Charles de Coligny

Charles de Coligny (1564-1632) was a member of the house of Coligny. The youngest of the three children of Gaspard II de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval, he became marquis of Coligny-le-Vieux, Andelot and Saint-Bris, baron of Lanty and lord of Dinteville, Dannemarie, Auxon and Cusey. He was the only one of Gaspard and Charlotte's children to be baptized a Protestant and the only one to convert to Roman Catholicism.

He was captured after the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre and imprisoned in Marseille until freed in May 1576. He then fought for the King of Navarre alongside his brother in the Rouerge and Languedoc. In August 1577 he and his brother recaptured the town of Mauguio and Charles was left behind to garrison it. In June 1585 he raised an infantry regiment and led it on campaign in Languedoc until 1587 as part of the duke of Montmorency's force. He fought alongside Lesdiguières in summer 1587 in the Dauphiné, Savoy and Vivarais.

He was captured again in July 1590 during the siege of Paris, before switching to the Catholic League and converting to Roman Catholicism. He based himself in Lyon and was imprisoned for a time at Pierre Scize on the orders of the duke of Nemours in 1593. IN 1596 he became a gentleman in ordinary to Henry IV of France. In 1598 he was made a maréchal de camp, in 1604 governor of Langres and in 1608 lieutenant general to the government of Champagne - he gave up the lieutenancy generalship in 1615 in favour of his eldest son. From 1615 to 1616 he was put in command of a small force sent against the rebel princes such as Luxembourg in the Champagne - commanding 2,500 infantry and 600 cavalry he besieged Varennes and Soyeras in Bassigny then Brienne and Rosnay. In 1617 he was made freeholder of Coligny-le-Vieil and Andelot by Archduke Albert. Coligny-le-Vieux and Andelot were promoted into marquisates in his favour, but in 1629 he sold them both to his cousin Clériadus de Coligny. On 31 December 1619 he was made a knight of the orders of the Holy Spirit and of Saint Michael.

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