Château Ducru-Beaucaillou: Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette
In terms of his ownership of the Beychevelle estate, Jean-Louis was succeeded by one of his four sons, Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette (1592 – 1661). Like his father, Bernard forged a career for himself in the military, and he acquitted himself well in several sieges and battles during the 1620s and 1630s. He successfully repressed a peasants’ revolt, the Insurrection des Croquants, in April 1637, and he was subsequently ordered by the Henri II de Bourbon (1588 – 1646), Prince de Condé to lead an assault at the Siege of Fuenterrabía in 1638. He refused, and this ultimately led to his having to flee the country.
Bernard had, it seems, been framed. Having rejected his orders, he ceded his command to Henri d’Escoubleau de Sourdis (1593 – 1645), a naval commander but also Archbishop of Bordeaux, who led the attack, during which he suffered heavy losses. It was a military disaster, and Cardinal Richelieu (1585 – 1642), who reputedly despised Bernard, set out to ensure he took the blame rather than his archbishop. The cardinal convened a special court hearing, presided over by King Louis XIII (1601 – 1643). To nobody’s surprise (with Richelieu pulling the strings) Bernard was found guilty, and the court returned the death sentence. The only problem was, Bernard was nowhere to be seen; he was quite aware of Richelieu’s loathing of him, and unbeknownst to the court he had already fled for England, where he lived in exile for three years. He only returned after the death of his father, and the overturning of his conviction.
