François de la Noue

François de la Noue (1531 – August 4, 1591), called Bras-de-Fer (Iron Arm), was one of the <a href="/facts/Huguenot/x2FcqQ8J">Huguenot</a> captains of the 16th century. He was born near <a href="/facts/Nantes/nFEAy6uk">Nantes</a> in 1531, of an ancient <a href="/facts/Breton_people/0yN9dlNg">Breton</a> family.
He served in <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italy</a> under <a href="/facts/Charles_I_de_Coss%C3%A9,_Count_of_Brissac/IQKlQIXk">Marshal Brissac</a>, and in the <a href="/facts/French_Wars_of_Religion/43pYXFXr">first Huguenot war</a>, but his first great exploit was the capture of <a href="/facts/Orl%C3%A9ans/4SUnNPuz">Orléans</a> at the head of only fifteen cavaliers in 1567, during the <a href="/facts/French_Wars_of_Religion/43pYXFXr">second war</a>. During the <a href="/facts/French_Wars_of_Religion/43pYXFXr">third war</a>, at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Jarnac/xQnKxK2z">battle of Jarnac</a> in March 1569 he commanded the rearguard, and at <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Moncontour/HRzT5nCL">Moncontour</a> the following October he was taken prisoner; but he was exchanged in time to resume the governorship of <a href="/facts/Poitou/0IneyHsA">Poitou</a>, and to inflict a signal defeat on the royalist troops before Rochefort.
At the siege of Fontenay (1570) his left arm was shattered by a bullet and later amputated; but a mechanic of <a href="/facts/La_Rochelle/L1q2HzF8">La Rochelle</a> made him an artificial iron arm (hence his sobriquet) with a hook for holding his reins. When peace was made in France in the same year, La Noue carried his sword against the Spaniards in the <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Netherlands</a>, but was taken at the recapture of Mons by the Spanish in 1572.
Permitted to return to France, he was commissioned by <a href="/facts/Charles_IX_of_France/5aTPABkd">Charles IX</a>, after the <a href="/facts/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre/96m59BgM">St. Bartholomew's Day massacre</a>, to reconcile the inhabitants of La Rochelle, the great stronghold of the Huguenots, to the king (see <a href="/facts/Siege_of_La_Rochelle_(1572-1573)/rfICQhJc">Siege of La Rochelle (1572-1573)</a>). But the Rochellois were too much alarmed to come to terms; and La Noue, perceiving that war was imminent, and knowing that his post was on the Huguenot side, gave up his royal commission, and from 1574 till 1578 acted as general of La Rochelle.
When peace was again concluded La Noue once more went to aid the <a href="/facts/Protestants/NXja4K3g">Protestants</a> of the <a href="/facts/Low_Countries/umPWQ5hV">Low Countries</a>. In 1579, together with the Englishman <a href="/facts/John_Norris_(soldier)/MTwzK1GB">John Norreys</a>, he led the Dutch States' army at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Borgerhout/jUQhbcWY">Battle of Borgerhout</a>, where <a href="/facts/Alexander_Farnese,_Duke_of_Parma/KuySHb2Q">Alexander Farnese</a>, Spanish Governor of the Netherlands, defeated them. He took several towns and captured Count <a href="/facts/Philip,_Count_of_Egmont/4gqr5IK2">Egmont</a> in 1580; but a few weeks afterwards he fell into the hands of <a href="/facts/Robert_de_Melun/IusCLJ5A">Robert de Melun</a>, a commander in the <a href="/facts/Army_of_Flanders/4QnTdNeV">Army of Flanders</a>. La Noue was imprisoned in <a href="/facts/Duchy_of_Limburg/RImq9u3o">Limburg</a>, and kept confined for five years. Negotiations for his release in exchange for the royalist commander <a href="/facts/Jean_de_Noircarmes/j6Gd16sR">Jean de Noircarmes</a>, who had been captured by forces loyal to <a href="/facts/Francis,_Duke_of_Anjou/KkKxjw1w">Francis, Duke of Anjou</a>, came to nothing.
It was in captivity that La Noue wrote his celebrated Discours politiques et militaires, a work which was published at <a href="/facts/Basel/EzXbzbUx">Basel</a> in 1587, <a href="/facts/La_Rochelle/L1q2HzF8">La Rochelle</a> in 1590, <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a> (in English) in 1587, <a href="/facts/Frankfurt_on_Main/Pw4Xj9A4">Frankfurt on Main</a> (in German) in 1592 and 1612. It had an immense influence on the soldiers of all nations. The abiding value of La Noue's Discourses lies in the fact that he wrote of war as a human drama, before it had been elaborated and codified.
At length, in June 1585, La Noue was exchanged for Philip, Count of Egmont and other important prisoners, while a heavy ransom and a pledge not to bear arms against the King of Spain were also exacted from him. Between 1586 and 1589 La Noue lived in <a href="/facts/Geneva/14gXxjcq">Geneve</a> and took no part in public matters, but in that year he joined <a href="/facts/Henry_of_Navarre/IxnNMW0X">Henry of Navarre</a> against <a href="/facts/Catholic_League_(French)/SGtsk89P">the Leaguers</a>. He was present at both sieges of <a href="/facts/Paris/DrNHpwnA">Paris</a>, at <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Ivry/b2nHRkFk">Ivry</a> and other battles. At the siege of Lamballe in <a href="/facts/Brittany/XvquwmIg">Brittany</a> he received a wound of which he died at Moncontour on August 4, 1591.

François de la Noue open-in-new

François de la Noue