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In 1523, after having committed many misdeeds against the royal authority, Captain Montclou, a Bourbon nobleman, was beheaded in Paris. Montclou’s story makes us wonder about the difficulties of the young Francis I, who tried to maintain military discipline among his soldiers during a delicate period for his kingdom. The case also poses many questions about the social problems of the nobility after the Hundred Years War, and about disbanded soldiers. The political evolution of the kingdom, in the shadow of the Constable of Bourbon, is essential for understanding the Montclou case.