Gaspard II de Coligny
A French admiral who turned Protestant zealot, his assassination ignited the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and plunged France into decades of religious war.
1519–1572 (age 53)·French nobleman and Admiral of France, leader of the Huguenots·Birthday: February 16
Biography
Gaspard de Coligny began as a classic French noble of the sword: a brilliant military commander in the Italian Wars, loyal to the crown. His conversion to Protestantism in the 1550s, however, redirected his formidable energies. He became the political and military leader of the Huguenots, the French Protestants, navigating a court dominated by the powerful Catholic Guise family. After a period of influence over the young King Charles IX, Coligny advocated for a war against Spain in the Netherlands, a policy that threatened the queen mother, Catherine de' Medici. His growing sway made him a target. In August 1572, a botched assassination attempt left him wounded; two days later, agents of the Guise family finished the job in his lodgings. His murder was the trigger for the coordinated slaughter of thousands of Huguenots in Paris and beyond, an event that cemented the French Wars of Religion as a national trauma.
#1 When Gaspard Was Born
The biggest hits of 1519
Gaspard's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1519Born
1524Started school
1532Became a teenager
1535Could drive
1537Could vote
1540Turned 21
1549Turned 30
1559Turned 40
1569Turned 50
1572Died at 53
Key Achievements
- Served as Admiral of France, a top military position, despite his Protestant faith during a time of Catholic dominance.
- Led Huguenot forces to several strategic victories during the early French Wars of Religion.
- Founded the short-lived Huguenot colony of Fort Coligny in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1555.
- Was a leading voice in the Protestant faction at the French royal court during the reign of Charles IX.
- His assassination was the direct catalyst for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572.
Did You Know?
He was married twice, and his second wife, Jacqueline de Montbel, was also a fervent Huguenot.
He was held as a prisoner of war for two years after the Battle of St. Quentin in 1557.
The colony he helped establish in Brazil was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1560.
He was a cousin of the Catholic constable, Anne de Montmorency, showing the religious divisions within families.
A statue of him stands in Paris near the site of his assassination, on the Rue de Rivoli.
“I would rather die in honor than live in shame.”
