MONTMORENCY, HENRI I. — Son of Anne and Maddalena of Savoy, born at Chantilly in 1534, died at Agde on 19 April 1614. During the Wars of Religion he led the Catholics and defeated the Calvinists at Dreux, where the Prince of Condé was taken prisoner. As governor of Languedoc he employed rigorous repressive measures against the Protestants. In 1566 he was named marshal. However, personal rivalry with the Guise cooled his zeal: he offered no resistance to the army of Coligny when the latter attacked his province.
After the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, distrusting the court’s intentions toward him, he decisively allied himself with the Calvinists, who elected him their leader. Supported by Calvinists and politiques, he succeeded in opening negotiations that led to the Edict of Beaulieu. But in 1576 Catherine de’ Medici managed to win him over to her side. Thus becoming odious to the Calvinists, he had to leave Toulouse. At the death of Henry III he followed the party of the King of Navarre, and in 1595 he prevented the intervention of the Duke of Savoy.