La Noue, François de (1531-1591)

French soldier and writer. He was widely known as ‘Bras-de-Fer’ (‘Iron Arm’) because an arm lost in battle was replaced by an iron one. He fought on the Huguenot side in the French Wars of Religion. While in prison he wrote Discours politiques et militaires/Political and Military Discourses (1587), a graphic account of the period that combines his memoirs as a soldier with a plea for religious toleration.

La Noue was born in Nantes and converted to Protestantism in 1558. Following the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572 he was in charge of the defence of La Rochelle from 1574-78. In 1580 he was captured while fighting against the Spanish in the Netherlands and spent five years in prison. On his return to France he entered the service of Henry IV and fought at the Battle of Ivry in March 1590. He died a year later of wounds received in battle.