Françoise de Cezelly (1558–1615) was a French female knight and war hero. Françoise de Cézelly distinguished herself at the battle of 1590, episode in which her husband the governor of Leucate will be captured and executed by the League allied with the Spaniards. She was born May 22, 1558 in Montpellier President of a father to the Court of Auditors, from an old and noble family in the old medieval quarter of the city surrounding the Church of St. Anne, in front of the current courthouse. On April 6, 1577, she married Jean-Antoine Barry Bourcier St. Aunez, from whom she had five children: Hercules, Anne-Francoise Antoine, Paul and Frances. After the battle of 1590, King Henry IV had come to Paris and gave him the government of Leucate till her son Hercules was able to exercise it. Françoise de Cézelly will die in Montpellier at the age of 56, 16 October 1614 and is buried in the chapel of St. Anne Church of St. Paul of Narbonne to the side of her husband. Forgetting then seemed to have fallen on it until 1899 when, under the patronage of a committee, took place on August 16, the inauguration of the Place de Leucate a beautiful bronze statue by the sculptor Ducuing. Admittedly she had this look great Françoise! The folds of her ample cloak fluttered in the wind. She waved and firm up the keys of Leucate, the keys that made so much bloodshed and cost the lives of her husband. All Leucate was very proud ... Until a dark day of May 1942, when the Vichy government, the orders of the occupier, decided to get the bronze for delivery to Germany. When the statue toppled from its pedestal to fall on a truck, the hand holding the keys broke and fell on the place. Recovered by a leucatois, this hand symbol will be given to the Town Hall where it is today still in good place. The base will remain empty for more than thirty years. Heightening the desire of Leucatois Cézelly to review the place of their village and through the joint initiative of three Georges (G. Cazevove Mayor leucate, G. Excavated painter of marine and G. Guiraud, sculptor, Grand Prize Rome in 1926, painter of the Navy), a new statue will be inaugurated August 17, 1975. [1][2][1] Today, the memory, the picture and the name of Lady Cézelly circulate throughout Europe thanks to the prestigious cuvées high and assembled by the Winegrowers of Cap Leucate. And that's the Association of Friends of the old castle that tries to reconstruct her life and her role here The reputation of Françoise de Cezelli is still widespread in the Languedoc, as many schools and official buildings are still named after her.
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named undefined; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.leucate.net/pages/co/co_lv.asp?num=2&pere=1.