Jean de Monchy, Seigneur de Senarpont

Early life and family

Jean de Monchy was born in 1500.

Marriages

Sénarpont married first Marguerite d'Abbeville, the daughter of Louis d'Abbeville and Antoinette de Biencourt. She brought the lands of Biencourt with her to the marriage. He married again to Madeleine de Suze, dame de Belle in 1563. Madeleine de Suze was the daughter of Philippe de Suze, sieur de La Versine and Claude de Villiers.

He had issue:

François de Monchy (–1552), murdered in Amiens, his killers were tortured and executed by the governor of Picardie;

Antoine de Monchy, baron of Vimeu;

Jean de Monchy, sieur de Hercourt;

Sidrach de Monchy, sieur de Moimont;

Gédeon de Monchy, sieur de Mons;

Charlotte de Monchy, married the seigneur de Nesle;

Françoise de Monchy, married the sieur de Sainte-Marie-du-Mont

Reign of François I

Around 1522 Sénarpont was in theory in receipt of a royal pension of around 300 livres, though he did not actually receive it.

In 1531 he inherited the seigneurie of Sénarpont from Edmund de Monchy.

From 1541 to 1550 Sénarpont served as the governor of Corbie.

Reign of Henri II

Boulogne

Boulogne in Picardie had fallen into the hands of the English during the reign of François I. A campaign was conducted for its reconquest during 1549. The English surrendered the city to the French in April 1550 in exchange for a sum of 400,000 livres. That year Sénarpont was established as the governor of Boulogne at the king's request. He would hold this charge for the next nine years.

From 1550 until the following year, alongside his responsibilities in Boulogne, Sénarpont served as the bailli (bailiff) of Amiens.

1552 was a time of military crisis in Picardie, an invasion of the kingdom having been undertaken to take the drive out of the royal campaign into the Three Bishoprics, the Holy Roman Emperor marching to seize La Fère in Picardie from the French in October. Therefore, Henri instructed the governor the duc de Vendôme to look to Sénarpont and Villebon for advice on how to navigate through the situation.

In March 1553, Henri granted Sénarpont a mill (near the fortress of Blaquenaye) that had been built by the English.

Sénarpont became captain of a company of 50 gendarmes in 1554.

Saint-Quentin

With the disastrous defeat of the royal army under Anne de Montmorency at the battle of Saint-Quentin, the northern frontier of France was left without military leadership and a weakened army. In the absence of other commanders, Henri took personal responsibility for some military arrangements, coordinating with the governor of Péronne Humières for the provision of pioneers to work on the walls of the city. In terms of local command, the sieur de Villebon, lieutenant-general of Picardie was commanded by the king to hurry to Corbie by Henri, on the assumption the Spanish would strike there next. Meanwhile, Sénarpont was entrusted to command the maritime parts of Picardie that Villebon could not devote attentions to during the crisis. During September, Marshal Thermes arrived back from Italia to take command of the army temporarily, in the time before the duc de Guise could return from Italia. On 9 October Guise arrived back at the French court and was received adoringly by the king. Sénarpont wrote to the recently returned Guise on 12 October from his governate, expressing his desire to devote his property and life in the grandee's service.

Calais

The decision was made between Henri and Guise to undertake an attempt to recapture Calais, which was in English hands. By this means it was hoped to overcome the humiliation of Saint-Quentin. Calais had been in English hands for over 200 years. Sénarpont was reached out to by the king and he gave a favourable assessment of the project. He was instructed to conduct reconnaissance of the Pale in October. He reported to the conseil privé (privy council) which was residing in Compiègne on 21 November that the defences of the city were weak. This confirmed the suspicions Henri had already held. Henri proposed a winter attack of Calais, both for the surprise factor but also because the French mercenary forces could be used before their contract expired. Guise did not like the idea of attacking during the winter.

Due to this scepticism, Sénarpont was again dispatched to conduct reconnaissance, this time with the respected engineer Piero Strozzi, they arrived in mid-November, inspecting the area while disguised as poor people. They examined the ramparts of Calais, and the outskirts of the city. They confirmed the weakness of the defences, however they added to the scepticism of a winter assault. Sénarpont wrote to Guise that to ensure the English did not suspect that anything was being planned he was going to return to his seigneurie and let the rumour spread that he intended to winter there.

Henri was pleased by the assessment of Strozzi/Sénarpont and responded to the criticism of the winter conditions that the freezing weather of January was necessary to combat the marshes that surround the city.

Henri's plans were adopted, and Guise was designated to lead the siege of Calais. Several warships were gathered in Sénarpont's city of Boulogne, to unite with forty transports that were held in the Somme, these were to blockade Calais so that no reinforcements might arrive (this was accomplished without suspicions from the English). On 30 December the ships departed and deployed off the coast of Calais. Meanwhile, Sénarpont oversaw the receipt of supplies in Boulogne for the coming siege. The ground assault began on 1 January.

The English were caught by complete surprise by the arrival of the French Army in front of Calais. On 2 January after having led an attack against the fortress of Nieulay which commanded the causeway to Calais, Guise inspected the dunes that led to Risbank (a fortress that guarded the port). He conducted his inspection alongside his various lieutenants: his brother the duc d'Aumale, Marshal Thermes, Strozzi, the grand maître de l'artillerie (grandmaster of the artillery) D'Andelot and Sénarpont. A ford that was passable at low tied was identified as a result of this examination. The next day Guise's heavy artillery bombarded Risbank, causing the garrison to flee. Wentworth (the English governor of Calais) asked for terms on 8 January. The final part of the Calais fortifications would be taken by Guise's forces between 20 and 24 January.

