François de Beaumont

François de Beaumont, baron des Adrets (c. 1512/1513 – 2 February 1587) was a Provincial military leader.

During the reign of Henry II of France he served with distinction in the royal army and became colonel of the legions of Dauphiné, Provence and Languedoc.

[4] Catherine de Medici saw an opportunity for him to act as a counterweight in Dauphiné to the powerful Guisard governor, La Motte-Gondrin, and covertly reached out to him.

He entered the city the next day, plundering the church, and allegedly threw the priest and churchwarden from the belfry.

[8][9] In November, he met the Duke of Nemours, besieged in Vienne, who offers him the title of governor of Dauphiné.

His brutal style of warfare alienated even many Huguenot supporters of the rebellion against the crown, and he was informed of intercepted letters between Coligny and Soubise, criticising his conduct.

[5].On 10 January 1563 he was arrested on suspicion of plotting to hand his forces over to the crown by his lieutenants Mauvans and Montbrun and confined in the citadel of Nîmes.

[4] He was liberated at the edict of Amboise in the following March, and, finding few friends among Protestant or Catholic factions, he retired to his château of La Frette.

[5] Sensing a change in the political tides, the Baron soon left the Protestant religion and returned to Catholicism.

He considered the undertaking difficult and advised Claude de La Châtre, governor of Berry, to retire.