Robert III de La Marck Robert III de La Marck ( 1491 , Sedan , Ardennes – 1537 ) , " Seigneur " of Fleuranges , Marshal of France and historian , was the son of Robert II de La Marck ; Duke of Bouillon , " Seigneur " of Sedan and Fleuranges , whose uncle was the celebrated William de La Marck , " The Wild Boar of the Ardennes " . Self - styled " The Young Adventurer , " he was one of Francis I ' s close companions in the last years of Louis XII ' s life , and remained close after Francis ascended the throne . A fondness for military exercises displayed itself in his earliest years , and at the age of ten he was sent to the court of Louis XII , and placed in charge of the count of Angoulême , afterwards King Francis I . In his twentieth year he married a niece of the cardinal d ' Amboise , but after three months he quit his home to join the French army in the Milanese . With a handful of troops he threw himself into Verona , then besieged by the Venetians ; but the siege was protracted , and being impatient for more active service , he rejoined the army . He then took part in the relief of Mirandola , besieged by the troops of Pope Julius II , and in other actions of the campaign . In 1512 the French being driven from Italy , Fleuranges was sent into Flanders to levy a body of 10 , 000 men , in command of which , under his father , he returned to Italy in 1513 , seized Alessandria , and vigorously assailed Novara . But the French were defeated , and Fleuranges narrowly escaped with his life , having received more than forty wounds . He was rescued by his father and sent to Vercelli , and thence to Lyon . Returning to Italy with Francis in 1515 , he distinguished himself in various affairs , and especially at Marignano , where he had a horse shot under him , and contributed so powerfully to the victory of the French that the king knighted him with his own hand . He next took Cremona , and was there called home by the news of his father ' s illness . In 1519 he was sent into Germany on the difficult errand of inducing the electors to give their votes in favor of Francis ; but in this he failed . The war in Italy being rekindled , Fleuranges accompanied the king there , fought at Pavia ( 1525 ) , and was taken prisoner with his royal master . The emperor , irritated by the defection of his father , Robert II , sent him into confinement in Flanders , where he remained for some years . During this imprisonment he was created marshal of France . He employed his enforced leisure in writing his " Histoire des choses mémorables advenues du règne de Louis XII et de François I , depuis 1499 jusqu ' en l ' an 1521 " . In this work he designates himself " Jeune Adventureux " . Within a small compass he gives many curious and interesting details of the time , writing only of what he had seen , and in a very simple but vivid style . The book was first published in 1735 , by Abbé Lambert , who added historical and critical notes ; and it has been reprinted in several collections . The last occasion on which Fleuranges was engaged in active service was at the defence of Péronne , besieged by the count of Nassau in 1536 . In the following year he heard of his father ' s death , and set out from Amboise for his estate of La Marck ; but he was seized with illness at Longjumeau , and died there in December 1537 . See his own book in the " Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir à l ' histoire de France " ( edited by J . F . Michaud and J . J . F . Poujoulat , series i , vol . v . Paris , 1836 seq . ) .