Gaspard II de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny ( 16 February 1519 – 24 August 1572 ) , " Seigneur ( Lord ) de Châtillon " , was a French nobleman and admiral , best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion . Biography . Ancestry . Coligny came of a noble family of Burgundy . His family traced their descent from the 11th century , and in the reign of Louis XI , were in the service of the King of France . His father , Gaspard I de Coligny , known as the ' Marshal of Châtillon ' , served in the Italian Wars from 1494 to 1516 , married in 1514 , and was created Marshal of France in 1516 . By his wife , Louise de Montmorency , sister of the future constable , he had three sons , all of whom played an important part in the first period of the Wars of Religion : Odet , Gaspard and François . Coligny is directly descended from notable individuals such as Alfred the Great , Rollo the Viking , William the Conqueror , Hugh Capet and various Kings of England , Kings of France , Counts of Savoy and crusaders . Princes of Orange , Kings , Queens of the Netherlands legacy . Through Gaspard ' s daughter Louise de Coligny the Princess of Orange , fourth wife of William I , Prince of Orange , Gaspard is the progenitor of a line of Princes of Orange , Kings and Queens of the Netherlands . These include : German legacy . The first German Emperor William I , descended from Coligny through the Palatinate and the House of Orange , was crowned at Versailles after his defeat of France in the Franco - Prussian war . William ' s staff included 80 descendants of Huguenots that had been exiled . The bitterness between these two nations has been the cause of much unrest in Europe over the centuries . Current and former thrones legacy . The inheritors of former thrones such as the Russian monarchy are also directly descended from Coligny , including notable individuals such as the Tsars of Russia Alexander III and Nicholas II . Coligny is the ancestor of King William III of England , Frederick the Great and the present British Royal Family also directly descends from him . Every monarchy in Europe currently has Coligny ' s blood embodied on its throne . Early life . Born at Châtillon - sur - Loing in 1519 , Gaspard came to court at the age of 22 and began a friendship with François of Guise . In the campaign of 1543 Coligny distinguished himself , and was wounded at the sieges of Montmédy and Bains . In 1544 he served in the Italian campaigns under the Count of Enghien , king Charles VIII , king Louis XII , king Francis I and was knighted on the Field of Ceresole . Returning to France , he took part in different military operations ; and having been made colonel - general of the infantry ( April 1547 ) , exhibited great capacity and intelligence as a military reformer . That year he married Charlotte de Laval ( d . 1568 ) . He was made admiral on the death of Claude d ' Annebaut ( 1552 ) . In 1557 he was entrusted with the defence of Saint - Quentin . In the siege he displayed great courage , resolution , and strength of character ; but the place was taken , and he was imprisoned in the stronghold of L ' Ecluse . On payment of a ransom of 50 , 000 crowns he recovered his liberty . The Coligny brothers were the most zealous and consistent aristocratic supporters of Protestantism in sixteenth - century France . Protestant leader . By this time he had become a Huguenot , through the influence of his brother , d ' Andelot . The first known letter which John Calvin addressed to him is dated 4 September 1558 . Establishment of Huguenot colonies . Gaspard de Coligny secretly focused on protecting his co - religionists , by attempting to establish colonies abroad in which Huguenots could find a refuge . He organized the expedition of a colony of Huguenots to Brazil , under the leadership of his friend and navy colleague , Vice - Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon , who established the colony of France Antarctique in Rio de Janeiro , in 1555 . They were afterwards expelled by the Portuguese , in 1567 . Coligny also was the leading patron for the failed French colony of Fort Caroline in Spanish Florida led by Jean Ribault in 1562 . In 1566 and 1570 , Francisque and André d ' Albaigne submitted to Coligny projects for establishing relations with the Austral lands . Although he gave favourable consideration to these initiatives , they came to naught when Coligny was killed in 1572 during the St . Bartholomew ' s Day massacres . National conflicts . Following