Raymond de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie, baron de Fourquevaux, (29 September 1505/1508– July 1574) was a French noble, governor, military commander and diplomat during the latter Italian Wars and first French Wars of Religion. Born in either 1505 or 1508, Fourquevaux served in Italy under the command of the vicomte de Lautrec (viscount of Lautrec) in 1527, seeing service at the siege of Pavia at which he was wounded. In the French retreat out of the peninsula a little while later he was captured and spent a while in Spanish captivity. He was again in Italia during the campaigns of 1535 to 1537 and participated in the French conquest of Piemonte alongside the dauphin (heir to the French throne) the duc d'Orléans (duke of Orléans). In 1538 he was entrusted with his first diplomatic task, and succeeded in convincing the duke of Parma to defect from the Imperial camp. He fought alongside the dauphin again in 1542 at the unsuccessful siege of Perpignan In 1543 he served as one of the capitoul (civic magistrates) of Toulouse. That year, having repulsed an incursion into Roussillon by the Spanish he raided into Catalonia.
With the ascent of the dauphin as Henri II in 1547, Fourquevaux was made a captain in the Guyenne 'legion'. He wrote his most famous treatise on war in the following year: Instructions sur le faict de Guerre. In 1549 he was sent into Scotland to aid the regent Marie de Lorraine during the war with England known as the Rough Wooing. He was then tasked with answering the call of several great Irish magnates who wished to ally themselves with the French, and may have overseen their submission to the French crown shortly before peace was made with the English. In 1550 he was established as governor of Narbonne for the first time. In November 1550 he was entrusted with head to Bohemia to ensure that the Holy Roman Emperor did not pass the title of 'King of the Romans' to Philip, the future king of Spain, this mission was a success. With the resumption of the Italian Wars in 1551, Fourquevaux participated in the defence of Mirandola against Papal forces, and was made surintendant des finances (superintendent of the finances) for the king in Italia. Fourquevaux raised a relief army to come to the support of the comte de Brissac (count of Brissac) in 1554, and succeeded in besting Imperial forces to join with Brissac. Having done so he was present at the French defeat of Marciano and was again made an Imperial prisoner. After his release, Henri held concern as to Parma's loyalty to the French cause, and Fourquevaux was entrusted with ensuring he remained in the party. After this he was sent to the duke of Ferrara who expressed financial demands on the French crown to remain allied to Henri. The duc de Guise arrived in the Italian peninsula for a new campaign in 1557 and Fourquevaux facilitated a meeting between him and Ferrara. Fourquevaux was then sent again to Parma to stop him from coming to terms with Philip. Upon his return to France Fourquevaux was again established as the governor of Narbonne in July 1557.
With the advent of François II's reign in 1559, Fourquevaux ceased to be a client of the constable Montmorency and affiliated himself with the king's mother Catherine. After the outbreak of the first French War of Religion in 1562, Fourquevaux aided in the preservation of Narbonne for the royalist cause. He then travelled to Toulouse to aid in the fight after a Protestant coup attempted to seize the city. He fought alongside the lieutenant-general of Languedoc Joyeuse at the royalist victories of Saint-Gilles and Pézenas. Towards the end of the war he affiliated with the Toulousian Catholic League of the cardinal d'Armagnac and cardinal de Strozzi alongside the other chief Catholic captains of the Midi. However, before the league could accomplish much it was dissolved as a term of the peace edict of Amboise which brought the war to a close. In 1565 he received the nod from Catherine to become the new ordinary ambassador to Spain. In this role he allied himself with the queen of Spain (Catherine's daughter). During the controversy of the destruction of the French colony of Floride in 1566 by the Spanish he protested to Philip without success. In his capacity as ambassador he worked to see the fruition of Catherine's marital projects, chief among them that of the king Charles to the daughter of the Emperor Anna von Österreich. He succeeded in securing Charles' marriage to her younger sister Elisabeth in 1570. The negotiations for the marriage of Charles' sister Marguerite to the Portuguese king Sebastian would be a failure however. During the second and third French wars of religion, Fourquevaux worked to assure the Spanish king of the French determination to best the Protestants, and largely unsuccessfully appealed for Spanish support in crushing the rebels. After long campaigning for his relief, he was replaced as ambassador to Spain in 1572. That same year he resigned his governorship of Narbonne in favour of his brother-in-law the baron de Rieux. During the fourth war of religion in 1573, Fourquevaux was made the governor of Toulouse and wrestled with the civic authorities for support. He campaigned in the Lauragais. In May 1574 he and Joyeuse were entrusted with the arrest of the governor of Languedoc the baron de Damville. Damville went into rebellion and Fourquevaux ensured the preservation of Narbonne before going on the offensive against him. He died in July of that year.
Early life and family Raymond de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie was born in Toulouse on 28 September either in 1505 (Souriac) or 1508 (Jouanna, Gellard). He was the son of François I de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie and Rose de Magnan.
In addition to his baronie de Fourquevaux near Toulouse, Fourquevaux was the seigneur de Damiatte, Villeneuvette and Laguian-Mazous.
