Charles de Balsac, baron de Dunes

Charles de Balsac, baron de Dunes (known as Entraguet or ‘the young’) (c. 1547 –c. 1599) was a French noble, governor, soldier and courtier during the French Wars of Religion. The third son of Guillaume de Balsac and Louise d'Humières. By 1571 he had become a gentilhomme de la chambre to the brother of the king, the duke of Anjou, a relationship aided by the two having been classmates at the Collège de Navarre. He fought under the duke at the siege of La Rochelle in 1573 before joining the prince when he was elected as king of the Commonwealth. He served in the new king's household as Chambellan. By the time Anjou returned to France as king Henri III in 1574 he had become one of the king's paramount favourites. This situation would not last and he would be usurped in the attentions of the king by Caylus, a matter he greatly resented. Resultingly he moved into the circle of the House of Lorraine, who his family had long been clients of.

On 27 April 1578 he and Caylus agreed to fight a duel, over an indeterminate slight. Each man brought two seconds from among the favourites of the court, for Caylus, Maugiron and Guy d'Arces. Entraguet meanwhile brought Ribérac and Schomberg. Unusually the seconds would participate in the duel. In the combat that followed four of the men would be killed, with Entraguet killing Caylus. The king was furious at Entraguet for murdering one of his dearest favourites. Henri was not however willing to fully disgrace Entraguet, and over the following years, he continued to receive signs of royal favour, becoming a chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint-Michel in 1580 and then governor of Saint-Dizier in 1586. His proximity to the Lorraine family did not lead to him joining the Catholic ligue that the duke of Guise refounded in 1584. His loyalty was rewarded with the lieutenancy of Orléans in 1588 and then the Orléannais in 1589. Unlike his older brothers he could not countenance service to a Protestant king upon the death of Henri and defected to the ligue. By 1595 he had returned to the royalist cause, and was rewarded by the, now Catholic Henri IV with appointment as a chevalier of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit.