Robert III de La Marck

Robert III de La Marck (1491–1537), Seigneur of Fleuranges, was a Marshal of France and historian. Self-styled "The Young Adventurer," he was one of Francis I's close companions in the last years of Louis XII's life, and remained close after Francis ascended the throne. Robert campaigned with Francis' Italian campaigns being captured at Pavia. During his imprisonment he wrote a personal history. Upon being freed, he returned to participation in the Italian Wars, seeing service at the defence of Péronne in 1536. When he learnt of his father's death, he set out for Amboise, but was stricken by illness and died at Longjumeau in 1537. Biography Born in Sedan, Ardennes, in 1491, Robert was the son of Robert II de la Marck; Duke of Bouillon, Seigneur of Sedan and Fleuranges, and Catherine de Croÿ. A fondness for military exercises displayed itself in his earliest years, and at the age of ten, Robert was sent to the court of Louis XII, and placed in charge of the count of Angoulême, afterwards King Francis I. In 1510 he married a niece of the cardinal d'Amboise, Guillemette de Sarrebruck, but after three months he quit his home to join the French army in the Milanese. With a handful of troops Robert threw himself into Verona, then besieged by the Venetians; but the siege was protracted, and being impatient for more active service, he rejoined the army. He then took part in the relief of Mirandola, besieged by the troops of Pope Julius II, and in other actions of the campaign. In 1512 the French being driven from Italy, Robert was sent into Flanders to levy a body of 10,000 men, in command of which, under his father, he returned to Italy in 1513, seized Alessandria, and vigorously assailed Novara. But the French were defeated, and Robert narrowly escaped with his life, having received more than forty wounds. He was rescued by his father and sent to Vercelli, and thence to Lyon.