COLIGNY, GASPARD de. - Famous French Huguenot general of the 16th century, b. at Châtillon-sur-Loing in 1519 and d. in Paris on 24 Aug. 1572. His father, marshal of France, died when G. de C. was 3 years old; the child grew up amid continuous wars and family feuds; he was first colonel general of the French infantry, then admiral of the fleet, with which he made expeditions to Brazil and Florida but without success. Particularly famous was the siege he withstood at St. Quentin in 1557, from which he emerged a prisoner; he was freed only after the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis.

A follower of the reforming ideas, he soon became the head of the Huguenot party and was involved in the civil and religious struggles, at times suffering defeats and at times winning resounding victories. Once a relative internal peace had been achieved, he was persuading the king to make war on Spain when, on leaving the Louvre, he was attacked and struck by an arquebus shot; two days later the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre broke out, in which C. also met his death.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: G. Delaborde, Vie de l'amiral de C., Paris 1879-1885, 3 vols.; E. Marks, Gaspard de C., sein Leben und das Frankreich seiner Zeit, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1918; H. Hauser, La prépondérance espagnole, Paris 1933.

Paolo Brezzi

@incollection{ec3_coligny_gaspard_de, author = {Brezzi, Paolo}, title = {Coligny, gaspard de}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1946}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/coligny-gaspard-de} }

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Coligny, Gaspard de

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