Charles IX was sickly, and died in 1574 without heir, leaving his brother Anjou, now styled Henri III to succeed him as king. In 1575 the two brothers continued their military education with their father. Both served in his company, La Valette as a man at arms, and Caumont as an archer. He would receive appointment as a
gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre du roi in 1579.
Saluzzo Marshal Bellegarde, the disgraced former favourite of Henri, and governor of Saluzzo died on 20 December 1579. This left the governate of the important border territory vacant, though he had a son
Bellegarde who wished to succeed him to the office. Henri however preferred to grant the governate to La Valette. To achieve this negotiations had to be undertaken with the young Bellegarde to consent to the loss of the governorship from his family. La Valette had been involved in the negotiations between the crown of France and the duke of Savoie over the rebellious Marshal Bellegarde in the previous year. Bellegarde took a great deal of time to dislodge from Saluzzo, and negotiations were led by
Marshal Retz and
Jacques de La Fin. They eventually succeeded by deceiving Bellegarde into believing that the governorship was to be given to the king's brother
Alençon who would surely devolve authority over the region to Bellegarde while he attended to other affairs. Bellegarde was also granted the office of
maître de camp for the light cavalry as compensation. By this means Bellegarde was removed in February 1581. While negotiations over Saluzzo were ongoing, La Valette was established as governor of the rest of French Piedmont in 1580, granting him authority over the few remaining possession of France in the region. As of 1574, France had ceded
Pinerolo,
Savigliano, La Pérouse, Labayye and Gevolle to the duke of Savoie. This left La Valette with
Carmagnola, Ravel and Centallo. In his capacity as governor, La Valette selected
sieur de Laffitte to represent him as his lieutenant-general in the region. Governing French Piedmont was an expensive responsibility for La Valette, as the location of the towns on France's border necessitated large garrisons. In total La Valette would devote 137,000
livres a year to the garrisoning of the territory. Regardless it would be a simpler government for La Valette than the great governates such as Dauphiné or Provence, as with the frontier nature of the towns under his authority there was no need for him to balance his authority against that of local noble interests.
Favour By 1580, La Valette was among those close enough to Henri's intimate circle, that when the king retired from court in February to Saint-Germain, he brought with him his favourites
D'O and
Anne de Joyeuse, the captain of his guard
Châteauvieux and La Valette. He would again be with the king in a retreat during Autumn. During these absences from the administrative responsibilities of state, Henri and the group attended various balls. When Henri visited the ill Joyeuse in May 1581, La Valette accompanied him to Montrésor. In November 1581, La Valette's brother Caumont was created duke of Épernon by Henri. At this time he was granted the key governorship of the
Three Bishoprics, which controlled much of France's border with the Empire. That same year, La Valette was established as the captain of a hundred men-at-arms. The following year Épernon and Joyeuse were made
premier gentilhomme de la chambre, this freed up the offices they had held previously of
Chambellan, which they resigned to their brothers. Joyeuse resigning his charge to
Bouchage, while Épernon provided his to La Valette. La Valette would remain as Chambellan for a year, before letting the office lapse. In January 1582, La Valette joined the exclusive
conseil des affaires which had only eight members and set the policy agenda of the state. The other members were his brother Épernon, Joyeuse and his brother Bouchage,
Villequier and
Marshal Retz, alongside three administrative nobles.
Southern affairs At this time, Henri planned to disposes the governor of the Lyonnais
François de Mandelot of his charge, and provide the key post to La Valette. Épernon was keen to secure the citadel of Lyon for himself, and relations between the brothers and Mandelot began to deteriorate. In January 1585 Épernon secured it for a client of his, Aymar de Poissieu, however Mandelot turned to popular hatred of the brothers, and allowed the population to destroy the citadel in May. Rumours that Mandelot had died in June 1586 prompted Henri to grant the governorship to La Valette, however in the subsequent month the rumours were revealed to be false, and Henri oscillated to promising it to Bouchage, unsure of which recipient would best balance the two families. A bitter rivalry developed in Languedoc between Joyeuse, and the governor
the duke of Montmorency, culminating in Joyeuse's travel to
Roma in June 1583 to gain Montmorency's excommunication from the Pope. By 1583 reconciliation efforts were underway, with La Valette to travel south to Dauphiné to reconcile the two men. Efforts would continue throughout the following years, culminating in several marriages between the families arranged in 1587 and 1588. During 1583, La Valette would join the penitential order established by
François de Joyeuse, the
Pénitents bleus de Saint-Jérôme as one of the 72 members. In that year he would also be elevated to the most senior order of French chivalry, when he was a
''chevalier de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit''. By the year 1585, La Valette enjoyed annual revenues of 23,000
livres. This would expand to 47,000
livres by the time of Henri's death 4 years later. He benefitted from his brothers authority over the army in November 1586 upon the death of
the baron de Thermes which vacated the office of
maréchal de camp. Épernon secured the post for La Valette.
