Jacques d'Albon, Seigneur de Saint-André (c. 1505–1562) was a French governor, Marshal, and favourite of
Henri II. He began his career as a confident of the dauphin during the reign of
François I
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
, reared with the prince under the governorship of his father at court. In 1547 at the advent of Henri's reign he was appointed as his father's deputy, serving as lieutenant general for the
Lyonnais
The Lyonnais () is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon.
The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegratio ...
. Concurrently he entered the king's ''conseil privé'' and was made a Marshal and Grand Chamberlain.
With the resumption of the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...
, Saint André found himself serving to protect the recently acquired city of
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
during the emperor's campaign into the region in 1552. In 1553 he was subordinate to
Anne de Montmorency in the French campaign in Picardy, however neither he nor Montmorency achieved much of note. In 1557 he was present during the disaster at
Saint-Quentin and was captured, while much of the rest of the army was destroyed. In captivity as a valuable prisoner for the next year he was granted leave to visit the court in the hopes he could convince the French king to come to the peace table. Having been ransomed in 1559 he was among those campaigning for the king to take a harder line on Protestantism, resulting in the
Edict of Ecouen.
With the death of the king during
peace celebrations he maintained his favour under the young
François II, assisting the king in combating the
Conspiracy of Amboise
The Amboise conspiracy, also called Tumult of Amboise, was a failed attempt by a Huguenot faction in France to gain control over the young king Francis II and to reverse the policies of the current administration of Francis, Duke of Guise and Cha ...
. After the young king's premature death later that year he found himself without a place in the new liberal administration. Alongside Montmorency and
Guise
Guise (; nl, Wieze) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville.
Population
Sights
The remains ...
he formed an alliance hoping to combat Protestantism and protect the Catholic character of France, popularly known as the 'triumvirate'. He campaigned for the crown during the first war of religion, succeeding in capturing the towns of
Poitiers and
Angoulême before being executed on the
field of Dreux after being captured by an aristocrat with whom he had personal animosity.
Early life and family
Jacques d'Albon, seigneur de Saint André was the son of . In 1530 Jean was assigned as the governor of Henri's household. He brought his son Jacques to court with him. Jacques became an ''enfant d'honneur'' and was reared alongside the young prince. In 1539 Jean was granted the authority of governor and lieutenant general over the key region of
Lyonnais
The Lyonnais () is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon.
The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegratio ...
.
Upon his death, his fortune was left to his daughter, the marriage of whom to
Condé's son was prohibited by
Catherine de Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...
.
Reign of Henri II
Favourite
In 1547 François I died; while Henri was not meant to be involved in the process of obsequies, he secretly viewed the funeral from a house en route with his close associates Saint André and
Vielleville. Henri became emotional and began to cry; Vielleville and Saint André recounted for him how his elder brother had celebrated a false report that he had drowned years prior, hoping to channel his grief into anger. In 1547 at the advent of his reign, Saint André was made lieutenant general, governor and ''sénéschal'' of
Lyonnais
The Lyonnais () is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon.
The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegratio ...
. The same year he was elevated to the position of grand chamberlain, and made a marshal of France.
Claude d'Annebault
Claude d'Annebault (1495 – 2 November 1552) was a French military officer; Marshal of France (1538–52); Admiral of France (1543–1552); and Governor of Piedmont in 1541. He led the French invasion of the Isle of Wight in 1545. Annebault was ...
was compelled to cede his Marshal title so that Saint André could be elevated. In his capacity as royal chamberlain he slept in the king's chamber with him, providing him a great deal of access and ability to influence the king. In 1550 he inherited his father's governorship of Lyonnais.
In the early years of his reign Saint André and his father were both regular fixtures of the ''Conseil Privé'', and after his father's death in 1549, Saint André continued his presence in the exclusive council. By 1550 his government was expanded to the Lyonnais,
Forez
Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire ''département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''départements''.
