Terme, Paul de la Barth

Son of Jean de la Barta, Señora de Gerisco, and Jeanne de Pegilem, Dame de Thermes. Inherited from his mother the lord Term in Astarak .

About the young years of this famous warrior nothing is known.

In 1522, under the command of André de Foix , Señora de L'Esparre, participated in the march to Navarre . Within a month, the French took Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port , Pamplona and subjugated the whole kingdom. Developing success, L'Esparr invaded Castile and laid siege to Logrono . Soon the Spaniards launched a counterattack, on June 30 they defeated the French army near Pamplona and in a short time drove it out of Navarre.

According to Brantom , de Thermes killed a duel of someone close to the king and was forced to flee from France. He joined the army of Marshal de Lautrec , who besieged Naples in 1528. After the death of the marshal, the remnants of his army in 1529 embarked on the ships of Antoine de Larochefuca. De Thermes had intended to return to France, where his business was settled, but his galley could not catch up with the rest of the fleet and was seized by Berber pirates off the coast of Calabria.

In 1530 he was ransomed from captivity and returned to Paris, where King Francis I gave him a company of Chevolaters . In 1535-1536 as part of the army of Admiral Brion participated in the first French conquest of Piedmont ; During this campaign, gained the reputation of a skilled commander.

In 1537 the Imperials laid siege to Teruan , and de Terme was recalled with his company from Turin to Picardy . Dauphin Francois , who led the defense of the fortress, lacked gunpowder. De Terme and d'Annebo held in the Teruan 200 Chevoliers and 400 arquebusiers with a load of gunpowder.

The French army released the city, and a truce was concluded on June 30, after which de Thermes returned to Piedmont. On November 16, a truce was also reached there, and de Thermes was ordered to remain at the disposal of the governor of Turin, Guillaume du Bellet .

With the beginning of the Ninth Italian War in 1542, he commanded 1,600 Chevolerians during the siege of Perpignan with the troops of the dauphin Heinrich . The following year, with light cavalry, accompanied Marshal d'Annebo in the Piedmont expedition. At the end of the campaign became commandant of Savigliano .

In order to break the enemy’s communications on both banks of the Po , de Thermes decided to destroy the Carignan bridge. Met by a strong fire of the Imperials, the troops retreated in disarray, but he stopped the Chevoljers and supported Montluk , who managed to destroy the crossing.

At the Battle of Cherizol on April 11, 1544, he commanded the cavalry of the right flank. The left wing of the Florentine gendarmes under the command of Ballion went to the flank of the French, who fought with landsknechts. This maneuver was to decide the fate of the battle, but de Thermes dealt a powerful blow to the Florentines, smashed them and knocked them over to the infantry of the Prince of Salerno . Not content with this, he attacked an enemy infantry battalion, but a horse was killed under him, and de Therme was captured in a battle in which he achieved victory. The commander of the French, Count Enghiensky, gave in exchange for him three enemy prisoners of higher rank.

The victory at Cherizola on April 14 led to the surrender of Milan. September 18 was signed peace in Krepi .

On January 1, 1546, de Thermes was appointed Lieutenant General of the Governorate of Piedmont; he occupied the marquis of Saluzzo and in 1547 captured the castle of Ravel, one of the strongest fortifications of Piedmont.

On May 15, 1548, as a lieutenant general, he was sent to replace d'Essay de Montalamberger to command the expeditionary forces in Scotland, acting on the side of Maria de Guise . He continued the success of his predecessor, taking Huntington and other fortifications, held by the British. After signing the peace in May 1550, he returned to France.

He was sent as ambassador to Pope Julius III ; when the papal troops launched a war against the French ally, the Duke of Parma, Ottavio Farnese , the King appointed de Terme as lieutenant-general of the army in Italy on May 3, 1551. De Thermes was besieged by papal forces in Mirandol ; having made a powerful sortie , he managed to break through the orders of the besiegers and go to Parma, where in June he was besieged by the papal and imperial troops under the command of Gonzaga and Marignano. Having organized raids on the papal lands, de Thermes forced the opponents to divide, and the papal troops left to defend their territory.

