In June 1548 a French fleet, with provisions and 5000 soldiers on board, under the command of Andre de Montalembert, seigneur d'Esse, landed at Leith to reinforce the Scots army, and laid siege to Haddington, then in the hands of the English.
They also acted as paymasters of the equites and of the soldiers on service in each tribe.
The bombardment of the town in 1881 was one of the principal events of the French conquest of Tunisia; it was pillaged by the soldiers on the 16th of July, and the inhabitants had afterwards to pay a war indemnity of £ 250,000.
All soldiers on whom " swords of honour " had been already conferred were declared legionaries ipso facto, and all citizens after 25 years' service were declared eligible, whatever their birth, rank or religion.
In 1652 he married Cromwell's daughter, Bridget, widow of Ireton, and was made commande in-chief in Ireland, to which title that of lord deputy was added, The chief feature of his administration, which lasted from September 1652 till September 1655, was the settlement of the soldiers on the confiscated estates and the transplantation of the original owners, which he carried out ruthlessly.
