Léonor Chabot
Léonor Chabot, comte de Charny and Busançais was a French noble, military commander, lieutenant-general and royal courtier during the reigns of Charles IX, Henri III and Henri IV. The son of the Admiral of France and Françoise de Longwy Charny was elevated rapidly, being inducted into the royal chivalric order of Saint-Michel in 1555. In 1571 he became lieutenant-general of Bourgogne, succeeding his uncle-in-law Marshal Tavannes, he quickly followed this by succeeding to one of the great offices of state, that of Grand Écuyer, a charge previously held by his father-in-law the sieur de Boisy. During the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre he protected the Protestants of Dijon. In 1578 he became a conseiller d'État and seneschal of Bourgogne.
During the crisis of the Catholic ligue he was looked to by the court to be a reliable royalist and oppose the ligueur governor duc de Mayenne under whom he was technically subordinate. Charny had a key role to play in the crisis that followed the deposition of the ligueur aligned governor of Auxonne in November 1585, acting as the protector of Henri's interests in the governate. He first tried to appeal to the city, but when that failed Henri appointed him temporary governor of the city while the ligueur baron de Sennecey would assume more permanent command. He was refused entry to Auxonne however, and the city began to arm for its defence, much to his annoyance. The king resolved to force the town back into obedience, and Charny was tasked with supporting the siege of the city. However neither he nor the king were particularly interested in seeing the siege brought to a rapid conclusion, that might benefit the ligue and therefore his force was too weak to conduct a siege. The city was negotiated into surrender in August 1586. In early 1589 Charny sold the office of grand écuyer to the new royal favourite the baron de Termes, he was soon afterwards forcefully dispossessed of the lieutenant-generalcy of Bourgogne by the rebellious duc de Mayenne, who installed the seigneur de Fervaques in his stead. In 1597 he died, and was succeeded by his five surviving daughters to his lands.
Early life and family
Léonor Chabot was the son of Philippe de Chabot, the Admiral of France and Françoise de Longwy the dame de Pagny.Marriages and children
He was married twice, first in February 1549 to Claude Gouffier, the daughter of the grand écuyer of France, Claude Gouffier. His second marriage was to Françoise de Rye. Across the two marriages he would have six daughters:- Catherine Chabot married in 1576 the prominent member of the noblesse seconde of Bourgogne, Guillaume de Saulx who would serve as lieutenant in the company of the governor of Bourgogne the duc de Mayenne. Guillaume de Saulx was the eldest son of the Marshal de Tavannes.
- Charlotte Chabot was married in 1578 to the son of one of the lieutenant-generals of Normandie, Jacques Le Veneur. The couple had issue.
- Marguerite Chabot, was married to the duc d'Elbeuf in February 1583. Charny agreed that he would as part of the arrangement cede his control over the grand écuyer title to the house of Lorraine. She also brought the seigneurie of Pagny with her, and a lump sum of 12,000 livres
- Catherine Chabot married in 1584 to Claude de Vergy, she would die without the couple having had issue.
- Françoise Chabot whose marriage was arranged in 1588 with the son of the chancellor of France Cheverny, Henri Hurault. This marriage was very prestigious for Cheverny to be married into a family of Chabot's stock.
- Léonore Chabot married Christophe de Rie, the comte de Varas in 1598.
