Laurent de Maugiron

Laurent de Maugiron, comte de Montléans was a French military commander and lieutenant-general of Dauphiné during the Italian Wars and French Wars of Religion. Beginning his career during the reign of Henri II he fought at the defence of Metz in 1552, and in the Picardie campaign of 1554. With peace declared in 1559, he returned to Dauphiné, where he worked with the lieutenant-general La Motte Gondrin, in his attempts to stamp out Protestantism in the region.

In April 1562 civil war broke out, and La Motte Gondrin was killed by the rebels under the baron des Adrets. Maugiron found himself promoted to lieutenant-general of the governorship and for the next few months fought a losing battle trying to contain Adrets, before giving up and retreating into Burgundy to link up with Tavanne's forces. Together they achieved more success, capturing Mâcon and Vienne before being drawn away to fight in the northern campaign, serving with distinction at Dreux.

In the peace that followed, Maugiron found his promotion to be ephemeral, and when the court was able to in 1564 he was replaced as lieutenant-general of Dauphiné by the baron de Gordes. Despite this, the two worked together during the second civil war, forcing the Protestants out of Vienne and defeating them shortly thereafter. In the third civil war he fought with the main royal army at the victories of Jarnac and Moncontour.

A perpetrator of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew he found himself again a royal lynchpin in Dauphiné as royal authority collapsed in the late 1570s, utilising local urban rebellions to his own ends to cement royal control over a greater degree of the territory. In 1578 he was made lieutenant-general of Dauphiné for a second time. In 1589 he died.