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Jean de Poltrot (c. 1537-1563), sieur de Méré or Mérey, was a nobleman of Angoumois, who murdered Francis, Duke of Guise.
He had lived some time in Spain, and his knowledge of Spanish, together with his swarthy complexion, which earned him the nickname of the Espagnolet, procured him employment as a spy in the wars against Spain.
Becoming a fanatic Huguenot, he determined to kill the Duke of Guise. Pretending to be a deserter he gained admission to the camp of the Catholic army that was besieging Orléans. In the evening of February 18, 1563, he hid by the side of a road along which he knew the Duke would pass, fired a pistol at him, and fled.
He was captured the next day, then tried, tortured, and sentenced to be drawn and quartered. On the March 18, 1563, he suffered a painful death. The horses were unable to rend his limbs, which were hacked off with cutlasses.
He had made several contradictory declarations implicating Admiral Coligny, who protested emphatically against the accusation.
See Mémoires du prince de Condé (London, 1743); TA D'Aubigné, Histoire universelle (ed. by de Ruble, Société de l'histoire de France, 1886); A de Ruble, L'Assassinat du duc François de Lorraine (Paris, 1897).
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