Jean de Moy information

This article's lead section may be too long. Please read the length guidelines and help move details into the article's body. (December 2022)

Jean de Moy
seigneur de La Meilleraye
Church of the settlement of La Meilleraye-sur-Seine, from which Jean derived his title
Other titles	Lieutenant-General of Upper Normandie Governor of Upper Normandie Governor of Pont-l'Évêque
Born	c. 1528 Kingdom of France
Died	October 1591 Kingdom of France
Family	House of Moy
Father	Charles de Moy
Mother	Charlotte de Dreux

Jean de Moy, seigneur de La Meilleraye (c. 1528-October 1591)^[1] was a member of an influential Norman noble family, lieutenant-general and governor during the French Wars of Religion. Son of Charles de Moy, La Meilleraye was denied the potential inheritance of the governorship of the key port town of Le Havre in favour of the House of Montmorency. With historic family ties to the house of Bourbon-Vendôme he joined Louis Prince of Condé in his rebellion during the first war of religion in 1562, travelling with him to Orléans. He proved more opportunist however and his loyalty to the crown was bought back in June with the provision of several Norman towns from Claude, Duke of Aumale, he fought for the crown in the war and was further rewarded the next year with the lieutenant-generalcy of Upper Normandy and his fathers' post of vice-admiral.

During the second civil war he tried and failed to secure Dieppe for the crown, engaging in brutal reprisals when he was eventually able to bring the town to order. In the subsequent civil war he again fought attempts by Protestants to secure Dieppe and Le Havre, but more successfully, having a prominent member of a rival Norman family executed for treason.

In 1574 the current governor of Normandie Henri-Robert de la Marck who had long had little influence on the province died. Henri III of France hoping to dilute the influence of any one noble on the province, elevated the three lieutenant generals; La Meilleraye, Tanneguy le Veneur, seigneur de Carrouges and Jacques II de Goyon, seigneur de Matignon to co-equal governors, fracturing the province. With the conclusion of the fifth war of religion in 1576 with the Protestant favoured Peace of Monsieur, La Meilleraye joined other Catholic nobles in indicating their disgust. La Meilleraye followed Jacques d'Humières lead in Picardie, becoming head of the Catholic Ligue in Normandie. After the causes co-option by the crown, La Meilleraye was disheartened by the king's version of the ligue that he and his subordinates were expected to subscribe to. He, alongside Humières abandoned the official ligue, operating covertly with a modified version that maintained the decentralised 'democratic' spirit of the original, with elections for all major ligue offices, and further removed the clause that protected Protestants. While he, Humières and other ligue leaders would oppose the establishment of a new peace the following year, the Treaty of Bergerac successfully neutralised much of the Ligue grievances through its harsher terms, and the ligue faded.

Returned to loyalty he and his familial network were keen supporters of the Duke of Guise's plans for an invasion of Scotland to restore Catholic control of the kingdom. In 1583 Henri, dissauded from the experiment in Normandie to split the governate decided to reunify the office, and provide it to his favourite Anne de Joyeuse. La Meilleraye was bought off in return for 60,000 livres, but found himself disappointed in Joyeuse's governorship, alienating him from the crown. However this period of internal peace would be brought to an end with the death of the king's brother Alençon's death in 1584 which defaulted the succession to Navarre. Horrified that a Protestant might become king, La Meilleraye's relatives assisted in expelling the king from the capital during the Day of the Barricades, La Meilleraye meanwhile offered limited support to the new ligue though his age was beginning to limit his abilities. Though elevated through the 'Holy Council' set up by Charles, Duke of Aumale to the height of his power in Upper Normandy, he was by this point unable to sign documents. With his death in 1591 shortly to be followed by that of his brother Pierrecourt and preceded by that of his cousin, his families influence in Normandie would collapse.