Jean de Poltrot

Jean de Poltrot (* 1537 ; † March 18, 1563 ), Sieur de Méré or Mérey, was a nobleman from Angoumois and murdered François, Duke of Guise .

He lived in Spain for a while , and his knowledge of Spanish and dark skin (which earned him the nickname Espagnolet ) helped him find a job as a spy in the war against Spain.

Becoming a fanatical Huguenot , he decided to kill the Duke of Guise and, as a deserter, gained access to the camp of the Catholics who were besieging Orléans. On the evening of February 18, 1563, he hid on a roadside that he knew the Duke would pass by, fired his pistol at him and fled. But the next day he was caught, interrogated, tortured several times, and sentenced to death by quartering . On March 18, 1563, he suffered a cruel punishment. After the horses failed to tear his limbs apart, he was cut to pieces with sabers. He had made several contradicting statements regarding Coligny's complicity . The admiral protested violently against the allegations, which did not appear to be well founded.

credentials

• Mémoires du prince de Condé (London, 1743)
• TA D'Aubign, Histoire universelle (edited by de Ruble, Soc. De l'histoire de France, 1886)
• A. de Ruble, L'Assassinat du duc François de Lorraine (Paris, 1897)
• Illustration by Frans Hogenberg from 1570: With four horses you got the pole red, To Paris tore and broke to death ... ( digitized version )