Marriage and children Fourquevaux married twice. His first marriage was contracted in 1534 to Anne d'Anticamareta, the daughter of Antoine d'Anticamareta and Imberte de Lautrec. After her death he married again to Marguerite de La Jugie du Puy-Duval in 1558. Marguerite's brother the baron de Rieux would succeed him as governor of Narbonne.
With Anne he had the following children: Imberte de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie. Abbess of the Order of Saint Clare. Esperance de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie. Married Clément de La Roque the seigneur de Marignac.
With Marguerite he had the following children: Claude de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie, baron de Fourquevaux (–February 1582). Died without issue. François II de Rouer de Pavie de Beccarie, baron de Fourquevaux (–March 1611). Married Marguerite de Chaumeuil with issue.
In his youth, Fourquevaux undertook studies in Toulouse.
Fourquevaux was proficient in both Castilian and Italian.
Opinions Fourquevaux rejected the notion that duelling needed to be legalised among the nobility so they had an alternate channel for their violent urges as opposed to civil war. In Fourquevaux's estimation both noble feuds and civil wars generated one another. Fourquevaux believed that some Protestant aristocrats of Languedoc were in fact those who felt their careers had been stymied by Catholic rivals.
Reign of François I Italian campaigns
The Toulousian noble began his military career during the reign of François I. Fourquevaux fought in Italia in 1525, according to Souriac, and was one of the nobles made captive after the battle of Pavia.
At the age of 19, Fourquevaux went into Italia to fight under the overall command of the vicomte de Lautrec (viscount of Lautrec). He fought in the company of the comte de Nègrepelisse (count of Nègrepelisse). In 1527 he saw his first combat, according to Gellard, at the siege of Pavia, where he was wounded. He then went south to the French base in Naples where he stayed until the French retreat from the peninsula during which he was captured and held in Spanish captivity for eleven months before effecting his escape.
In 1530 after the establishment of the peace of Cambrai he returned to undertake further studies in Toulouse. Some sources claim that he received a doctorate in law during his second period of study in the city.
From 1535 to 1537 he was under arms again in Italia. This time he held the position of captain of a thousand men. In this capacity he participated in the French conquest of Piemonte alongside the dauphin the duc d'Orléans.
First diplomatic mission
Shortly after the marriage of the duke of Parma in 1538, Fourquevaux successfully convinced the duke to renounce his allegiance to the Imperial party and join with the French cause.
Spanish frontier He was alongside the dauphin once more in 1542 when he participated in the siege of Perpignan. He took the opportunity to campaign into Catalonia as deep as Puigcerdà.
Back in Toulouse he was elected to the office of capitoul (senior civic magistrates of Toulouse) in 1543.
In 1543 he raised forces in Toulouse for the preservation of Carcassonne. He was then responsible for repulsing a Spanish invasion from Roussillon. Again he raided the Empordà in Catalonia.
Reign of Henri II In 1547 Fourquevaux assumed the position of captain in a company of the Guyenne 'legion'.
Scholar of war Fourquevaux published a treatise on war in 1548 titled Instructions sur le faict de Guerre. According to Dickinson this text constituted one of the seminal texts on the art of war written during the sixteenth-century and received numerous translations and editions. He commentated on the army of François and deplored various military practices, proposing potential reforms to armies. Examples were mainly employed from Machiavelli's Art of War, but also Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, Polybius' Histories and Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentary on the Gallic War). He drove home the importance of maintaining discipline among the soldiery. To achieve this, strict measures were required. Fourquevaux bemoaned how war had become a standard mode of being, such that the soldiery practiced their career not out of devotion for a monarch but rather as a practice in itself. According to the baron this resulted in an inability of soldiers to make the adjustments required to return to a civilian existence.
Rough Wooing In April 1549 Fourquevaux was dispatched to Scotland alongside the French reinforcements to be with the regent of Scotland Marie de Lorraine during the Siege of Haddington. While there he was appointed Governor of Hume Castle and participated in defending the castle from English attack. When, that same year, Irish magnates appealed to the French king Henri II for support against the government in England, Fourquevaux and Monluc were dispatched to the island see if an agreement with them could be arrived at. In the subsequent February, the diplomatic mission received an oath of loyalty from the king of Tyrconnell and the earl of Tyrone. It was alleged that the nobles agreed to devote their life and property to the protection of the French king. The coming of peace in 1550 terminated these discussions, and attempts at continued contact bore little fruit.
Henri made Fourquevaux governor of Narbonne for the first time in 1550.
Diplomat in the Empire During 1550 Fourquevaux was tasked with further diplomatic missions, first to Italia and then to Bohemia. He headed into Italian peninsula alongside the French lieutenant-general of northern Italia, the comte de Brissac.
In November he was in Bohemia where he was tasked by the French king with ensuring that the office of 'king of the Romans' did not pass to Philip, former regent for the Holy Roman Emperor in Spain (and future king of Spain himself). His mission a success, Montmorency reported to Fourquevaux the king's satisfaction at his conduct.
Resumption of the Italian Wars