François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières

François de Bonne de Créquy, seigneur de Les Diguières et du Glaizil , recently and since 1611/20 duc de Lesdiguières , knight of the royal orders, (born April 1, 1543 in Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur , Dauphiné ; † September 28 1626 in Valence ) was a French military leader , governor of the Dauphiné , the last connétable of France and marshal of France . He was one of only seven Marshals General of France .

François de Bonne, engraving from the Atrium heroicum , 1600–1602

Life

François de Bonne was the son of Jean de Bonne, seigneur de Lesdiguières .

Initially an ardent supporter of the Reformation , he fought at the head of a Huguenot crowd in the Dauphiné and Provence and contributed greatly to the elevation of Henry IV to the French throne.

Heinrich appointed him commander-in-chief in the war against Karl Emmanuel I of Savoy , whom he defeated in several battles and driven from his country. In 1609 he was appointed Marshal of France and in 1611 Duke of Lesdiguières and Peer of France . The elevation of his estate Lesdiguières to a peerage was not recognized by parliament for a long time and so he could not take the oath until 1620.

Even under Louis XIII. If François de Bonne retained his influence, he was appointed generalissimo . In the war against the Huguenots in 1621, he commanded the siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély and the Siege of Montauban , vowed in 1622 in Grenoble and the Calvinism and was in favor of Louis XIII. elevated to the status of connétable and appointed Chevalier du Saint-Esprit . From 1601 to 1621 he was the owner of Castle Coppet and began a fundamental expansion of the building.

In 1625 he commanded the French army in Italy , took some places from the Genoese and forced the Spaniards to abandon the siege of Verona .

François de Bonne died on September 28, 1626 without a male heir, as his son Henri Emanuel from his first marriage to Claudina Berenger de Gua († 1608) had died in 1587 at the age of seven. His title passed to his son-in-law, Marshal of Créqui .

Lesdiguières was the last Constable of the Ancien Regime , according to him the office was only once by Emperor Napoleon I awarded.

literature

• Louis Videl: Vie du duc de Lesdiguières . Paris 1638. (Videl was Lesdiguières' secretary.)
• Louis-Archambaud Douglas, Joseph Roman: Actes et correspondance du connétable de Lesdiguières . 3 volumes, Grenoble 1878–1884