Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron

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Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron
Biron Castle , Dordogne

Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron (* 1562 ; † July 31, 1602 in Paris ), Marshal of France , was a French military leader and diplomat.

Charles de Gontaut-Biron was a son of Marshal Armand de Gontaut, seigneur de Biron (1524–1592). He served under his father with distinction, became lieutenant colonel of the Gardes suisses in 1576 , maréchal de camp in 1589 and fought so bravely at Arques , Ivry , Aumale , Paris and Rouen that he became famous as Fulmen Galliae ("Gaul's lightning bolt") and was feared.

In 1592 he became admiral, 1594 marshal of France , 1595 governor of Burgundy and 1598 duke and peer of France . He conquered the cities of Beaune , Autun , Auxonne and Dijon and distinguished himself in the battle of Fontaine-Française . In 1596 he was sent against the Spaniards in Flanders , Picardy and Artois . After the Treaty of Vervins , he went to Brussels as an envoy in 1598 .

Gontaut, who changed denominations twice, allowed himself to be seduced by the Spaniards into promising a revolt against Henry IV in 1599, when he was ambassador in Brussels, by promising rich rewards, namely the hand of a Savoy princess . He brought not true Savoyard War in 1600, where he commanded the army of Henry, the conspiracy to carry out, but went, even after the king pardoned him the first breach of faith, in its compounds on, was after the discovery of the same from the Parlement death sentenced and beheaded on July 31, 1602 in the Bastille .

From 1594 to 1602 he was Maréchal général des camps et armées du roi

Marshal Charles-Armand de Gontaut, duc de Biron (1663–1756), for whom the Duchy of Biron, confiscated in 1602 , was rebuilt in 1723, was his great-nephew.

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personal data
SURNAME Biron, Charles de Gontaut, duc de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French military leader and diplomat, Marshal of France
DATE OF BIRTH 1562
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 1602
Place of death Paris