Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc

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Blaise de Montluc

Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc (or Blaise de Montluc) (c. 1502 – 26 July 1577) was a marshal of France. He fought in first the Italian Wars and then the French Wars of Religion for the French crown. Gaining a reputation for himself as a harsh but effective commander he won the critical Battle of Vergt in the first war of religion. He would fall out of royal favour in the late 1560's, before being restored into it in the final years before his death, culminating in his appointment as Marshal of France in 1574.

His memoirs on his career in fighting wars domestic and foreign would become famous, creating for him a long legacy in military circles.

Life[]

He was a member of the family de Lasseran de Massencôme de Montluc.[1] He served first as a private archer and man-at-arms in Italy, with Bayard for his captain, fought all through the wars of King Francis I of France, and was knighted at the battle of Ceresole (11 April 1544), after having contributed to the victory as an adviser to the Count of Enghien.[2]

He would further this success during the defence of Siena in 1555. With the rise of the reformation in France he would dabble in Protestantism, attending a service given by Theodore Beza, before concluding the religion was seditious and establishing himself as a harsh repressor.[3] In 1562 Montluc was tasked by Charles IX with bringing order back to Guyenne, which had collapsed in the previous years, shortly after his appointment, the French Wars of Religion broke out.[4] He would quickly gain a reputation for cruelty with his opponents, defeating the southern Protestant forces in the battle of Vergt, which broke the military power of the Protestants in the south of France until the second war.[5]

After nearly half a century of service to the crown, Henry III made him marshal of France in 1574. He died at Estillac near Agen three years later.[2]

Works[]

Montluc's reputation was made by his Commentaires de Messire Blaise de Montluc (Bordeaux, 1592), in which he described his fifty years of service (1521–1574). This book, the "soldier's Bible" (or "breviary," according to others), as Henry IV called it, is one of many books of memoirs produced by the gentry of France at that time. It is said to have been dictated, which may account for the style.[2]

The Commentaires are in the collection of Michaud and Poujoulat, with a standard edition in the Société de l'histoire de France, ed. by M. de Ruble (5 vols, 1865–1872). See Rüstow, Militarische Biographien, v. i. (Zürich, 1858).[2]

Blaise de Montluc condemned the development of the infantry firearm saying:

"Would to heaven that this accursed engine [the arquebus] had never been invented, I had not then received those wounds which I now languish under, neither had so many valiant men been slain for the most part by the most pitiful fellows and the greatest cowards..."[6]

References[]

  1. ^ [The family de Lasseran de Massencôme de Montluc is given by some authors as a branch of the Montesquiou family, but this affiliation is disputed by other authors see: Borel d'Hauterive, Revue historique de la noblesse, volume 2, 1841, p.173
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Montluc, Blaise de Lassaran-Massen-Côme, Seigneur de". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 786–787.
  3. ^ Salmon, J.H.M (1979). Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century. University Paperback. p. 130. ISBN 0416730507.
  4. ^ Roberts, Penny (2013). Peace and Authority during the French Religious Wars c. 1560-1600. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 57–8. ISBN 9781137326744.
  5. ^ Forneron, H (1876). "Note sur la bataille de Vergt 15 Octobre 1562". Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du Périgord. 3: 101.
  6. ^ Richard Holmes, "Villanious Saltpetre" in Richard Holmes, (ed.) The World Atlas of Warfare, Viking Press, 1988. p.73

Further reading[]

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