Lesdiguières and the Wars of Religion

Between 1562 and 1598, the Wars of Religion plunged Dauphiné into a long period of violence and instability. François de Bonne, future Duke of Lesdiguières — the Protestant military leader of Dauphiné, born into a modest family from Champsaur and later made Marshal of France — led numerous campaigns in the Alpine valleys. Mizoën, like the neighboring villages, suffered from the repeated passage of troops, requisitions, and constant insecurity. Lesdiguières regularly crossed the Chambon plain during his incessant journeys between Grenoble and Briançon, as strongholds were taken and retaken in turn by Catholics and Protestants. These religious conflicts left behind an impoverished but united society, permanently marked by this period of violence until peace returned with the Edict of Nantes in 1598.