The Chancellor (1961) is a novel of palace intrigue about Antoine Duprat, creator of the French lottery during the reign of Francois I of France.Set in the turbulent years of the early Renaissance, The Chancellor has as its hero Antoine Deprat. Not only was he the financial wizard behind the glittering throne of Francis the First, he was also an archbishop aspiring to be a cardinal. Equally at home on a war horse or on his knees, Antoine Duprat could wear celibate wool or a cavalier's steel as his duties demanded.In The Chancellor, Lawrence Schoonover plunges the reader into the tempestuous time when France was chaotic with change and boldly adventuresome...and through it all reigned the pervasive, powerful figure of Antoine Duprat who made use of an age which so desperately needed him, serving it and himself magnificently.