François de Bonne , Duke of Lesdiguières François de Bonne , duc de Lesdiguières ( 1 April 1543 – 21 September 1626 ) was soldier of the French Wars of Religion and Constable of France . Early life . He was born at Saint - Bonnet - en - Champsaur , to a family of notaries with pretensions to nobility . He was educated at Avignon under a Protestant tutor , and had begun the study of law in Paris when he enlisted in the French army as an archer . Military service . 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 Eperon in Provence . The war with Savoy proceeded intermittently until 1605 , when Henry IV concluded peace , much to the dissatisfaction of Lesdiguières . Later life . The king regarded his lieutenant ' s domination in Dauphiné with some distrust , although he was counted among the best of his captains . Nevertheless he made him a marshal of France in 1609 , and ensured the succession to the lieutenant - generalship of Dauphiné , vested in Lesdiguières since 1597 , to his son - in - law Charles de Crequy . Sincerely devoted to the throne , Lesdiguières took no part in the intrigues which disturbed the minority of Louis XIII , and he moderated the political claims made by his co - religionists under the terms of the Edict of Nantes . After the death of his first wife , Claudine de Berenger , he married the widow of Ennemond Matel , a Grenoble shopkeeper , who was murdered in 1617 . Lesdiguières was then 73 , and this lady , Marie Vignon , had long been his mistress . He had two daughters , one of whom , Françoise , married Charles de Crequy . In 1622 he formally abjured the Protestant faith , his conversion being partly due to the influence of Marie Vignon . He was already a duke and peer of France ; he now became constable of France , and received the Order of the Holy Spirit . He had long since lost the confidence of the Huguenots , but he nevertheless helped the Vaudois against the duke of Savoy . He led the Royal troops against the Huguenots in the Siege of Montpellier in 1622 and was key in finding a negotiated peace . Lesdiguières had the qualities of a great general , but circumstances limited him to the mountain warfare of Dauphiné , Provence and Savoy . He had almost unvarying success through sixty years of fighting . His last campaign , fought in alliance with Savoy to drive the Spaniards from the Valtellina , was the least successful of his enterprises . Death . He died of fever at Valence on 21 September 1626 . Movie . The Lesdiguieres Legend is a movie about the life of François de Bonne , Duke of Lesdiguieres played by Leonardo DiCaprio , directed by Kamel Sina .