COLIGNY, GASPARD DE CHATILLON, COMTE (1519-1572), admiral of France and Protestant leader, was born at Chatillon-sur-Loing on Feb. 16, 1519, the son of Gaspard de Coligny, known as the marechal de Chatillon (d. 1522), marshal of France in 1516. By his wife, Louise de Montmorency, the marshal had three sons : Odet, cardinal de Chatillon ; Gaspard, the admiral; and Francis, seigneur d'Andelot, all of whom played an important part in the first period of the Wars of Religion. At 22 young Gas pard came to court, and there contracted a friendship with Francis of Guise. In the campaign of 1543 Coligny was wounded at the sieges of Montmedy and Bains. In 1544 he served in the Italian campaign under the duke of Enghien, and was knighted on the field of Ceresole. Appointed colonel-general of the infantry (April 1547), he exhibited great capacity and intelligence as a military reformer. He was made admiral on the death of d'Annebaut (1552). In 1557 he defended St. Quentin with great courage and resolution ; but the place was taken, and he was imprisoned in the stronghold of L'Ecluse. On payment of a ransom of 50,00o crowns he recovered his liberty. He had by this time become a Huguenot, through the influence of his brother d'Andelot—the first letter which Calvin addressed to him is dated Sept. 4, 1558—and he busied himself secretly with protecting his co-religionists, a colony of whom he sent to Brazil, whence they were afterwards expelled by the Portuguese.
On the death of Henry II. he demanded, in concert with Louis, prince of Conde, religious toleration and certain other reforms. In 1560, at the assembly of notables at Fontainebleau, the hos tility between Coligny and Francis of Guise was declared. When the civil wars began in 1562, Coligny decided to take arms only after long hesitation, and he was always ready to negotiate. In none of these wars did he show superior genius, but he acted throughout with great prudence and extraordinary tenacity; he was "le heros de la mauvaise fortune." In 1569 the defeat and death of the prince of Conde at Jarnac left him sole leader of the Protestant armies. Victorious at Arnay-le-Duc, he secured in 5570 the pacification of St. Germain. Returning to the court in 1571, he grew rapidly in favour with Charles IX. As a means of emancipating the king from the tutelage of his mother and the faction of the Guises, the admiral proposed to him a descent on Spanish Flanders, with an army drawn from both sects and com manded by Charles in person. The king's regard for the admiral, and the bold front of the Huguenots, alarmed the queen-mother; and the massacre of St. Bartholomew was the consequence. On Aug. 22, 1572, Coligny was wounded by Maurevel, a bravo in the pay of the queen-mother and Guise. The king visited him, but the queen-mother prevented all private intercourse between them. On Aug. 24, the night of the massacre, he was attacked in his house, and a servant of the duke of Guise, generally known as Besme, murdered him and threw the body from a window into the courtyard at his master's feet. His papers were seized and burned by the queen-mother; among them, according to Bran tome, was a history of the Civil War, "tres-beau et tres-bien faict, et digne d'estre imprime." His correspondence was edited in 1858 by Bourquelot.
By his wife, Charlotte de Laval, Coligny had several children, among them being Louise, who married first Charles de Teligny and afterwards William the Silent, prince of Orange, and Francis, admiral of Guienne, who was one of the devoted servants of Henry IV. Gaspard de Coligny (1584-1646), son of Francis, was marshal of France during the reign of Louis XIII.
See L. J. Delaborde, Gaspard de Coligny ; Erich Marcks, Gaspard von Coligny, sein Leben and das Frankreich seiner Zeit (Stuttgart, 1892) ; H. Patry, "Coligny et la Papaute," in the Bulletin du protestantisme f rancais (1902) ; A. W. Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France (1904) ; and C. Merki, L'Amiral de Coligny (19o9) .