François de Beaumont

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
François de Beaumont-Beyrac, Baron des Adrets

François de Beaumont-Beyrac, Baron des Adrets (* 1512 or 1513 at the Château de la Frette in the Dauphiné ; † February 2, 1587 there ) was a French Protestant leader at the time of the Wars of Religion , who is best known for his cruelty.

biography

During the reign of Henry II he served with distinction in the royal army and eventually became commander in chief of the armies in the Dauphiné (1555), Provence and Languedoc .

Nevertheless, he switched to the Huguenots in 1562 , less out of religious conviction and more out of ambition and personal dislike of the Guises . His campaign against the Catholics in 1562 was so successful that in June of that year he had brought most of the Dauphiné under his control. But his reputation as a brilliant military leader is tarnished by his atrocities. The cruel retaliatory measures he took against the Catholics after the massacres of the Huguenots in Orange severely damaged his reputation. He had garrisons who opposed him slaughtered with all brutality. In Montbrison on July 16, 1562, he forced eighteen Catholic prisoners to throw themselves to death from the top of the keep.

His violence soon made him suspicious of even the most determined Calvinist. On January 10, 1563 he was arrested in Romans by his own captains and arrested in the citadel of Nîmes . The Edict of Amboise , which ended the first Huguenot War, brought him freedom the following March.

After losing all Huguenot sympathy through his pride and violence, he re-established contact with the Catholics, agreed to a reconciliation and, after the resumption of hostilities, fought in the royal army. Arrested again, he escaped execution of the sentence by the Peace of Saint-Germain (1570) .

Since Huguenots and Catholics alike distrusted him, he retired to his castle, where he died a Catholic in February 1587.

literature

  • Abbé Brisard: Histoire du Baron des Adrets , 1980, Grenoble, Editions Quatre Seigneurs,
  • Gilbert Dalet: L'étrange figure du baron des Adrets , 1982, Montréal, Editions de l'Aurore, ISBN 2-903950-04-0
  • Dictionnaire de l'Histoire de France Perrin , Paris, 1981, Librairie Académique Perrin, ISBN 2-262-00228-2 , Volume 1, pp. 14ff

Web links

Commons : François de Beaumont, baron des Adrets  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ La Frette is now a commune in the Isère department , Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
  2. ↑ according to the Dictionnaire d'Histoire de France Perrin only on February 10, 1563
personal data
SURNAME Beaumont, François de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baron des Adrets
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Protestant leader at the time of the Wars of Religion
DATE OF BIRTH 1512 or 1513
PLACE OF BIRTH Château de la Frette , Dauphiné
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1587
Place of death Château de la Frette , Dauphiné