Bayard, PIERRE DU TERRAIL, CHEVALIER DE, 'the knight without fear and without reproach,' was born in 1476, at the Chateau Bayard, near Grenoble. He was perhaps the only hero of the middle ages who deserved the unmingled praise and admiration bestowed upon him—simple, modest, a sterling friend and tender lover, pious, humane, and magnanimous. After acting as page to the Duke of Savoy, he entered the service of Charles VIII., whom he accompanied to Italy in 1495. He won his spurs at the battle of Fornovo, where he captured a standard from the enemy. Early in the reign of Louis XII., in a battle near Milan, Bayard followed the defeated and retreating forces with such impetuosity that he entered the city with them, and was made a prisoner, but the Duke Ludovico Sforza released him without ransom. At Barletta, in 1502, Bayard and ten other French knights fought a tournament with an equal number of Spaniards, in order to decide their respective claims to superiority; and although seven Frenchmen were overthrown in the first charge, the result, chiefly through Bayard's bravery, after a six hours' combat, was declared equal. Next we find him fighting bravely in Spain, and against the Genoese and Venetians. When Pope Julius II. declared war with France, Bayard hastened to support the Duke of Ferrara; but failed in his scheme for making the pope a prisoner. Subsequently, he won fresh laurels in Spain. In the war with Henry VIII. of England—who with the Emperor Maximilian had threatened Picardy, and besieged Throuenne, in 1513—when the French, on one occasion, were about to lay down their arms, Bayard made a sudden attack on an English officer, and, pointing his sword at his breast, said: 'Yield or die.' The Englishman gave his sword to Bayard, who in exchange gave his own, saying: 'I am Bayard, your prisoner; and you are mine.' The emperor and the king of England exchanged their prisoners without any demand of ransom for Bayard. In 1515, when Francis I. ascended the throne, Bayard was sent into Dauphiné to make a way for the army over the Alps and through Piedmont. In this expedition he made Prosper Colonna a prisoner. Next, at Marignano, he gained a victory for the king, who, in consequence, submitted to receive the honour of knighthood from Bayard. When Charles V. broke into Champagne, at the head of a large army, Bayard defended Mézières against all assaults, and on his entry into Paris he was hailed as the saviour of his country, was made knight of the order of St Michael, and appointed commander in his own name of 100 men-at-arms, an honour till then confined to princes of the blood-royal. He was mortally wounded by a shot from an arquebus, while defending the passage of the Sesia, April 30, 1524. He died with his face to the foe, reciting the
Miscere; and to Bourbon, who came up and expressed his pity—'My lord,' he said, 'I thank you, but pity is not for me, who die a true man, serving my king; pity is for you, who bear arms against your prince, your country, and your oath.' So highly was he esteemed for all noble qualities, that his death was lamented not only by the French king and nation, but also by his enemies. His love of virtue, especially of that kingliest of virtues, justice, was so passionate, that he was wont to declare that all empires, kingdoms, and provinces where justice did not rule, were mere forests filled with brigands. His body was taken by the enemy, but was restored to France, and interred in the church of the Minorites' monastery, near Grenoble. See the Lives of him by Terrebasse (5th ed. Paris, 1871), Poirier (1889), Champier (1525), and his secretary, Jacques Joffrey ('Le Loyal Serviteur,' 1527), of which there are translations by Sara Colridge (1825), Kindersley (1848), and Lurchey (1883).