BASSOMPIERRE, ba-siiii-pe-fir, Francois (friii-swir) de, marshal of France, one of the most distinguished men of the courts of Henry IV and Louis XIII, descended from a branch of the house of Cleves: b. Lorraine- 1579; d. 1646. In his youth he studied philoso phy, jurisprudence, medicine and the military art. After traveling through Italy he appeared at the court of Henry IV, where his taste for splendor, play and gallantry soon made him conspicuous. In 1600 he made his first cam paign against the DuIce of Savoy, and fought with equal distinction in the following year against the Turlcs. His love of France soon called him back; he aspired to the hand of the daughter of the Constable de Montmorency, whose charms had excited the most violent passion in Henry IV. Bassompierre yielded to the solicitations of his King and renounced his intended union with her. In 1622 Louis XIII appointed him marshal of France, and became so much attached to him that Luynes, the declared favorite, alarmed at his growing influence, insisted upon his removal from court Bassompierre therefore accepted an embassy, and held this position successively in Spain, Switzerland and England. After his return
he entered again into the military service and was present at the siege of Rochelle and Mont auban. Cardinal Richelieu, who soon after ob tained entire control of the King and the coun try, feared the boldness of Bassompierre and his secret connection with the house of Lor raine; and the machinations of the latter served him as a pretext for sending Bassompierre, in 1631, to the Bastille, from which he was not released till 1643, after the death of the cardi nal. During his detention he occupied himself with his memoirs (first published at Cologne 1665; and Paris 1877); and the history of his embassies in Spain, Switzerland and •England, which sheds much light on the events of that time.