Louis de Saint-Gelais

Louis de Saint-Gelais, seigneur de Lanssac and baron de La Mothe-Saint-Héray was a French noble, soldier, governor, and diplomat during the latter Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion. Probably the bastard son of the French king Francis I and Jacquette de Lanssac, Louis split his time between Guyenne and the French court. In 1536 he was established as the capitaine de Bourg in Guyenne. He undertook military service against the Holy Roman Emperor in the Italian Wars. By the time of the reign of Francis' son Henry II which began in 1547, Lanssac's particular aptitude for diplomacy saw him transfer to a primarily diplomatic career. He was sent as an extraordinary ambassador for the negotiations that ended the war of the Rough Wooing in 1550. He was then employed for several missions in the Holy Roman Emperor as Henry looked to resume the Italian Wars in 1552, though these were largely unsuccessful. That year he undertook his first diplomatic service to the Papal States for the ratification of a truce between France and the Papacy. On his way back to France he would become a protagonist in the rebellion of Siena against Spanish rule, and the establishment of French protection for the republic. As the ordinary French ambassador in Rome found himself losing favour, Lanssac was selected to replace him in the charge in 1553. He thus played a central role in the crisis of Siena that culminated in 1554 with the disastrous French loss at Marciano, shortly after which he became a prisoner of the duke of Florence. Released before the end of the year he would serve again as an extraordinary ambassador to the Papacy on occasion. At the end of 1556, Lanssac seriously alienated the Pope's nephew the cardinale di Carafa and thus was relieved of his responsibilities. He participated in the duc de Montmorency's disastrous Picard campaign that culminated in the spectacular French defeat at Saint-Quentin after which he was again made prisoner.