Paul de Stuer

Paul de Stuer de Caussade, sieur de Saint-Mégrin et vicomte de Calvignac (1554 – 22 July 1578) was a French noble, military commander and favourite of King Henry III during the French Wars of Religion. Coming from a leading Saintonge family, Saint-Mégrin was enriched by a sizable inheritance from his father. He was introduced to court life by the duke of Guise shortly before Henry III departed as king of the Commonwealth. Quickly detached from Guise's entourage, he joined his new patron as king in the east, before returning with him to France upon the death of Charles IX.

He fought for the crown during the fifth and sixth civil war, commanding a company of light horse. By the sixth civil war he had been elevated to the role of maître de camp of the light horse, in the hopes of frustrating Guise's control over the crown's cavalry. In this capacity he fought in Auvergne in 1577, and wrangled with the Parlement of Bordeaux which did not trust him, leaving him isolated and vulnerable to the rebel Navarre. By 1578 Saint-Mégrin had been elevated to gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre of Henry III, affording him considerable access to the king. He was also made a Chevalier of the Order of Saint Michael, an honour his father had also received in the preceding decade. In February 1578 he fought in an inconclusive engagement with the chief favourite of the king's brother Alençon.

In July 1578, the duke of Guise had found evidence of an affair Saint-Mégrin was attempting to conduct with his wife. He further grated that a provincial noble would dare consider himself a social equal to a sovereign prince like himself. The duke's brother the duke of Mayenne arranged for Saint-Mégrin's assassination, with over 20 men descending on him after he left the Louvre. In the early hours of 22 July he died. The king alone among the court mourned him, commissioning an elaborate tomb for him in Saint-Paul. This tomb was destroyed in 1589 by a Parisian crowd.