Bayard, le ''chevalier sans peur et sans reproche''

Remark 06feb22: His father was a Pierre, called "Le Jeune" and his grandfather Pierre "Le Vieux"

The Chevalier Bayard (1476?-1524)—named Pierre (III) du Terrail—is well known in French history as “le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche”. He is unanimously considered as the last true knight in shining armor, the last flower of the late Middle Ages, and the epitome of chivalry before the modern world took over

As a soldier, Bayard was one of the most skilful commanders of his time. He served under three successive French kings: Charles VIII (with whom he participated to the conquest of the kingdom of Naples), Louis XII (with whom he acted to the conquest of Genoa) and François Ier. On the accession of François Ier in 1515, Bayard was made lieutenant-general (governor) of Dauphiné (a French region at this time); after the victory of Marignan, to which his valour largely contributed, he had the honour of being conferred knighthood from his youthful sovereign. When the war broke out again between François Ier and Charles Quint (the Holy Roman Emperor), Bayard held Mézières against an army of 3500 men, and after six weeks compelled the imperial generals to raise the siege. This stubborn resistance saved central France from invasion. The parliament thanked Bayard as the saviour of his country and the king made him (in 1521) a knight of the order of Saint Michel. In 1524, Bayard was sent to Italy with the Admiral Bonnivet, who had been defeated at Robecco and wounded in a combat. During the retreat of the French army Bayard repulsed the foremost pursuers, but in guarding the rear at the passage of the Sesia, was mortally wounded at Rovasenda (April 30, 1524) by an arquebuse ball which pierced his armor. We do not know exactly when Bayard was born (between 1473 and 1476) but he was very probably born at Château Bayard (near Pontcharra, Isère), in Dauphiné. Bayard was the second son (the third-born child of a kinship of eight children) of Aymon du Terrail (1458-1490), the second Lord de Bayard, and Hélène Alleman de Laval (born before 1436-died after 1504); we ignore the exact date of their marriage.

In 2017 Prof Lucotte managed to determine the YDNA and MTDNA haplogroups of Chevalier Bayard (YDNA: R1b-M269 and MTDNA: H10E) ( see Lucotte, G. and Wilkinson, A.B. (2017) Y-Chromosomal Profile and Mitochondrial DNA of the Chevalier Bayard (1476?-1524). Open Journal of Genetics , 7, 50-61.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Terrail,_seigneur_de_Bayard

Pierre du Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, plus connu sous le nom de Bayard ou du chevalier Bayard1, né en 1476 au château de Bayard à Pontcharra en Isère et mort le 30 avril 1524 à Romagnano Sesia, Piémont, dans la province de Novara (Italie), est un noble dauphinois qui s'illustre notamment comme chevalier durant les guerres d'Italie (XVe et XVIe siècles).

Sa vie est narrée par l'un de ses compagnons d'armes, Jacques de Mailles, dans La très joyeuse et très plaisante histoire du gentil seigneur de Bayart, le bon chevalier sans peur et sans reproche (1527). Elle est à l'origine du personnage du chevalier sans peur et sans reproche qui symbolise les valeurs de la chevalerie française de la fin du Moyen Âge.

Sa devise: Accipit ut det (La lune qui éclaire la terre) : elle reçoit pour donner.