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Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery
Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, Lord of Lorges and Ducey (5 May 1530 – 26 June 1574), was a French nobleman of Scottish extraction and captain of the Scots Guard of King Henry II of France. He is remembered for mortally injuring Henry II in a jousting accident and subsequently converting to Protestantism, the faith that the Scots Guard sought to suppress. He later became a leader of the Huguenots and was executed for his actions in the French Wars of Religion. In French-language contexts, his name is spelled Montgommery.
Gabriel de Lorges was born on 5 May 1530 in Ducey, Normandy. He later became the captain of King Henry II's Garde Écossaise.
On 30 June 1559, during a jousting match to celebrate the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis between Henry II and his longtime Habsburg enemies, and two major marriages, namely that of Marguerite, the king's sister, with the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel-Philibert, and that of Elisabeth, the king's eldest daughter, with King Philip II of Spain, a splinter of wood from Montgomery's shattered lance pierced Henry's eye and entered his brain, fatally injuring him. From his deathbed Henry absolved Montgomery of any blame, before dying on 10 July 1559. However, finding himself disgraced, Montgomery retreated to his estates in Normandy. There he studied theology and converted to Protestantism, making him an enemy of the state.
During the First French War of Religion (1562–1563), he fought for the Huguenots, capturing Bourges and leading several campaigns in his native Normandy. He led the defense of Rouen and escaped the city just as it fell to the enemy.
He remained in France after the Peace of Amboise brought an end to the fighting. He took up arms again in 1567 when the wars of religion were renewed, and served under Condé in the major campaigns of 1567, 1568, and 1569. Shortly after Condé's death at Jarnac in March 1569, Montgomery was tasked with restoring Jeanne d'Albret, the Huguenot queen of Navarre, to her territories in Béarn, which had been conquered by Catholic forces. He led a rapid campaign, which resulted in the destruction of a Catholic army at Orthez in August 1569.
In early January 1570, Montgomery linked up with the survivors of the disastrous battle of Moncontour. The combined army, led by Gaspard II de Coligny and the young princes of Condé and Navarre, fought the Catholics to a standstill at Arnay-le-Duc and imposed a favorable peace on the Crown.
Montgomery was one of the few leaders to survive the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 after a wounded Huguenot swam across the Seine to warn him that rioting had begun. A price was put on his head, but he managed to escape to England. The queen mother, Catherine de' Medici, asked Queen Elizabeth I for his extradition, but Elizabeth refused.
Montgomery returned to France with a fleet in an attempt to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle in 1573. The following year he attempted an insurrection in Normandy, but was captured, taken to Paris, and sentenced to death. On 26 June 1574, as he was about to be beheaded, Montgomery was informed that a royal edict had proclaimed that his property would be confiscated and his children deprived of their titles.
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Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery
Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, Lord of Lorges and Ducey (5 May 1530 – 26 June 1574), was a French nobleman of Scottish extraction and captain of the Scots Guard of King Henry II of France. He is remembered for mortally injuring Henry II in a jousting accident and subsequently converting to Protestantism, the faith that the Scots Guard sought to suppress. He later became a leader of the Huguenots and was executed for his actions in the French Wars of Religion. In French-language contexts, his name is spelled Montgommery.
Gabriel de Lorges was born on 5 May 1530 in Ducey, Normandy. He later became the captain of King Henry II's Garde Écossaise.
On 30 June 1559, during a jousting match to celebrate the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis between Henry II and his longtime Habsburg enemies, and two major marriages, namely that of Marguerite, the king's sister, with the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel-Philibert, and that of Elisabeth, the king's eldest daughter, with King Philip II of Spain, a splinter of wood from Montgomery's shattered lance pierced Henry's eye and entered his brain, fatally injuring him. From his deathbed Henry absolved Montgomery of any blame, before dying on 10 July 1559. However, finding himself disgraced, Montgomery retreated to his estates in Normandy. There he studied theology and converted to Protestantism, making him an enemy of the state.
During the First French War of Religion (1562–1563), he fought for the Huguenots, capturing Bourges and leading several campaigns in his native Normandy. He led the defense of Rouen and escaped the city just as it fell to the enemy.
He remained in France after the Peace of Amboise brought an end to the fighting. He took up arms again in 1567 when the wars of religion were renewed, and served under Condé in the major campaigns of 1567, 1568, and 1569. Shortly after Condé's death at Jarnac in March 1569, Montgomery was tasked with restoring Jeanne d'Albret, the Huguenot queen of Navarre, to her territories in Béarn, which had been conquered by Catholic forces. He led a rapid campaign, which resulted in the destruction of a Catholic army at Orthez in August 1569.
In early January 1570, Montgomery linked up with the survivors of the disastrous battle of Moncontour. The combined army, led by Gaspard II de Coligny and the young princes of Condé and Navarre, fought the Catholics to a standstill at Arnay-le-Duc and imposed a favorable peace on the Crown.
Montgomery was one of the few leaders to survive the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 after a wounded Huguenot swam across the Seine to warn him that rioting had begun. A price was put on his head, but he managed to escape to England. The queen mother, Catherine de' Medici, asked Queen Elizabeth I for his extradition, but Elizabeth refused.
Montgomery returned to France with a fleet in an attempt to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle in 1573. The following year he attempted an insurrection in Normandy, but was captured, taken to Paris, and sentenced to death. On 26 June 1574, as he was about to be beheaded, Montgomery was informed that a royal edict had proclaimed that his property would be confiscated and his children deprived of their titles.