In September 1551, he made a raid by 500 cavalrymen and broke through the siege. The following year, de Thermes supported the Siena uprising against the emperor and in July sent troops to Siena. On August 5, 1552, the king appointed de Terme a lieutenant-general of the army in Italy and Corsica, and on September 27 he was assigned to command the expedition to Corsica .

In 1553, de Thermes, supported by the Ottoman squadron Turgut-Reis, landed in Corsica, captured Porto-Vecchio , Bastia , Ajaccio , and besieged Bonifacio . He agreed to accept the surrender of the city on moderate terms, which caused discontent of Turgut, which lost production. The Turks left the French, and de Thermes was unable to capture Calvi . Soon the Genoese-Imperial forces of Andrea Doria landed in this port, and military operations on the island continued until 1556.

In 1555, de Terme was recalled from Corsica in Piedmont to replace the sick marshal de Brissac . He managed to hold out against the significant forces of the Spaniards, and on 10 February 1556 he received the county of Commenge as a reward.

In 1557, under the command of de Brissac, he laid siege to Walfener , Cherasco , after which they blocked Fossano , but the defeat at Saint-Quentinus forced the French to evacuate Piedmont.

In 1558 he participated in the siege of Calais by the troops of Francois de Guise . With the Swiss and a few cavalry companies, the siege camp provided communications with the coast and the road to Gin . On January 15, 1558, the king appointed de Terme governor of Calais , Gina and the counties of Ua, and on June 24 he was promoted to marshal of France in the place of Pietro Strozzi .

Having strengthened Calais, the marshal with 12 thousand infantry and 2 thousand cavalry passed through the valley of the river Aa , defeated the local militia trying to block his way, besieged Dunkirk on July 3, took him by storm on the fourth day, sacked and set up a garrison there. When attacking Nieuport, the French, fascinated by the robbery, were attacked on July 13 by the Hispanic-Flemish army by Count Egmont's army near Gravelin . The marshal, wounded in the head, was desperately defending himself, he managed to retreat across the River Aa, but Egmont took a position on the heights, blocking the path to Calais. The British squadron entered the mouth of the river and shelled the right flank of the French, who suffered a severe defeat, losing 2 thousand dead and 3 thousand prisoners. De Thermes was also captured, and released the following year after the conclusion of the Kato-Cambresian peace .

Despite the defeat, for which he received the nickname "Unhappy Captain", de Thermes has maintained a reputation as a major military leader and the confidence of the king, who appointed him governor of Paris and Ile de France .

According to Brantom, de Thermes "was a great captain, awarded with responsible positions and high honors much more than money, since he died in poverty" ^[1] . He was famous for his rationality, and in Piedmont they said: “God preserve us from the wisdom of Mr. de Termes and the courage of Mr. d'Ossen !”, Referring to the most intelligent and bravest of the French commanders ^[2] .

Wife: Margarita de Saluzzo , daughter of Giovanni-Francesco Maria di Saluzzo, Señora de Carde (died 1539), and Philibert Blanche de Miolán (died 1531), heiress of Saluzzo. The second marriage married the grand-nephew of her first husband, Marshal de Belgard .

• Brantôme . Les Vies des Grands capitaines françois // Oeuvres complètes de Pierre de Bourdeille seigneur de Brantôme. T. iv. - P .: Jules Renoird, 1868. , pp. 1–4
• Aubert de la Chesnaye Des Bois F.-A. Dictionnaire de la noblesse. T. ii. - P .: Schlesinger frères, 1863. , pp. 399–400
• Thermes (Paul de La Barthe, seigneur de) // Nouvelle Biographie générale. T. XLV. - P .: Firmin Didot frères, 1866. , pp. 118–119
• Pinard F.-J.-G. Chronologie historique-militaire. T. ii. - P .: Claud Herissant, 1761. , pp. 278–286
• La Roque L. de. Catalog historique des généraux français. - P .: Desaide, 1896. , pp. 54–55