Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe (c. 165012 July 1691) was a French cavalry officer, serving in the armies of Louis XIV. Despite a long career, Saint-Ruhe is remembered largely for his brief service in Ireland during the Williamite War, in which France provided military support to the Jacobite forces of James II. While in command of James's Irish Army, he was killed at the Battle of Aughrim, a defeat that led to the collapse of the Jacobite cause. Origins and family Saint-Ruhe or Saint-Rhue was an estate in the parish of Saint-Médard corresponding to the modern hamlet of Sainte-Rue in the commune of Celles-sur-Belle, Deux-Sèvres. The Chalmot family, of the minor nobility class, first appeared in records from Niort in the 15th century, often serving as local administrators; many were Protestants, including at least one Protestant minister. Several members left France following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, including one, Jacques de Chalmot, who entered Dutch military service. The seigneurs of Saint-Ruhe appear to have been descended from Philippe Chalmot, seigneur de la Briaudière and alderman of Niort in the early 17th century. Little else is known of Saint-Ruhe's background or family. He married Marie de Cossé, widow of Charles de La Porte, Duc de La Meilleraye. Marie, born in 1622, was many years older and the marriage was childless; she lived until 1710. Although he is not known to have had any legitimate direct descendants, the Rev. Alexander Franklin of St. Mark's Church, Dublin, claimed to have met a great-grandson of Saint-Ruhe serving in the Fitzjames regiment of the Irish Brigade around the time of the French Revolution. Robert Parker, who fought against the Jacobites at Aughrim, described Saint-Ruhe as "a gallant, brave man, and a good officer". The soldier and diplomat Saint-Simon, in his Memoirs, painted a less flattering portrait. This should be treated with some caution as he was only sixteen when Saint-Ruhe died, though he did apparently meet him. He described him as a "gentleman in a small way", tall and well built but exceptionally ugly; a gallant soldier but notorious for domestic cruelty. According to Saint-Simon, Saint-Ruhe's treatment of his wife became so brutal that she eventually asked the King to intervene. Louis treated her with great sympathy and ordered her husband to stop, but when the ill-treatment continued the King began sending him on unnecessary missions to free his wife of his company.