The final "z" in Forez () is not pronounced in the Loire ...
,
Beaujolais
Beaujolais ( , ) is a French ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wine generally made of the Gamay grape, which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Like most AOC wines they are not labeled varietally. Whites from the region, which mak ...
,
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...
and
Marche. He quickly became the wealthiest and most connected man in the region.
War
With the resumption of the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...
in 1551 France initially achieved success, securing a hold on the
Three Bishoprics
The Three Bishoprics (french: les Trois-Évêchés ) constituted a government of the Kingdom of France consisting of the dioceses of Metz, Verdun, and Toul within the Lorraine region. The three dioceses had been Prince-bishoprics of the ...
. Charles moved to recapture the towns in late 1552, Saint André was assigned to defend the town of
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
however Charles selected as his target
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
, where Guise was stationed; after a few months he broke off the siege in failure. Charles V was quick to avenge this loss, and in 1553 he besieged, and then razed the town of
Thérouanne
Thérouanne (; vls, Terenburg; Dutch ''Terwaan'') is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. It is located west of Aire-sur-la-Lys and south of Saint-Omer, on the D 157 and D 341 road junction. Loca ...
. This sudden strike caught Henri off guard, having been under the impression there was no serious threat to the city. He spent a day in his chambers, refusing to speak to anyone other than Saint André and his mistress
Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and famil ...
. In the campaign season of 1553, Montmorency and Saint André led the main royal army into
Picardy, under Montmorency's overall leadership the army would not accomplish much of note, conducting a very cautious campaign.
Captivity
In the campaign of 1557, the French army under Montmorency was brought to battle while trying to relieve the
siege of Saint-Quentin and annihilated by the duke of Savoy; among the many notables captured on the field were Montmorency and Saint André. Phillip II was keenly aware of the value of the two prisoners to Henri, among his many other noble captives, as such he paroled Saint André in 1558 to bring the king on board with the Spanish peace terms. Saint André would be ransomed for 50,0000 ''écus'' in March 1559.
Death of the king
Diane and Saint André keenly encouraged Henri in his repression of Protestantism, advocating for the
Edict of Compiègne
The Edict of Compiègne (french: Édit de Compiègne), issued from his Château de Compiègne by Henry II of France, 24 July 1557, applied the death penalty for all convictions of relapsed and obstinate "sacramentarians", for those who went to Gen ...
and
Edict of Ecouen in early 1559.
Saint André represented the king as one of his principle negotiators during the peace talks that followed his release. At the peace celebration for the conclusion of the Italian Wars in 1559, Henri was killed in an accident during a joust by his opponent
Montgommery. Saint André was one of the three guards of honour who stood over the body for the forty days preceding the funeral, alongside
Montmorency and
Coligny.
Reign of François II
Saint André was among those who maintained access to power after the accidental death of Henri II. As an ally of Guise, he was not sent away from court at the beginning of the new reign. The administration was however in dire straits, and in the general repossession of alienated royal land in the opening months of François' reign, he would lose the seigneurie of
Saint-Seine-sur-Vigeanne.
Conspiracy of Amboise
Opposition to the Guise administration coalesced into a conspiracy in early 1560, with armed groups attempting to storm the court while it stayed at the castle of Amboise. On March 15 Saint André was sent out from the castle with 200 horse, and permission to requisition local garrisons for men at arms, to ensure
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
was securely held by the regime. With Condé's involvement in the conspiracy suspected, and subsequently confirmed in relation to a planned uprising in Lyons,
Navarre and Condé were summoned to present themselves at court to answer the accusations of their involvement in seditious activities. Saint André provided his support to the king, flanking him during the icy meeting with the renegade princes.
Reign of Charles IX
Alienation
With the crown increasingly tolerating the presence of Protestantism, under the chancellorship of
Michel de l'Hôpital
Michel de l'Hôpital (or l'Hospital) (1507 – 13 March 1573) was a French statesman.