Gravelines

In June, Guise had proceeded to conduct a siege of Thionville which he brought to a successful conclusion on 22 June (though not without considerable French losses, among them Strozzi). With this accomplished he pushed forward towards Luxembourg. De Thermes took a force out of French Calais into Vlaanderen to divert Spanish attention from the Luxembourg attack. De Thermes had a force of around 9000 foot and 1500 horse, which bypassed the fortress of Gravelines and moved on towards Dunkerque. As a depot town there was much plunder, and De Thermes' army gorged itself on the town and those in the surrounding area before deciding to retreat back to Calais. Unknown to De Thermes, a Spanish army had rapidly assembled under the graaf van Egmont (count of Egmont) with the intention of cutting the armies line of retreat. This army, larger than the French, was able to bring them to battle. An English fleet joined the fray savaging one of De Thermes' wings and the army was annihilated, only a small force making it back to the safety of Calais. Among the captives were De Thermes, and Sénarpont who had been with the army. Calais was left largely undefended but Egmont decided not to risk his force.

Peace

Though the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis had ended the Italian Wars, it did not bring about the immediate release of all the prisoners in French and Spanish captivity. As a result, a separate convention was signed between Constable Montmorency and the Spanish general the duque de Alba (duke of Alba) established the fate of those still imprisoned. Henri travels to Spanish Nederland in May to oversee the releases, common prisoners having their liberty restored without ransom, while the great lords in captivity have ransoms established by their captors. Sénarpont's ransom was viewed as excessive for his value as a prisoner.

Lieutenant-general

Upon his release he was established in May as lieutenant-general of the province of Picardie, making him acting governor in the absence of his superior. By this promotion the governorship of Boulogne which he had held was declared to be vacant. He replaced Villebon in this role, who was granted permission by the king to return to his home province of Normandie. Coligny was, due to his eclectic responsibilities unable to be an active and present governor, and therefore Sénarpont did the majority of the work of governing the province. In the provisions that established him as lieutenant-general, he was given great specificity as to his responsibilities. He was charged to ensure the judicial officers of Picardie did their duty, ensure the province remained at peace, suppress all brigandage, keep garrisons orderly and punish those that violate this, alter garrisons as he believed appropriate, handle musters, act as the king would if he were present. In late 1559 the prince de Condé was to be made the governor of Picardie, however he did not assume the charge at this time. It would in fact by the more reliably Catholic comte de Brissac who assumed the governorship upon Coligny's resignation in January 1560.

Reign of François II

In September a conference was undertaken at Cambrai. The aim was to address the specifics of the border between French Picardie and Spanish Vlaanderen, which had been left somewhat vague at the larger peace conference. This had resulted in violence continuing over the control of the various villages of the frontier. Therefore, Sénarpont was tasked with leading the French negotiations, while the Spanish deputised Molembaix. The actual specifics of the talks would be conducted by subordinates, for Sénarpont Jacques de Mesmes, the sieur de Roissy. The two sides agreed to begin an investigation of the land on 20 September. The actual walking of the frontier began the following March, the French strategy was to focus on seigneurial claims as opposed to trying to claim blocks of land. After months of disputes on the road by early May the French declared they had sufficient evidence gathered. It was agreed to meet in Péronne on 25 June to pass over the various title deeds. Ultimately the discussion was left unresolved, and the 1559 status quo was left frozen, as strife consumed the following decades.

The comte de Brissac was faced with a difficult circumstance in his new governate. Both Sénarpont and Bouchavannes (who commanded the two gendarmerie companies of the province) were loyal to Condé. Sénarpont maintained the main authority for administering the province.

Condé

In September 1560, rumours swirled that a coalition of aristocratic opponents against the house of Lorraine's control of the kingdom had formed. According to La Place, under this plan the prince de Condé and king of Navarre would march up from Guyenne under the pretext of visiting the king. They would be met by the baron de Damville, second son of Constable Montmorency at Poitiers with 5-600 soldiers. The Constable Montmorency would secure Paris, the duc d'Étampes would ensure Bretagne followed, the comte de Tende would secure Provence and Sénarpont and Bouchavannes would take responsibility for bringing over Picardie to the plot. With the kingdom secured, Guise would then be put on trial.

Sometime in September, Sénarpont was briefly replaced as lieutenant-general by the sieur de Chalnes before he was called to court, and authority returned to being split by Sénarpont and Humières in Picardie who administered the province from Abbeville and Péronne respectively. At this time Condé's involvement in the Conspiracy of Amboise led to him being detained by the Lorraine government, he would be released with the death of François II.

Reign of Charles IX

Sénarpont was a Protestant client of the house of Bourbon, and therefore rallied to the prince de Condé upon his elevation to governor of Picardie on 3 October 1561 (justified on the basis of the Bourbon hereditary right to the governate). Condé had converted to Protestantism in August 1558 and was followed in his conversion by many of the grandees of Picardie: the sieur de Genlis and the sieur d'Ivoy, alongside the governor of Boulogne the seigneur de Morvilliers. Sénarpont for his part was suspected of at least being sympathetic to Protestantism after the preaching tour of John Knox in Dieppe in 1559 if not a Protestant himself. This network of Picard Protestant nobility affiliated itself with Condé and the provincial lieutenant-general Sénarpont.

First French War of Religion

In April 1562, Condé declared himself to be in rebellion from Orléans. Among the nobles with him in Orléans for this moment were Sénarpont who was a signatory to his declaration of association. Several of Sénarpont's sons were also signatories of the rebellious association. In May, Sénarpont made an attempt to capture Calais, however this was a failure and he was stopped from his purposes by a governor under the authority of Cardinal de Bourbon. Though he had strong links with many other Protestants fighting the crown, he withdrew from participation in the civil war prior to its conclusion, likely at the time at which the English were brought into the war as allies of the rebels. At this time he returned to his estates

He died the following year in 1563.