Jacques II de Chabanne de La Palis

In the service of Charles VIII, first combat feats

The son of Geoffrey de Chabanne and his wife Charlotte de Pry, the grandson of Jacques I de Chabannes , who was a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc , Jacques at the age of 15 entered the service of Charles VIII , who was his peer. The first participation in hostilities took place on July 28, 1488 at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier as part of the French troops under the command of La Tremuille , whose further fate is similar to his own. The French victory over the Bretons in this battle marked the end of the Crazy War .

He married for the first time in January 1492 to Jeanne de Montbronn, daughter of chamberlain Eustache de Montbronn, Viscount Onet , Senor de Montbronn , Baron de Math , and Margarita d'Ester-Saint-Megin.

In 1494, he followed the king to Italy to conquer the Kingdom of Naples . First, he fights in the Duchy of Asti in Valenza , Torton and Alessandria . In October, La Palis in Milan , whose duke Lodovico Sforza joined the king of France. In February 1495, he participated in the capture of Naples . On July 6, while returning to France, La Palis met with the forces of the Venetian League at the Battle of Fornovo , which strengthened his reputation.

In the service of Louis XII, commander

After the death of Charles VIII in 1498, La Palis accompanies the new King Louis XII to Milan. The king really had reason to claim this duchy and had already attacked Novara at a time when his predecessor and cousin, in alliance with the duke of Milan, had conquered Naples . Milan was taken in October 1499 , and Sforza was defeated and captured in Novara in April 1500 . The following year, La Palis captures many settlements in Abruzzo and Puglia and in 1502 becomes vice-king of Abruzzo. The following year, during the siege of Ruvo di Puglia ( Battle of Ruvo ), he was defeated and captured by Gonzalo de Cordova , and was released from captivity only in 1504 . Then his wife died.

Upon returning to service, he commanded the French troops during the siege of Genoa in 1507 , where he was seriously wounded. During the Cambrian League war against Venice, La Palis participated in the siege of Trevillo in 1509 and in the battle of Anjadello . Then becomes the commander of the French forces in Lombardy . Sent to the aid of Emperor Maximilian I , he leads the siege of Padua , but to no avail. In 1511 , during a conflict with the Spaniards and Pope Julius II , he replaced the deceased Chaumont d'Amboise at the head of the French troops in Italy. He also receives at the court the prestigious position of the chief manager of the French Court ( French Grand Maître de France ).

When the young Gaston de Foix arrives in Italy to take command of the French troops, La Palis helps him. At his command, he rushes to the aid of Bologna , besieged by Spanish troops. He managed to lift the siege, and on April 11, 1512 he participated in the battle of Ravenna . The French defeated the Spaniards, but de Foix died in the battle, and La Palis took command of the French forces in Italy. However, the siege of Ravenna dragged on, and the enemy again seized the initiative in Lombardy.

Upon his return to France in the fall, he was sent to the Pyrenees to help King of Navarre, Jean d'Albret , and then, even before the end of the case, to Terouan , at that time the only French possession in Artois (France owned it from the time of the Arras peace in 1482 ), to counter the English troops of Henry VIII . On August 6, 1513, the French were defeated at the Battle of Ginegate , and La Palis was wounded and captured. As a result, Teruan retreated to the British, Jean d'Albre of Navarre lost his possessions for the Pyrenees in favor of the Spaniards, who completed their unification, and the Dijon Treaty on September 14, 1513 secured the defeat of the French and the collapse of the Italian dream of Louis XII. Soon after the conclusion of peace, La Palis was released and returned to his possessions in the castle of Lapalis . In February 1514, he married Maria de Melon, from whom he will have four children.

Serving Francis I, Veteran

King Louis XII died on January 1, 1515 . He was succeeded by his cousin Francis I. Seeking to benefit first of all his associates, he ousted La Palis from the position of chief manager, appointing Arthur Gouffier de Boisy to her . Nevertheless, the new king appreciated the outstanding figures of the previous reign, and on the same day ( January 7 ) appointed La Palis as Marshal of France .

Francis I, claiming in turn the rights to Milan, embarked on a new war. The French army invaded Piedmont through the Alps . The vanguard under the command of La Palis passed through the Argentiere pass, taking the Swiss and Italians by surprise, and captured Villafranca , defeating and capturing the Italian general Prospero Colonna . He pursued the enemy all the way to Milan and was one of the advisers to Francis I during the Battle of Marignano . After Charles III de Bourbon , France’s constable , secured the French victory by signing the Treaty of Noyon , La Palis returned to France.

Then he is present in Calais at peace talks with the envoys of Emperor Charles V (meeting on the Golden Brocade Field ). Without waiting for the negotiations to finish, he leaves for Italy and, under the command of Marshal de Lautrec, commands the main line of the French troops at the Battle of Bicocca ( 1522 ), where the French were defeated by Prospero Colonna.