the death of Henry II he placed himself with Louis , Prince of Condé , at the forefront of the Huguenot party , and demanded religious toleration and certain other reforms . In 1560 , at the Assembly of Notables at Fontainebleau , the hostility between Coligny and François of Guise broke forth violently . When the civil wars began in 1562 , Coligny decided to take arms only after long hesitation , and remained always ready to negotiate . In none of these wars did he show superior genius , but he acted throughout with great prudence and extraordinary tenacity ; he was " " le héros de la mauvaise fortune " " ( " " hero of misfortune " " ) In the " first war " of 1562 - 63 he commanded the cavalry at the Battle of Dreux , the first major engagement and , unlike both commanders in chief , managed to avoid being captured , and withdrew in good order from the defeat . He was blamed by the Guise faction for the assassination of Francis , Duke of Guise at Orléans in 1563 . In the " third war " of 1569 the defeat and death of the Prince of Condé at the Battle of Jarnac left Coligny the sole leader of the Protestant armies . Victorious at the Battle of La Roche - l ' Abeille , but defeated in the Battle of Moncontour on October 3 , he entered into the negotiations for what became the Peace of Saint - Germain ( 1570 ) . Marrying Jacqueline de Montbel , Countess d ' Entremont , and returning to court in 1571 , he grew rapidly in favour with Charles IX , becoming a close mentor to the weak , easily - manipulated King . As a means of emancipating the king from the tutelage of his mother and the faction of the Guises , the admiral proposed to him a descent on Spanish Flanders , with an army drawn from both faiths and commanded by Charles in person . The king ' s regard for the admiral and the increasingly bold demands of the Huguenots alarmed Catherine de ' Medici , the Queen Mother . Assassination and massacre . The wedding of the Protestant Henry , King of Navarre , and Marguerite de Valois , the King ' s sister brought a great number of Huguenot notables to Paris , and political and religious tensions were running extremely high . On 22 August 1572 , the day after the end of the wedding festivities , Coligny was shot in the street by a man called Maurevert from a house belonging to de Guise . However , the bullets only tore a finger from his right hand and shattered his left elbow . The would - be assassin escaped . It never became clear who , if anyone , had hired or encouraged Maurevert to carry out the attempt but historians generally centre on three possibilities : the Guise family , Catherine de Medici , or the duke of Alba on behalf of Philip II of Spain . The King sent his own physician to treat Coligny and even visited him , but the queen mother prevented all private discourse between them . The Catholics now feared Huguenot retaliation for the attempt on Coligny ' s life , and it was decided to pre - emptively assassinate their leadership , in what became known as the St . Bartholomew ' s Day massacre . As one of the main targets , on the night of 24 August , Coligny was attacked in his lodgings by a group led by Guise . After several of his entourage had been killed , a servant of the new Duke of Guise , Charles Danowitz or Jean Charles D´Ianowitz ( Karel z Janovic ) , generally known as Besme or Bême ( Noble Family from Bohemia ( Czech ) Janovský z Janovic / Janowsky von Janowitz und Kleanu ) , plunged a sword through Coligny ' s breast and threw his body out of a window to his master ' s feet . Coligny finally died when another of Guise ' s associates chopped off his head . Historian Barbara B . Diefendorf , Professor of History at Boston University , wrote that Simon Vigor had " " said if the King ordered the Admiral ( Coligny ) killed , ' it would be wicked not to kill him ' . With these words , the most popular preacher in Paris legitimised in advance the events of St . Bartholomew ' s Day " " . Coligny ' s papers were seized and burned by the queen mother ; among them , according to Brantôme , was a history of the civil war , " very fair and well - written , and worthy of publication " . Marriages and issue . By his first wife , Charlotte de Laval ( 1530 - 1568 ) , Gaspard had several children : By his second wife , Jacqueline de Montbel ( 1541 - 1588 ) , the Countess d ' Entremont and Launay - Gelin , Gaspard had one daughter , Beatrice , who became Beatrice de Coligny ( b . 1572 ) , Countess d ' Entremont . Legacy . Several places are named after de Coligny :