Reign of Henri II
Reign of Charles IX
From 1564 to 1546 the court undertook a grand tour of the kingdom at the instigation of the queen mother Catherine who desired to re-establish royal authority throughout the realm, which had been shaken by the recent civil war, and to ensure the Peace of Amboise which had brought the conflict to a close was being properly enforced. While the court was passing through Bourgogne, Charny ensured they crossed the Saône by boat so they could spend some time at his château de Pagny at the end of May, before they continued on their way down to Provence.Lieutenant-general
Charny succeeded Marshal Tavannes to the charge of lieutenant-general of Bourgogne in 1570. He initially served under the governor the duc d'Aumale who was fairly hands off in his governance of Bourgogne, however upon Aumale's death in 1573 he was succeeded by his nephew, the duc de Mayenne who was determined to have a far more hands on role in the administration of Bourgogne.Grand Écuyer
In 1571 Charny assumed the responsibilities of one of the great offices of the crown, that of Grand Écuyer, he succeeded the sieur de Boisy who had died in possession of the office in December 1570. As Grand Écuyer, Charny was sometimes referred to as seigneur le Grand.After the occasion of Charles IX's marriage to queen Elisabeth it was decided that both Charles and Elisabeth would have solemn entries into the capital. This was a great occasion, designed to celebrate the return of peace and the unity of the houses of Valois and Habsburg. This was a grand occasion, and in March 1571 the king made his entry. A procession featuring the bourgeois of Paris, the prévot des marchands, the officers of the Châtelet, the members of the parlement of Paris, the garde des sceaux, the gentilhomme de la chambre du roi, the chevaliers of the Ordre de Saint-Michel and the Swiss guard followed. Behind them the king's parade horses, the grand écuyer Charny, the grand maître Guise and finally the king who proceeded into the city under a canopy held by four échevins of Paris.
Massacre of St Bartholomew's Day
Charny was in the governate of Bourgogne during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572. He ordered all the Protestants of Dijon present themselves before the hôtel de ville the following day to present themselves to the magistrates. They were then moved to the keep of the château of Dijon for their protection.According to a later account written by a councillor in the Dijon Parlement named Pierre Jeannin Charny received two nobles in the city from Paris who claimed to carry orders from the king ordering him to undertake a massacre of the local Protestant population in emulation of what was unfolding in Paris. Charny desired first to consider the matter and summoned Jeannin to a council to discuss how to proceed. Jeannin argued in favour of the 'law of Emperor Theodosius' by which to avoid executing the rash decision of an authority the provincial commander should wait thirty days and then approach the king to find out if it was truly his will. Charny therefore decided not to act on the letter given to him by the nobles, and undertook actions to prevent any disorders emerging in Dijon. This story of Jeannin's has been challenged by David El Kenz, who argues that no contemporary sources mention the arrival of nobles from Paris in Dijon or of Jeannin's supposed speech.
He soon received a letter from the king urging him to keep the peace and protect the Protestants. After a month the Protestants in the keep of the château were released, and they promised to live as good Catholics going forward.
Reign of Henri III
Further advancement
Having returned from his kingship in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth back to take the throne of France as Henri III, Henri changed the holders of many royal offices. While Charny was left as grand écuyer, his subordinate the premier écuyer was changed from the seigneur de Fontaines to the seigneur de Liancourt in 1578. Fontaines was compensated by being made lieutenant-general of Bretagne.That same year, he became the sénéschal of Bourgogne and a conseiller d'État. He was also inducted as a chevalier of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit however he was never received by the Ordre.
Competition for royal favour
Charny found himself involved in the alienation of the royal favourite Saint-Luc from the crown. As part of the agreement for the marriage between Saint-Luc and his wife Jeanne de Brissac, Henri had agreed that Saint-Luc would receive the office of grand écuyer from Charny. However, Charny refused to relinquish the office to him. Saint-Luc was then distraught to learn that Joyeuse, another royal favourite had seduced a daughter of Charny's, and that Charny had indicated his willingness to hand over his charge if Joyeuse married the daughter. Even a year later, when the prospect of a marriage between Joyeuse and Marguerite was no longer going to happen rumours still swirled that Charny might provide the office to Joyeuse. Upon complaining to the king about the various slights he felt he was subject to, Henri told him the promise of the office of grand écuyer had only been presented to him to get him married, and that he should be content in the many other marks of royal favour that he enjoyed. In Le Roux's estimation this social competition was the key factor in Saint-Luc's disgrace.When it came to assessing the threat to the king posed by the Lorraine princes, the secretary of state Villeroy gave the assessment in the spring of 1584 that Guise lacked much credit in his governate of Champagne, and while Mayenne had a little more strength in Bourgogne, Charny was a 'man of honour' who would not fall to any intrigues they might decide to undertake.