BLAISE OF MONLUC was born in 1500 at the family home in the village of Saint Puy .

 

His great grandfather, Pierre of LASSERAN MASSENCOME,  Lord of  MONLUC, had been given the château and its land in Saint Puy (County of GAURE) around the date of 1470 by Charles of ALBRET,  who was at the time the Lord of the manor.

 

Towards 1500, the MONLUC property had diminished considerably and the little « Blaizot », eldest son of four girls and six boys was obliged to leave his birthplace, even though he was only ten years old (approximately 1510-1511) to join the court of Lorraine where he had a position waiting for him as page boy for the Duchess Renée of LORRAINE.

 

Like all the young people of his time, he aspired to be a young go-getter which gained him admiration from his elders.  It was the period of the famous Italian wars for which they adopted the charming euphemism « trips to Italy ».  As soon as he was old enough to carry a weapon Blaise left to ‘conquer the world’ or, less romantically, to fight on the battlefields of Italy.

           

At the time, it was quite inappropriate for a young gentleman to serve as a foot soldier, known nowadays as the infantry.  It is a well known fact that it was the cavalry who were the chosen arm of the nobility.

 

Despite a disappointing start (he was defeated at Bicoque in 1522 and taken prisoner in Pavie in 1525 where, too poor to pay the ransom, he had to be released – a severe humiliation for a young, proud Gascon!) the fiery southern temperament of  MONLUC with his strong leadership qualities and sense of initiative earned him rapid recognition from his superiors.

 

During 40 years, Blaise of MONLUC faithfully served his kings following the army’s fortunes during the campaign of Piémont, Cérisoles, Boulogne, and the defence of Sienna against the troops of Charles Quint.

 

Between each campaign he came back to Gascony to heal his serious wounds, but was always ‘chomping at the bit’ with impatience to return to the fray,  as his courage was handsomely rewarded.  Meanwhile,  his family responsibilities grew with his first marriage in 1526 producing 4 boys and 3 girls.  A second union in 1564 gave him another 3 daughters.  At this point he acquired both royal favour and disgrace, one due to his merits and the other because of his fiery disposition.  By his own admission he was quick-tempered, a trait moderated on occasion by his diplomatic brother Jean, bishop of Valence (Department of the Drome) altogether a brilliant and more subtle man.

 

After several false starts, the first religious revolts in Aquitaine broke out in 1561, and on the King’s orders - in reality, those of the Queen Mother, Catherine of  MEDICIS - MONLUC energetically led the restoration of royal authority.  He was accorded the governorship of Guyenne, until the country’s peace was regained, at which time his title was removed.  This saddened him greatly, once again confirming, at his expense, the many deceptions of man.

 

After ten years of civil war, overshadowed on both sides by  bloody episodes, MONLUC was left disillusioned and ageing.  By then, he was 70 and had suffered a terrible injury in the siege of Rabastens.  However, still ardent in spirit, he wrote his ‘commentaries’ which, rich in concrete detail and practical advice,  was hailed as the « Soldiers Bible » by Henry IV.

 

An abundance of his own correspondence, and that of friends and enemies, illustrates another side of this character, often let down by his contemporaries and by the 19^th Century.  Later on, he was even compared unfairly to Agrippa of Aubigné, the terrible baron of the Adrets.

 

MONLUC received the title of Field Marshall of France in 1574, a late reward for a life spent in service to his Kings.  He died in 1577.

 

Blaise of MONLUC, was without doubt a formidable warrior, coming from an age full of ‘noise and fury’, but equally he was a humanist,  surrounded by a Gascony that certain great travellers have described as the « TUSCANY OF FRANCE».

           

MONLUC is certainly the man who was responsible for modelling the landscape and the ‘art de vivre’ in Gascony.  Accompanied by the Gascon captains during the Italian campaigns, they brought back with them from Tuscany a style of living that they adopted in their châteaux  and their way of life.  They opened up the wide windows and blocked up the medieval openings.  Even the defences and the surrounding walls were built with aesthetic care.  They created beautiful gardens, planted with new varieties of trees.

 

Of course, it was not all peaceful during this time of ‘modernism’.  The rapier, a long narrow bladed sword, the ancestor of the Musketeers’ épée was still in use a century later.  This weapon, invented by the German armourers of Charles Quint, was made with blades of steel from Toledo in Spain, and adopted by the Gascons that fought in Italy.  With its slenderness and ease of manoeuvrability, the rapier was truly the original weapon from which the fencing foil evolved in the following centuries.