Guy de Daillon

Guy de Daillon
comte du Lude
Rendition of Lude's coat of arms
Died	c. 1585
Father	Jean de Daillon

Guy de Daillon, comte du Lude (-c. 1585)^[1] was a French governor and military commander during the French Wars of Religion. The son of Jean de Daillon, governor of Poitou from 1543 to 1557, Lude inherited his position in the province, becoming governor shortly after his father's death. In 1560 the province, which had been a subsidiary governorship under the governorship of Guyenne was reconfigured to an autonomous entity, and given to Antoine of Navarre to buy his loyalty to the Guise regime. Resultingly Lude was given the role of lieutenant-general of the province instead of governor. However this was functionally a promotion as, when governor of Poitou previously he was subordinate to Navarre's authority in Guyenne. Now when Navarre was absent he had the powers of an autonomous governor.

He worked to suppress the Conspiracy of Amboise in the governorship when it arose in 1562 and after Navarre's death during the first war of religion he became the governor of Poitou. Lude was a client of the Guise, and as such during their feud with the House of Montmorency he supported them, swearing to pursue vengeance against the 'killers' of the duc de Guise down to the fourth generation. However this support never materialised in a practical sense and he remained a loyal governor. During the third war of religion the fighting moved into Poitou and when the main Protestant army under Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny moved to besiege Poitiers, Lude vigorously defended the town in alliance with Henri I, Duke of Guise successfully repulsing an assault and forcing the rebels to disengage to face the main royal army under Anjou where they were crushed at Moncontour.

Lude's authority in Poitou was challenged by the militant Catholic hatred of the Peace of Monsieur, with one of his subordinate governors founding a Catholic League to oppose the terms in Fontenay. Lude was displeased with this development, refusing the offer to head the Ligue himself and would spend the next decade trying to best his subordinate governor. He campaigned for the abolishment of the subordinate governor role inside his governorship but was unsuccessful. In 1585 he died and was succeeded to his governorship by his brother-in-law Malicorne.