Gabriel de Lorges comte de Montgomery

 

 Gabriel de Lorges, comte de Montgomery 
Killer of a king, leader of armies, and proud protestant.

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 Gabriel was a hero, rebel and killer of a king.....
Not all of this was by his choice.

Gabriel was the son of Jacques, Duke of Montgomery - a Scottish nobleman who was a loyal supporter of the kings of France.

 In 1559 Gabriel was 29 and Lord of lands in Normandy.
He was married to Isabeau de La Touche, and had welcomed the first four of their eventual eight children.

Gabriel was captain of King Henri II’s Scottish Guard, and a favourite at court
However, before he was 30 years old he would be an outcast.

 30th June 1559, started as a day of magnificent courtly celebration.

A peace treaty was being firmly sealed with the marriages of Henry II and Catherine de medici's daughter Elizabeth, with Philip II of Spain.

The entertainment was lavish, and included a royal joust.

 Catherine de Medici sat distastefully next to Diane de Poitiers, as her husband took part in the tournament.

It was no surprise to Catherine that Henri wore Diane’s favour, a black and white ribbon - Diane had been his mistress for years.

 King Henry was proud of his athleticism and expected his knights to fight hard and fair, even against a king.

Towards the end of the day, as no lance had broken, Henri insisted on just one more joust with Gabriel Montgomery.

It would be Henri's last...

 As the horses thundered towards each other, forty year old King Henri was confident of a win.

Suddenly, Gabriel’s lance hit Henri hard, and shattered, forcing the king’s helmet open.
A large shard from Gabriel’s lance pierced the Kings right eye.

Although the wooden shard was removed, the damage was too severe and Henri died on 10th July.

Gabriel Montgommery had killed the King of France!!!

 Queen Catherine would never forgive Gabriel.
She stripped Gabriel of his titles and banished from court.

Catherine then set about ruling France through her sickly 15 year old son Francis.
Diane de Poitiers was the second person she cheerfully expelled.

 Gabriel first went to Jersey then Venice, but everywhere he was known as the man who killed the king of France.

By 1560 he was in London.

The English court under Elizabeth I was a very different place to the French court he was used to.

It was Protestant and catholic Gabriel, with time on his hands, studied this foreign religion.

What he discovered impressed him greatly and in 1562 he formally converted to Protestantism.

 In 1562 Gabriel was back in Normandy.
He allied himself to fellow convert, Louis I de Bourbon prince de Condé and prepared for battle.
He quickly proved himself to be an astute commander.

Gabriel’s Protestant army took control of the town of Bourges, without killing a single person.

 Catholic forces around Rouen increased until the Protestants were forced to ask English Queen Elizabeth for help.
Her forces arrived, as did Gabriel and his army.

For two brave months Gabriel and the Protestant armies held Rouen, fighting off numerous attacks.

Then on 26th October 1562, the Catholic royalist troops retook Rouen and pillaged it for three days.

Gabriel and a handful of his closest lieutenants escaped by boat.
Gabriel made it to Havre and on to England, and safety.

 Catherine de Medici put a large bounty on Gabriel’s head.

Catherine de Medici repeatedly demanded that Queen Elizabeth I return Gabriel to the French court.

Elizabeth was rather fond of Gabriel, and knowing this would be signing his death warrant, she refused.

 Word then reached England about a terrible siege at La Rochelle.

The town had been a Protestant stronghold for years, and was now seen as a threat to the Catholics.

In April 1573 Gabriel gathered a huge force of ships and Protestant supporters, and confidently sailed for La Rochelle.
He underestimated the situation, however, and despite great bravery, he and his navy were defeated.

It was not long before he was back in England.

 By March 1574 he was back in Normandy with an army of 5,000 men.
They set about making their presence felt, burning, looting and killing along the way.

Catherine de Medici had awarded a skillful soldier, Marshall Matignon, the lieutenanship of lower Normandy.

She made it clear it was his responsibility to kill the man who murdered her husband.

Matignon and his army went after Gabriel.

 Matignon caught up with Gabriel and his depleted forces at St Lo, and started to organise a siege.

Gabriel, on horseback with a cavalry of around 70 of his best men, managed to force their way past Matignon’s surprised guard and escape under a shower of musket bullets.

He didn’t lose a single man.

 His cavalry split and Gabriel arrived at Domfront on 8th May 1574 with just 20 men.

They intended to stay just long enough to take on supplies and more recruits.
He was joined by a company of 40 on horseback.

Matignon then launched a surprise and vicious attack.

 Over the next few weeks, Matignon kept up a fierce onslaught, shooting, sending burning waste over the battlements and attempting to breach the walls.

Matignon's forces grew as Gabriel’s fell, either through death or desertion, they ran out of food, water and munitions

After a particularly fierce battle, that lasted over 5 hours, Gabriel knew they could go on no longer.

 On 27th May, Gabriel had no choice but surrender.
Gabriel was taken straight to Paris into the unforgiving custody of Catherine de Medici.

With high treason his crime, torture was mandatory. Sentenced to death Gabriel refused to confess his sins, or receive a catholic priest’s last rights.

 In front of a great baying Catholic crowd, Gabriel de Lorges, comte de Montgomery was led to the scaffold, on 26th June 1574.

He appeared infuriatingly serene.
A royal edict was read to him - his land was to be confiscated, and his children would not inherit his titles.

 Still calm Gabriel shouted

“tell my children, if they are not able to reclaim their
position, I curse them from the grave!”

And then they cut off his head.
One of his sons who was under the scaffold, was sprayed with his father's blood.

However, Gabriel's death would not be the end of the de Montgomery family.
But that's another story.....

The Tudor Intruders (and more)

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 normandythenandnow/the-heroic-end-of-gabriel-comte-de-montgomery

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 Gabriel de Lorges comte de Montgomery.
By Feron Eloi Firmin.