François de Bourbon, Count of Saint-Pol

François de Bourbon, comte de Saint-Pol (6 October 1491 – 1 September 1544/1545) was a French governor, soldier, royal favourite and Prince du sang (prince of the royal blood). The son of François de Bourbon and Marie de Luxembourg, François was the heir to the comté de Saint-Pol from his mother. At the advent of the reign of the king François I, Saint-Pol participated in the successful Italian campaign which culminated at the decisive battle of Marignano. In 1519 he became governor of the Île de France in lieu of his elder brother (the duc de Vendôme). Saint-Pol had an important role to play in the French campaign of 1521 against the Holy Roman Empire, aiding in the defence of Mézières by seeing the city resupplied. After the failure of the Imperial siege he followed the royal army as it chased their adversaries back towards Valenciennes. He would again play an important role in the campaign of the following year, garrisoning first Doullens and then Corbie against the Anglo-Imperial army. In the Italian campaign of 1523 to 1524, Saint-Pol would take charge of the French army to lead its retreat from the peninsula after the seigneur de Bonnivet was wounded. With the return of the French army into Italy in 1525, Saint-Pol participated in the disastrous battle of Pavia and was made an Imperial captive, though he soon escaped from his imprisonment.

After king François returned from captivity, Saint-Pol participated in many of the acts by which he reasserted his authority over the kingdoms parlements and in negotiations with the English. As part of a new French war against the Holy Roman Empire, Saint-Pol received the honour of leading a French army into Italy. After some initial successes, his army was destroyed by the Imperial commander de Leyva at Landriano and Saint-Pol became a prisoner for a second time. Released as a term of the 1529 peace of Cambrai, he returned to the centre of French affairs, alongside the king for the return of his children, the marriage of his second son and the royal response to the affair of the Placards. With the renewal of war against the Holy Roman Empire in 1536, Saint-Pol conquered Bresse and Bugey for France before retiring from the army back to the court.

By 1540, Saint-Pol was one of the handful of chief favourites of the king, though not a paramount one. He supported the seigneur de Chabot in his struggles after the latter's disgrace and imprisonment. He played a role in Chabot's rehabilitation and was rewarded for his loyalty. With the renewal of war against the Empire in 1542, Saint-Pol played a role in the eastern campaign into Luxembourg, and in the defence of Landrecies against the siege of the Emperor. With the death of Chabot, he briefly served as lieutenant-général de Normandie, though he would be replaced in December 1543 by the seigneur d'Annebault who inherited Chabot's primacy in royal favour. In 1544 he counselled against allowing the French army in Italy to engage the enemy, but was overruled by the king. He died in September of either 1544 or 1545.