Guy de Saint-Gelais | |
|---|---|
| seigneur de Lanssac | |
 Coat of Arms of the Lusignan Saint-Gelais family | |
| Born | 3 December 1544 |
| Died | August 1622 |
| Noble family | Saint-Gelais |
| Spouse(s) | Antoinette Raffin (m. 1571, separated 1585) |
| Issue Detail |
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| Father | Louis de Saint-Gelais |
| Mother | Jeanne de La Roche-Andry |
Guy de Saint-Gelais, seigneur de Lanssac (3 December 1544 – August 1622) was a French courtier, soldier, governor and rebel during the French Wars of Religion. The son of Louis de Saint-Gelais and Jeanne de La Roche-Andry, Lanssac inherited a strong position at the French court due to the great favour of his father. In the mid-1560s he undertook several diplomatic missions to the Holy Roman Empire, participated in the early civil wars in France fighting for the royalists, and undertook an expedition to Malta. In 1570 he was established as governor of Blaye, an important fortress town on the Gironde. With various other grandees he helped organise a naval armada in 1572, though it would ultimately be co-opted by the crown. In 1572 he entered the entourage of the king's brother the duc d'Anjou, and the following year he would participate in the successful effort to see Anjou elected as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In 1574, king Charles IX died, and Anjou returned to France to succeed him as Henri III. Lanssac was disappointed not to receive the reward he envisioned for helping in Anjou's election. In 1575, Lanssac became vice-amiral de Guyenne . During the sixth French War of Religion in 1577 he participated in the successful siege of the strategically valuable fortress town of Brouage and was rewarded with the governorship of the place. He then involved himself in several abortive naval plans, first one against Spanish colonial possessions, and then another against Cyprus. At the end of 1578 he was pressured to sell the governorship of Brouage. In 1579 he involved himself in a treasonous plot with the Spanish king Felipe II to conquer the Moroccan city of Al Araish, though this was quickly uncovered. He was pressured to divest himself of his governorship of Blaye. During the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 he involved himself in the planned French expedition to the Açores in favour of the prior do Crato. However, he became frustrated with the expeditions leader, Strozzi and would not participate in the expedition. His relations with king Henri reached a breaking point after he tried to launch a coup against Saint-Jean-d'Angély. He turned to the king's brother, Alençon, with an ambitious proposal to conquer Spanish colonial-possessions, however this was rejected. With the death of Alençon, the heir to the throne was the Protestant king of Navarre. Lanssac joined with the Catholic ligue (league) that rejected this succession. He helped facilitate the coordination of the ligue with the Spanish crown, and fought alongside the ligue against the French crown in 1585, though his military efforts were largely foiled. After peace was re-established between Henri and the ligue, Lanssac continued to engage in naval piracy against English shipping, much to the king's frustration.
After the king assassinated the leader of the ligue, the duc de Guise in 1588, Lanssac and the other ligueurs (leaguers) entered war with the crown. Lanssac operated first in Maine in 1589, though he was arrested by a fellow commander. Escaping this he moved to Bretagne where he helped the Spanish conquer the port of Le Blavet on the mouth of the river Blavet. He then travelled to España where he made elaborate proposals for the conquest of France to the Spanish king. These were rebuffed by Felipe, and Lanssac returned to France to work with his half-brother the bishop of Comminges in organising the southern Campanère Ligue on the Spanish border. He and his brother remained loyal to the ligue as the war against the crown slowly turned in the favour of the king of Navarre who, now Henri III had died styled himself Henri IV. In 1594 he and his brother made their capitulation to the crown and begged for mercy. Lanssac's defection came too late for him to enjoy royal favour from Henri. Around 1597 he made an elaborate proposal for Henri to invade España that was rebuffed. For much of his career he had been plagued by his debts, and by now his wife had separated from him. He spent the last decades of his life without significant office, and wracked by debt. In 1603 he stormed his wife's château in frustration at her separation from him. Throughout his final years he maintained his contacts with the Spanish crown, and continued to ask for money from the Spanish ambassador. He died in obscurity in 1622.