page_title: François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières
section_title: Military service
hierarchical_section_title: François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières / Military service
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Fort Barot et au-dessus le Fort de la Bastille - Grenoble, France
context_page_description: François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières was a French soldier of the French Wars of Religion and Constable of France.
context_section_description: He served under the lieutenant-general of his native province of Dauphiné, Bertrand de Simiane, baron de Gordes, but when the Huguenots raised troops in Dauphiné Lesdiguières threw in his lot with them, and under his kinsman Antoine Rambaud de Furmeyer, whom he succeeded in 1570, distinguished himself in the mountain warfare that followed by his bold yet prudent handling of troops. He fought at the Battle of Jarnac and the Battle of Moncontour, and was a guest at the wedding of Henry III of Navarre (later king of France). Warned of the impending St. Bartholomew's Day massacre he retired hastily to Dauphiné, where he secretly equipped and drilled a determined body of Huguenots, and in 1575, after the execution of Charles du Puy de Montbrun in Grenoble, became the acknowledged leader of the Huguenot resistance in the district with the title of commandant general, confirmed in 1577 by Marshal Doraville, by Henry II, Prince of Condé in 1580, and by Henry of Navarre in 1582.
  He seized Gap by a lucky night attack on 3 January 1577, re-established the reformed religion there, and fortified the town. He refused to acquiesce in the treaty of Poitiers (1578) which involved the surrender of Gap, and after two years of fighting secured better terms for the province. Nevertheless, in 1580 he was compelled to hand the place over to Mayenne and to see the fortifications dismantled.
  He took up arms for Henry IV in 1585, capturing Chorges, Embrun, Châteauroux and other places, and after the truce of 1588–1589 secured the complete submission of Dauphiné. In 1590 he beat down the resistance of Grenoble, and was now able to threaten the leaguers and to support the governor of Provence against the raids of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. He defeated the Savoyards at Esparron in April 1591, and began in 1592 the reconquest of the marquessate of Saluzzo which had been seized by Charles Emmanuel. After the seizing of Grenoble in December 1590, he built new walls for the city in 1606 and fortified the hill of the Bastille between 1611 and 1619.
  After his defeat of the Spanish allies of Savoy at Salbertrand in June 1593 there was a truce, during which Lesdiguières was occupied in maintaining the royal authority against Épernon in Provence. The war with Savoy proceeded intermittently until 1605, when Henry IV concluded peace, much to the dissatisfaction of Lesdiguières.
caption: Bastille of Grenoble today
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