Soon after returning, he again in the Pyrenees helps Fuentarrabia , quite successfully. Then, by order of the Connable de Bourbon, La Palis lifts the siege of Marseille , takes possession of Avignon , and then leads the French army to Milan, abandoned by the Spaniards. On October 28, 1524, he and the king launched a siege of Pavia , defended by the Spaniards Antonio de Leiva . The imperial army under the command of Fernando d'Avalos , Charles de Lannoy and the French connetable, who came under the banner of Charles V, his second overlord in the Dominic principality , since Francis I deprived him of all ranks and possessions and annexed Bourbon and Auvergne to the crown of France, soon arrived for decisive reinforcements of the Spaniards. La Palis will be killed and Francis I captured by the soldiers of Charles de Bourbon.

On February 24, 1525, the battle of Pavia takes place directly under the walls of the city. La Palis as a veteran of Italian wars is one of the closest advisers to the king. However, he did not succeed in stopping the latter from giving a signal to the cavalry attack, nullifying the possibility of the use of artillery by Galio de Genuillac . Like many others, under the fire of the arquebusiers, La Palis was left without a horse and had to fight on foot in heavy weapons with lightly armed Landsknechts . After a courageous fight, he was captured by the Italian captain Castaldi, but the Spanish officer Buzarto, who also expected to capture La Palis, angry that the Italian refused to share the award with him, put the arquebus to the marshal's face and shot him in the head.

His widow, Maria de Melon, in 1530 ordered the construction of a beautiful tomb in the chapel of Lapalis Castle, which would be looted during the Revolution . The authors of the idea of ​​the monument probably belong to the workshop of Justy, Florentine artists who are co-authors of the tomb of Louis XII in Saint-Denis . Some details of this tomb were thrown in the inn. Baron de Monfocon, then mayor of Avignon, saw these fragments in 1830 and purchased them for 60 francs, which corresponds to approximately the current 300 euros ^[1] . He handed over these fragments to the Calvet Museum in Avignon, where they can be seen.

The surviving part of the tomb is made of alabaster and belongs to the main part of the composition, which was much larger. On fragments, you can see three of the four main virtues :

• The figure of Prudence was to hold a mirror in her right hand; her left hand rests on the skull, a symbol of the vanity of being.
• The figure of Courage extracts from the tower, symbolizing the soul of a Christian, sin in the form of a dragon, whose head is lost.
• Justice holds a sword along his arm; in her left hand, by tradition, she must hold the scales.
• Moderation, usually depicted with a horse’s bit, has been lost.

A statement or remark that reflects the obvious or reveals that which is not hidden. The term comes from the name of Jacques de La Palis (or La Palissa), to whom the words are dedicated: "Alas, if he were not dead, he would be envied." An incorrect reading of the second line (“ Il serait encore en vie ” instead of “ Il ferait encore envie ”) gives the option: “Alas, if he were not dead, / He would still be alive”, which makes the phrase self-evident.

Much later, a popular song about La Palis appeared, teeming with such obvious statements. The song, composed by Bernard de La Monnoy In the XVIII century, has the words: “ Un quart d'heure avant sa mort, il était encore en vie ” (“A quarter of an hour before his death, he was still alive”).

Scarlet ; Ermeline lion, armed, with a protruding tongue and a golden crown . Shield bearer : two greyhounds. Motto : NULLI CEDO or NO ANYTHING ^[2] .

Of the genus de Chabanne , descending along the male line from the Barons de Mata , the eldest branch of the counts of Angouleme , and along the female line from the gentlemen de Chabanne and de Confolan .

• The son of Geoffrey de Chabanne and Charlotte de Pry
• Grandson of Jacques I de Chabanne de La Palis , Chief Executive Officer of France
• Grand-nephew of Antoine de Chabannes , Count de Dammartin and Chief Executive Officer of France
• Brother of Jean de Chabanne, called the Little Lion, who died in Italy at Robecco d'Ollo in 1524 , at the same time and side by side with Chevalier Bayard .

• The first marriage in January 1492 with Jeanne de Montbron (d. 1504), daughter of Eustache de Montbron, Viscount Onet , Senor de Montbron , Baron de Mat , adviser and chamberlain of the king, and Margarita d'Ester-Saint-Megin, without offspring.
• Second marriage February 20, 1514 with Maria de Melon, Madame de Montmirail and de Monrica, daughter of Jean III de Melon (before 1460 - July 29, 1504), Senor d'Epinois and d'Antoang, and Isabella of Luxembourg , Madame de heiress de Ricbur . Children:
  • Charles de Chaban, Senor de La Palis, died in 1551 , the father of Antoine de Chaban (did not leave offspring) and Suzanne de Chaban, who married in 1567 to Jean Olvier, son of Francois Olivier .
  • 4 daughters

Today's mayor of Lapalis, Jacques de Chaban, is his direct descendant. He is also the general counselor of the canton and vice president of the General Council of Allier, in charge of culture and cultural heritage.

• Jean-Charles Varennes, Le Maréchal de La Palice ou le dernier des chevaliers français , Paris, Librairie académique Perrin, 1989, 214 p., Ill. ISBN 2-262-00709-8
• Dante Zanetti, Vie, mort et transfiguration du Seigneur de La Palice , éditions Il Mulino, Bologne, 1992 ( ISBN 88-15-03747-0 )

• Familles subsistantes de la noblesse française (Fr.)