Gérard du Puy

Gérard du Puy (died 14 February 1389) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XI.

In 1372, du Puy, already abbot of Marmoutier (Italian: abate di Monmaggiore) with the diocese of Tours, France,[1] was named Governor of Perugia and Apostolic Nuncio to Tuscany.

[7] He crushed a peasant uprising in 1371 and constructed a citadel on Sole Hill described by contemporary chroniclers as "the finest fortress in Italy", which took three and a half years to build.

[11] He had been forced to retreat to the citadel (guarded by Bernard de La Salle) along with his military entourage led by William Gold, who had been sent ahead by condottiere John Hawkwood, after crowds gathered in the town chanting "death to the abbot and the pastors of the church.

"[7] Hawkwood waited outside Perugia and camped across the Ponte di San Giovanni with 300 lances while the citizens of Perugia plowed up the roads leading to the citadel and bombarded it with a trebuchet, built by Florentine craftsman Domenico Bonintende, nicknamed cacciaprete (the "priest chaser"), which was said to throw fifteen hundred pound stones, according to local sources, as well as excrement and live animals.