Coligny, GASPARD DE, one of the greatest Frenchmen of the 16th century, was born at Châtillon-sur-Loing, February 16, 1519. At the age of twenty-two he began his career as a soldier, and greatly distinguished himself in the wars which Francis I. and Henry II. carried on against Spain. By Henry II. he was appointed colonel-general of the French infantry, and the severe system of discipline he introduced gave a new character to the art of war in the 16th century. In 1552 he was made admiral of France, though he never commanded on the sea. By holding the town of St Quentin (1557) with a handful of men for seventeen days against the army of Spain, he was the means of saving his country. It was during his imprisonment, after the capture of this town, that he embraced the views of the Huguenots, to the furtherance of which the rest of his life was consecrated. On the accession of Francis II. in 1559, the Guises became all-powerful, and their interest and fanaticism led them to oppose all toleration of the Huguenots. To obtain this toleration, however, was Coligny's great aim, and by his high character and his abilities as a statesman and general, he succeeded in conjunction with the heads of the Bourbon family in effecting the treaty known as the 'Pacification of Amboise' (1563), by which the Huguenots were allowed freedom of worship. This concession having been gradually withdrawn by the queen-mother, Catharine de' Medici, the second Huguenot war broke out in 1567, when, on the death of the Prince of Condé, Coligny was appointed generalissimo of the forces of Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. of France. Both parties having grown weary of the war, peace was concluded in 1570 on the basis of the treaty of Amboise, mainly through Coligny's energy. Catharine de' Medici, however, again becoming alarmed at the growing power of the Huguenots, and especially at the ascendancy of Coligny over the young king, Charles IX., determined by one desperate stroke to regain her power. In 1572, a numerous body of the Huguenot nobles having been drawn to Paris by the marriage of Henry of Navarre with Margaret, the sister of the king, the massacre of St Bartholomew took place, when Coligny was murdered in his bed, and his body thrown into the street by Henry of Guise and his followers.
In his personal character Coligny was one of the noblest Frenchmen of his time. His religious zeal was purely disinterested, and he had deeply at heart the welfare of his country. His great aim was to make the Huguenots a national party, and by their enthusiasm to defeat the schemes of Spain, who he saw was bent on supremacy in western Europe. Had he lived a few years longer the history of French Protestantism would have been different. Coligny's wide views are further seen in his unsuccessful attempts to found Protestant colonies in Brazil and North America. See his Life by Blackburn (2 vols. Phila. 1869), Bersier (Eng. trans. 1884), Delaborde (3 vols. Paris, 1880), and Marcks (Stuttg. 1892).