Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe

Saint-Ruhe or Saint-Rhue was an estate in the parish of Saint-Médard corresponding to the modern hamlet of Sainte-Rue in the commune of Celles-sur-Belle, Deux-Sèvres. The Chalmot family, of the minor nobility class, first appeared in records from Niort in the 15th century, often serving as local administrators; many were Protestants, including at least one Protestant minister. Several members left France following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, including one, Jacques de Chalmot, who entered Dutch military service. Robert Parker, who fought against the Jacobites at Aughrim, described Saint-Ruhe as "a gallant, brave man, and a good officer". The soldier and diplomat Saint-Simon, in his Memoirs, painted a less flattering portrait. This should be treated with some caution as he was only sixteen when Saint-Ruhe died, though he did apparently meet him. He described him as a "gentleman in a small way", tall and well built but exceptionally ugly; a gallant soldier but notorious for domestic cruelty. According to Saint-Simon, Saint-Ruhe's treatment of his wife became so brutal that she eventually asked the King to intervene. Louis treated her with great sympathy and ordered her husband to stop, but when the ill-treatment continued the King began sending him on unnecessary missions to free his wife of his company. ==Career in France==

s were used to intimidate Huguenot families into conversion; Saint-Ruhe was said to have been responsible for several such campaigns Charles Chalmot served as a lieutenant in the prestigious Garde du Corps, the king's household cavalry. He was recorded as holding the rank of captain of cavalry in 1670, mestre de camp in 1672, and brigadier in 1677. In 1686, he replaced Boufflers as commander in Guyenne. A Catholic unlike many of his family, he is supposed to have taken part in Louis XIV's dragonnades, in which dragoons were quartered on Protestant households to try and force their conversion. By 1688, he had been promoted to lieutenant-general. In 1690, Chalmot was with the army besieging the town of Annecy and played a part in the victory at the Battle of Staffarda, among other engagements. His association with the Irish conflict began while still in France, when he received the command of a brigade of Irish troops under Mountcashel, originally sent to France in 1689 in exchange for French personnel. ==Campaign in Ireland==

In response to requests from James II and his viceroy Tyrconnell, Louis sent Saint-Ruhe to replace James's illegitimate son Berwick as commander of the Irish Army. The decision was made in January although the Irish were not informed until April. Athlone was seen as a significant victory and likely to provoke the collapse of the Jacobite army. The Lords Justice in Dublin issued a proclamation offering generous terms for Jacobites who surrendered, including a free pardon, restoration of forfeited estates, and the offer of similar or higher rank and pay if they wished to join William's army. Aughrim Unaware of the location of Saint-Ruhe's main army and assuming he was outnumbered, on 10 July Ginkel began a cautious advance through Ballinasloe down the main Limerick and Galway road. , where Saint-Ruhe was supposedly buried Saint-Ruhe and Tyrconnell initially planned to fall back on Limerick and force Ginkel into another year of campaigning. The loss of Saint-Ruhe was among several factors that precipitated a collapse in the Jacobite army; the battle ended in a rout, with several thousand Jacobites dead. According to the Jacobite author Nicholas Plunkett, Saint-Ruhe's body was carried off and brought to the town of Loughrea, where it was later interred privately at night at the Carmelite Abbey cemetery. Other accounts suggested that he was buried at Kilcommadan or that his remains were thrown into a bog or left on the field. ==In folklore==

The death of Saint-Ruhe gave rise to a great deal of folklore in Galway; a well-known story is that a local sheep farmer and one of his shepherds, angry at having their flock taken by Jacobite soldiers, gave an artillery officer called Trench information enabling them to target the Jacobite general. The site is still marked by a plaque near the Beara-Breifne Way. "St Ruth's Flag" was an irregular black stone in the old graveyard of Kilcommadan, reputed to have marked the place of his burial. ==Notes==