Charles de Brissac

Charles de Cossé, comte de Brissac (1505 (O.S.)/06 — 1563), was a French courtier and soldier, named beau Brissac at court and remembered as the Maréchal Brissac. A member of the nobility of Anjou, he was appointed in 1540 to his father's prestigious former post of Grand Falconer of France, one of the Great Officers of the Maison du Roi. This was not purely honorary, as the king still hunted with falcons. Brissac was also Grand Panetier, and his position as colonel general of the cavalry (1548–49) was a court appointment. Raised to Marshal of France in 1550, he was Grand Master of the Artillery. He was eventually given the title of Count of Brissac. His son, Charles II de Cossé, became the first Duke of Brissac.

The son of René de Cossé, seigneur of Brissac and of Cossé in Anjou, grand fauconnier du Roi, and of his wife Charlotte de Gouffier, he was an enfant d'honneur in the household of the dauphin François, son of King François I. The young prince made him his premier écuyer.

Not robust by nature, he made himself an agile swordsman and horseman. Sent to the siege of Naples in 1528, he made a name for himself when his forces were being attacked by the Spanish. Upon embarking from the galleys, he was forced back to the shore's edge. There, helmetless and without his cuirass, afoot, sword in hand, he made prisoner the armed knight on horseback who attacked him. Later, he commanded a hundred light cavalry at the taking of Avigliana and at the castle of Susa in 1537.

Grand fauconnier de France since 1540, he was named in 1542 as colonel général des gens de guerre français, à pied, de là les monts. At the siege of Perpignan, fighting under the new Dauphin (later King Henri II), he covered himself with glory when the besieged forces surprised the unwary young nobles engaged in gaming in the Dauphin's tent, defended the pieces of artillery until the infantry regrouped and relieved him.

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