Dominique de Gourgue

Dominique (or Domingue) de Gourgue (1530–1593) was a French nobleman and soldier. He is best known for leading an attack against Spanish Florida in 1568, in response to the destruction of the French Fort Caroline. He was a captain in King Charles IX's army.

De Gourgue's early life is not well known. He came from the old and powerful family of Gourgue, one of the most important families of the French city of Bordeaux. He served in the Italian wars under Maréchal de Strozzi, was captured by Spaniards in 1557, and then by the Turks, and served several years in the galleys. After his return to France, he made a voyage to Brazil and the West Indies, and then entered the service of Duke de Guise, and was employed against the Huguenots.

Philip II of Spain was a Roman Catholic king who hated Protestants, including the French Huguenots, and considered them heretics. He ordered his troops to kill any they found in the colonies. Therefore, in 1565, troops under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés notoriously massacred hundreds of Frenchmen around Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. After capturing the fort and slaying nearly all his prisoners, Menéndez hung their bodies on trees, with the inscription, "Not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans." The massacre aroused indignation in France among Protestants and Catholics alike. The French king sent complaints to the Spanish court, but Menéndez and his associates, instead of being punished for the deed, received rewards and honors.

...
Wikipedia