Tristan l'Hermite

{{Short description|French political and military figure (died c. 1478)}}

:See also François Tristan l'Hermite

File:Tristan L'Hermite, grand maître de l'artillerie.jpg

Tristan l'Hermite (died {{circa|1478}}) was a French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages. He was born in Flanders near the beginning of the century.

He was provost of the marshals of the King's household under Louis XI of France. Prior to this, he was also a provost marshal to Charles VII.{{cite book |last1=Viriville |first1=Auguste Vallet de |title=Mémoire sur les institutions de Charles VII |date=1872 |publisher=Librairie Renouard, Henry Loones successeur |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-5AAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22charles+vii%22+Tristan+l%27Hermite&pg=PA76 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=fr}} He had also become captain of Mussy-l'Évêque in 1431{{cite book |title=Positions des mémoires présentés à la faculté des lettres pour l'obtention du diplôme d'études supérieures: (histoire et géographie) session de juin 1897 |date=1897 |publisher=Université de Paris |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUUOAAAAYAAJ&dq=%221431%22+Tristan+l%27Hermite+louis+xi+capitaine&pg=PA55 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=fr}}{{cite book |last1=Contamine |first1=Philippe |title=Guerre, état et société à la fin du moyen âge: Études sur les armées des rois de France 1337–1494 |date=25 September 2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-133064-8 |page=411 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYBdDwAAQBAJ&dq=%221431%22+Tristan+l%27Hermite+louis+xi+capitaine&pg=PA411 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=fr}} and then Grand Master of Artillery in 1436.{{cite book |last1=Mandrot |first1=Bernard Édouard de |last2=Samaran |first2=Charles |title=Dépêches des ambassadeurs milanais en France sous Louis XI et François Sforza |date=1920 |publisher=Renouard, H. Laurens, successeur |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6imv7pdLXEoC&dq=%221436%22+Tristan+l%27Hermite+louis+xi&pg=PA240 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=fr}} He was awarded knighthood in 1451.{{cite book |last1=Moréri |first1=Louis |title=Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique, Ou Le Mélange Curieux De L'Histoire Sacrée Et Profane |date=1759 |publisher=Libraires Associés |page=349 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yOZPAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22Fran%C3%A7ois+l%27Hermite%22+Tristan+l%27Hermite+louis+xi&pg=PA349 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=fr}}

The mystique surrounding his name caused the 17th-century French poet and playwright François l'Hermite to take his name as a pseudonym.

He appears as a figure in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris,{{cite book |last1=Hugo |first1=Victor |title=Notre-Dame de Paris |date=1888 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |page=378 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqsaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Tristan%20l%27Hermite%22 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=en}} in Walter Scott's Quentin Durward,{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Walter |title=Quentin Durward |date=1823 |publisher=Archibald Constable and Company ... and Hurst, Robinson, and Company London. |page=102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdCY7qQUsSgC&q=%22Tristan%20l%27Hermite%22 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=en}} in the Justin Huntly McCarthy play If I Were King,{{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Justin Huntly |title=If I were king |date=1901 |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |location=New york |page=18 |url=https://archive.org/details/ifiwereking00mcca/page/18/mode/2up?q=tristan |access-date=31 May 2024}} and in the operetta made from the play, Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King.{{cite book |last1=Dietz |first1=Dan |title=The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals |date=2 February 2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4528-0 |page=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRiMBgAAQBAJ&dq=operetta+The+Vagabond+King+%22Tristan+l%27Hermite%22&pg=PA174 |access-date=31 May 2024 |language=en}} He is also a character, as a young man still in the service of Arthur III of Brittany, in Juliette Benzoni's "Catherine" novel, Les Routes incertaines.