Henri Ébrard, Seigneur de Saint-Sulpice
French noble / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henri Ébrard, seigneur de Saint-Sulpice (c. 1553 – 20 December 1576) was a French noble and favourite of king Henri III during the French Wars of Religion. Coming from a leading family in the Quercy, Saint-Sulpice's father, Jean Ébrard, Seigneur de Saint-Sulpice was a client of Constable Montmorency and then Catherine de Medici, serving as an ambassador and governor to the young prince Alençon, brother to the king.
Henri Ébrard | |
---|---|
seigneur de Saint-Sulpice comte de Nègrepelisse jure uxoris | |
Born | 1553 |
Died | 20 December 1576, Blois |
Noble family | House of Ébrard |
Spouse(s) | Catherine de Carmaing |
Father | Jean Ébrard, Seigneur de Saint-Sulpice |
Mother | Claude de Gontaut |
In his father's capacity as governor to the prince he was raised alongside Alençon, and learnt the noble trades with him. In 1570 he formerly entered the prince's household as a gentilhomme ordinaire. In 1572 the king made him a gentilhomme de chambre, inheriting his father's tenure in that office. He fought at the siege of La Rochelle during which his brother was killed. At this time the king's other brother Anjou, future Henri III began to draw him away from Alençon into his service. With Anjou's election as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth later that year, he travelled with Anjou to the east. Through the intermediary action of Retz he became close to the king, and was made a gentilhomme de chambre in his capacity as king of the Commonwealth.
Upon his return to France, he fought in the fifth war of religion, as a commander in his father's ordinance company. He fought at the Battle of Dormans in which the duke of Guise vanquished a German mercenary force that had invaded the kingdom. Alençon was frustrated that Saint-Sulpice had defected from him, and tried to win back his favour through an appointment of Saint-Sulpice as his chamberlain, with an expanded income. In 1576 he led a company of light horse, subsidised by the king. That December an Estates General was held as a term of the Peace of Monsieur. Convinced to attend by François d'O, Saint-Sulpice was again propositioned by Alençon to return to his service, but he rebuffed the prince. A short while later, after a quarrel with one of Alençon's favourites, Saint-Sulpice was lured into a trap and murdered on 20 December.