel L'Angelier, a printer-bookseller, heir to her father Arnoul and her uncle Charles. They signed a marriage contract on October 10, 1573. Françoise de Louvain very likely worked with her husband until his death in 1610

On March 22, 1594, Henry IV entered Paris. According to the bookseller Rainsart, in July everything was still “very dead in the bookstore, there being still no students at the colleges except for the Jesuists”  . L'Angelier was still a bookseller and known for his loyalty to the king. Françoise de Louvain continued her husband's editorial and commercial policy, and created a company with Marie L'Angelier.