César Phoebus d'Albret, Count of Miossens

César Phoebus d'Albret, comte de Miossens[1] (1614 – 3 September 1676), was a French soldier, a Marshal of France under Louis XIV (his distant cousin), and a court gallant.

His faithful attachment to Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin during the Fronde, rather than any military talent, motivated his designation as a marshal of France (1 June 1653).

[2] He first took up arms in the service of the United Provinces, under Maurice of Nassau and Jean de Werth in the Eighty Years' War against the Spanish in the Low Countries.

As a Captain in the regiment of Guards in 1639, he became successively ensign then Lieutenant of the Gendarmes de la Garde ordinaire du Roi in 1644, and second-in-command during the Fronde.

In 1675 he conducted a veritable campaign, pursued with energy, against the public uprising at Bordeaux over taxes on timber and tobacco, and successfully demolished the Porte Sainte Croix and 500 toises of the city ramparts.

Portrait of César Phoebus, duc d'Albret, in the Musée de Versailles [ 4 ]