Antoine de Pons

Antoine de Pons, Count of Marennes (1510-1580) was hereditary sire of Pons, near Saintes in Charente-Maritime with 250 noble fiefdoms and 52 parishes. He was Count of Marennes, baron of island of Oléron (Ile d'Oléron), and had other lands in France. He was the governor of Saintonge and Saintes.

Saintonge was an isolated area and fitting for de Pon's rustic Huguenot court. Huguenot refugees came to the area. It became a religious and artsistic center, where heresy was common about 1560.

De Pons was a French military and political royal agent who was often at the court of Ferrara in Italy. His marriage to Anne de Parthenay resulted in the strengthening the couple's prestige and influence, due to their wealth, humanism, and religion.