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JEAN DE POLTROT (c. 1537–1563)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 17 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JEAN DE See also:POLTROT (c. 1537–1563)  , sieur de See also:Mere or See also:Mercy, a nobleman of See also:Angoumois, who murdered See also:Francis, See also:duke of See also:Guise . He had lived some See also:time in See also:Spain, and his knowledge of See also:Spanish, together with his swarthy complexion, which earned him the See also:nickname of the " Espagnolet," procured him employment as a See also:spy in the See also:wars against Spain . Becoming a fanatical Huguenot, he determined to kill the duke of Guise, and gained See also:admission as a deserter to the See also:camp of the Catholics who were besieging See also:Orleans . In the evening of the 18th of See also:February 1563 he hid by the See also:side of a road along which he knew the duke would pass, fired a See also:pistol at him, and fled . But he was captured the next See also:day, and was tried, tortured several times, and sentenced to be See also:drawn and quartered . On the 18th of See also:March 1563 he underwent a frightful See also:punishment . The horses not being able to See also:drag off his limbs, he was hacked to pieces with cutlasses . He had made several contradictory declarations regarding the complicity of See also:Coligny . The See also:admiral protested emphatically against the See also:accusation, which appears to have had no See also:foundation . See Memoires du See also:prince de See also:Conde (See also:London, 1743) ; T . A . D'See also:Aubigne, Histoire universelle (ed. by de See also:Ruble, See also:Soc. de l'histoire de See also:France, 1886) ; A. de Ruble, L'Assassinat du duc See also:Francois de See also:Lorraine (See also:Paris, 1897) .

End of Article: JEAN DE POLTROT (c. 1537–1563)
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