[395] Hector de Pardaillan, Seigneur de Montespan, who died in 1611, at the advanced age of eighty years. He was the father of Antoine-Arnauld de Pardaillan, first Marquis d'Antin, grandfather of Roger-Hector, Marquis d'Antin, great-grandfather of Louis-Henri, Marquis de Montespan, the husband of Franchise Athenais de Rochechouart-Mortemart, the celebrated favourite of Louis XIV. [396] _Mémoires_, p. 55. [397] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 369. [398] _Mémoires_, p. 56. [399] Mézeray, vol. x. p. 365. [400] _Mémoires_, p. 58. [401] Sully, _Mém_. vol. vii. p. 189. [402] Sully, _Mém_. vol. vii. pp. 191, 192. [403] Mézeray, vol. x. pp. 370, 371. [404] Montfaucon, vol. v. p. 425. [405] Daniel, vol. vii. p. 498. [406] Dreux du Radier, vol. vii. pp. 115, 116. [407] Alexandre, Comte d'Elbène, celebrated for his military talent and prowess under Henri III and Henri IV. [408] _Mémoires_, p. 67. [409] François Annibal d'Estrées, Marquis de Coeuvres, subsequently duke, peer, and Marshal of France, was the son of Jean d'Estrées, Grand Master of Artillery, and the representative of an ancient and illustrious family. He was born in 1563, originally entered the Church, and became Bishop of Laon, to which see he was promoted by Henri IV himself. He, however, some time afterwards, abandoned the ecclesiastical profession and embraced that of arms. In this new career he soon distinguished himself. In 1626 he relieved the Duke of Mantua, took Trèves, and made himself conspicuous alike by his valour and his talent. When appointed, in 1636, ambassador-extraordinary to Rome, he maintained the interests of his sovereign with energy and perseverance, and his frankness and decision caused a misunderstanding between himself and Urban VIII. On his recall to France he refused to explain or to palliate his conduct, and died, leaving behind him the _Memoirs of the Regency of Marie de Medicis._ [410] Louis Potier, Marquis de Gêvres, was killed at the siege of Thionville in 1643. [411] Jacques Nompar de Caumont, Duc de la Force, was the representative of a family which traced its descent from the eleventh century, and was the son of François, Seigneur de la Force, who fell during the massacre of St. Bartholomew. He bore arms in the Protestant army of Henri IV, and also placed himself at the head of the reformed party under Louis XIII, to whom, however, he surrendered in 1622, and subsequently became Marshal of France, and lieutenant-general of the army in Piedmont. He took Pignerol, defeated the Spaniards at Carignano in 1603, and possessed himself of several towns in Germany. He then returned to France, where he died in 1652.