ARMAND DE GONTAULT, LORD OF, marshal of France, and a celebrated general in the sixteenth century, who signalized himself by his valour and conduct in several sieges and battles. He was made grand master of the artillery in 1569; and so much was he respected or feared on account of his valour, that nobody dared to assault him at the massacre of St Bartholomew. He was the first who declared for Henri IV.; brought a part of Normandy under his jurisdiction; and dissuaded him from retiring to England or Rochelle. Biron was killed by a cannon-ball at the siege of Epernay, July 26, 1592, at the age of sixty-eight. He was a sort of universal scholar; and used to carry a pocket-book, in which he noted everything that appeared remarkable. This gave rise to a proverb at court, when a person happened to say anything uncommon, "You have found that in Biron's pocket-book."

BINOX, Charles de Gontault, created duke of Biron by Henri IV., was a man of great intrepidity, but fickle and treacherous. In 1601 he was sent as ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth to announce his royal master's marriage with Mary of Medici; but being discovered in a treasonable correspondence with Spain, he was beheaded in the Bastille at Paris, July 31, 1602.