Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds

Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds (1630 - 4 December 1694) was a French general and marshal of France.

Biography
He was a member of the noble Gigault de Bellefonds family. He was the cousin of academic Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre and of general Claude Louis Hector de Villars. In 1643, at the death of his father, he became governor of Valognes. In 1651 he defended Cognac, in 1653 he fought in Catalonia and in 1654 he took part in the expedition to Castellammare del Golfo. The following year he became lieutenant general. In 1659 he scored a victory at Tournai in the Flanders, and later served in Italy under the Duke of Parma.

In 1666 he was in the United Provinces. After the declaration of war against Spain in 1667, he commanded several detachments and was later governor of the area between Sambre and Meuse. On 8 July 1688 he was created marshal of France. Two years later he was ambassador to England and subsequently fought in Holland. Here he scored a victory in 1672, but complaints from his commander, François de Créquy, whose prudential orders he had disobeyed, led him to a self exile in his Normandy lands. In November 1673 he was appointed as commander of the French army in Holland, but again fell in disgrace and returned to a command in 1684 in Catalonia, where he successfully besieged Girona.

In June 1692 he led the expeditionary corps which supported king James II of England in the Battle of La Hogue. Bellefonds died on 4 December 1694 at the Château de Vincennes