Henri I de Montmorency (15 June 1534, Chantilly, Oise - 2 April 1614), Marshal of France, and Constable of France, seigneur of Damville, served as governor of Languedoc from 1563 to 1614.
As Gouverneur, Damville came as the head of an army into Toulouse for nine months in 1570 and was chastized by the capitouls for letting Catholic property fall into the hands of a passing Protestant army without taking action. They accused him of being betraying the city and being in league with Protestants like his cousin Admiral Coligny. Damville responded by arresting four bourgeois and sending them to Paris with charges of slander. Damville also placed a procureur-général on the Parlement of Toulouse who was suspected of Protestantism. When Damville went into revolt in October 1574 (aligning with the protestants of lower Languedoc) he was deprived of his office by the Parlement of Toulouse, and arrests were made of his associates charged with conspiracy against the king.
He became Duke of Montmorency on his brother's death in 1579.
As a leader of the party called the Politiques he took a prominent part in the French Wars of Religion. In 1593 he was made constable of France, but Henry IV showed some anxiety to keep him away from Languedoc, which he ruled like a sovereign prince.
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“If I meet the Christian Deity, I am lost: He is a tyrant and as such, is full of ideas of vengeance; His Bible speaks of nothing but fearful punishments. I never loved Him! I could never even believe that anyone did love Him sincerely. He is devoid of pity.... He will punish me in some abominable manner.”
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