Coligny, Gaspard de Châtillon, seigneur de

(1519-1572)

   admiral, Protestant leader

   Born in Châtillon-sur-Loing, Gaspard de Châtillon, seigneur de Coligny was born into the French aristocracy and was raised in the Catholic faith. Early in his career, he found favor with the royal court, being named admiral and governor of piCARDY.He was responsible for a number of military victories (Renty), until he was captured by the Spanish at Saint-Quentin (1557). Shortly after, he converted to Protestantism and, with the prince of condé, became the principal leader of the HUGUENOTS.In 1560, Catherine de' medici conspired with Coligny against the Catholic guise family. The plot failed, but Coligny, in the Treaty of Amboise (1563), gained some degree of religious freedom for the Protestants. He played a major role in the subsequent religious wars (Battles of Jarnac and Mon-contour, devastation of guyenne and Languedoc), which finally ended in 1570 with the Treaty of Saint Germain. Catherine, however, alarmed by Coligny's influence over her young son, charles ix and over Henri de Navarre (later henry iv), plotted with the Guises and prompted her son to agree to the massacre of August 24, 1572 (see saint Bartholomew's day massacre), in which Coligny and thousands of other Protestants were slain.