Biography
De l'Hôpital was born near Aigueperse in Auvergne (now Puy-de-Dôme).
His father, who was physician to the Constable de Bourbon, sent him to stud ...
and regency of
Catherine de Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...
Saint André aligned himself with Montmorency and Guise in their opposition to this, agreeing to work together to ensure France remained Catholic in April 1561. Together they attended mass conducted by
Cardinal Tournon on 7 April, and Guise and Montmorency who had been rivals for a decade exchanged the kiss of peace. Concurrently an agent of the
Lyons town council reported back to the city that the governor of the Lyonnais, Saint André, had lost much of the influence he had held at court in the prior two reigns.
François d'Agoult was granted the governorship of the town of Lyon, a subordinate position to Saint André in 1561. While not openly Protestant, he was deeply sympathetic to the religion in contrast to his superior.
Opposition
In January 1562, Catherine convoked an assembly at Saint-Germain, hoping to create an edict to solve the religious issue. Guise and Montmorency were absent, however Saint André attended to represent opposition to any toleration. Despite his presence the assembly would draw up the
Edict of January
The Edict of Saint-Germain, also known as the Edict of January, was a landmark decree of tolerance promulgated by the regent of France, Catherine de' Medici, in January 1562. The act represented the culmination of several years of slowly libera ...
which granted formal toleration to Protestantism for the first time.
First civil war
Shortly after the
Massacre of Wassy
The massacre of Vassy (french: link=no, massacre de Wassy) was the murder of Huguenot worshippers and citizens in an armed action by troops of Francis, Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France, on 1 March 1562. The massacre is identified as the first maj ...
perpetrated by
Guise
Guise (; nl, Wieze) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville.
Population
Sights
The remains ...
's men, Saint André was ordered to return to his government by Catherine on 3 March. He however ignored this order, and entered Paris alongside the Constable and Guise, to a warm welcome from the militant Catholics of the city. Now united, they began planning the logistics of raising troops and funds. In the negotiations that filled the early months of the first war of religion, Condé demanded as a condition for his disarmament the removal of several figures from court, among them Saint André.
Campaigning
With talks breaking down Saint André made an attempt to capture the city of
Lyons in July, but was unsuccessful in this attempt. Moving on from the city, he seized
Poitiers from the rebels in early August. He followed this victory with the equally quick recapture of
Angoulême. In October, a large mercenary force that the rebels had successfully hired entered France under the leadership of
Andelot. Saint André pulled the majority of the army's cavalry and the screening force that was
weakly sieging Orléans to intercept this force, and prevent it linking up with the main rebel body under Condé. He would however fail in this and Andelot would outmanoeuvre him, achieving juncture. In the same month, Navarre would be killed while conducting the
siege of Rouen. Upon his death the idea of inserting Saint André as a deputy to the new governor of
Guyenne
Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux.
The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...
was floated as a possibility.
Dreux
These forces augmenting his army to a considerable strength once more, Condé decided to make an attempt on Paris; he was however unable to reach beyond the outskirts before finding himself compelled to retreat northwards. His retreat was shadowed by forces under Montmorency, Guise and Saint André, who were able to bring his army to battle at
Dreux on 19 December 1562. On the field of
Dreux, Saint André was second in command under the overall leadership of Montmorency. He was impatient on the field, keen to attack quickly, however his command of the right wing of the army was more theoretical than practical, and he could not advance without the permission of Guise. About two hours into the battle, with the destruction of the royal left under Montmorency, Guise and Saint Andre at last advanced into the combat annihilating the Huguenot infantry. Saint André however, would be captured on the field of battle by de Mézières, who held a personal grudge against him and executed his prisoner.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Albon, Jacques D', Seigneur de Saint Andre
1500s births
1562 deaths
Marshals of France
16th-century French diplomats
French military personnel killed in action
Ambassadors of France to England
French people of the French Wars of Religion
Court of Henry II of France