War on Protestantism In July 1584 Henri's brother
Alençon died. As Henri had no children, this meant that his distant cousin the Protestant Navarre was to succeed him as king. This was unacceptable to a great many Catholic magnates, who used the excuse of opposition of this to reform the
Catholic ligue to oppose Navarre's succession, under the leadership of the duke of Guise. In March 1585 the
ligue entered war with the crown, and after a few months of conflict compelled a capitulation with the
Treaty of Nemours by which Navarre was excluded from the succession, Henri committed to a war against Protestantism and the various members of the Lorraine family received surety towns. Henri was committed, at least publicly to prosecute a war against Protestantism. As such, La Valette prepared an army in Dauphiné that he was to strike at
the Protestant commander Lesdiguières with. In Dauphiné, the lieutenant-general
Laurent de Maugiron, had a difficult relationship with the governor under whose authority he held office,
the duke of Montpensier. As a result of this, Maugiron increased his closeness to La Valette, hoping that he could use him as a counterweight to Montpensier. Eventually he would be persuaded to resign the charge of lieutenant-general to La Valette, though with the understanding he would remain the chief representative of the king in the province. This suited Maugiron as the alternative to La Valette receiving the office would have been another local family, which could contend with him for ascendency in Dauphiné. The fighting with Lesdiguières would be fierce, and Maugiron would advise him on his lieutenants during the campaign, encouraging him to avoid the sieur de Pongibault, a recent appointment by Montpensier. The two flattered each other in correspondence back to Henri. Despite this close relationship, neither La Valette nor Maugiron could be said to be in control of Dauphiné. Gap, Embrun, Briançon and Montélimar were held by
ligueur captains, Montmorency threatened the south west and Lesdiguières could not be dislodged from the mountains south east of
Grenoble while other Protestants held the
Vivarais. La Valette would however preside over the Dauphinois Estates in February 1586 and impose himself on
Valence in January 1587 and
Vienne in March. He negotiated with the Protestants of
Romans over the objections of Maugiron. As in Piedmont he was faced with large garrison costs, totalling 40,000
livres, however the Estates only granted him 10,000
livres for the cost, so he provided the rest of the money himself. Ultimately he failed to ingratiate himself with the Dauphinois nobility and build any long term networks in the province.
German invasion By 1587, the war against Protestantism had provoked an international response. As a result of this a Protestant German mercenary army was on the precipice of invading the kingdom. After a fruitless private meeting in which he tried to persuade Guise to countenance concessions to Protestantism to avoid the invasion of the kingdom, Henri laid out the plan of campaign. Joyeuse would lead an army against the Protestant
Navarre in
Poitou, meanwhile the duke of Guise would lead a smaller force against the mercenary army as it crossed the border in Champagne. La Valette would be tasked with repelling
Swiss mercenaries who were to descend into the kingdom in Provence. To this end he put himself at the head of an army in Dauphiné. Though in a technical sense La Valette would not become governor of Provence until his appointment by Henri IV in 1590, from 1587, his brother was governor of Normandie, leaving La Valette as the highest authority in Provence. At court, Épernon defended his brothers interests. This culminated in a heated confrontation between the duke and
Villeroy in which Épernon accused the secretary of state in front of the king of having squandered funds that were meant to be delivered to La Valette's army in Dauphiné. Épernon finished by saying he would attack Villeroy if not for the presence of the king. and
Bellegarde would be killed At the
Battle of Coutras, fought between Joyeuse and Navarre in late 1587, Bellegarde would be killed. This vacated the office he had received in compensation for Saluzzo, that of
maître de camp for the light cavalry. Épernon demanded that La Valette receive this office, and it was promptly granted, the king recognising the strategic value in diluting the authority of the
ligueur duke of Nemours who was the colonel-general of the light-cavalry.
Enemy of the ligue From January to February 1588 the Guise held a new conference at
Nancy to discuss strategy and objectives. Among the articles expounded upon were the necessity that La Valette and his younger brother Épernon be disgraced and removed from their offices. On 13 May the king was forced to flee Paris as Guise and the Parisian
ligueurs prepared to take hold of him. Left ascendant in the capital, Guise worked to draw up his demands of the king with
the cardinal de Bourbon and
La Chapelle-Marteau. On 23 May they presented their demands, Guise was to be established as commander in chief of the war against the Protestants, to disgrace and banish La Valette and Épernon, revoke all fiscal edicts and accept the appointment of Guisard loyalists to various key governorships. On 27 May Henri began his capitulations to the
ligue, revoking en masse forty financial edicts that created venal offices, he promised to convoke an Estates General and further brought about the disgrace of the Nogaret. With Épernon exiled to the
Angoumois. Henri's capitulation was a reluctant one however, and it would only be Épernon who was disgraced, and even he only partially. While Épernon resigned the governate of Normandie to
the duke of Montpensier, he was granted permission to yield his control of the post of governor of Provence and Admiral to La Valette. He further refused to be dispossessed of his office of colonel-general of the infantry or the governates of
Boulogne and
Metz. As the king's authority was destroyed in Paris, La Valette was established at Pertuis. In response to news of what was unfolding in Paris, he invited a delegation from the
Parlement of Aix to meet with him. A royalist deputy was able to convince him to come to
Aix. Having arrived, he was soon compelled to depart when word arrived of disorder in Marseille. Having departed Aix, the
ligueur de Vins entered Aix, and after contesting for power there with the royalist Coriolis secured the city for the
ligue.
Estates General of 1588 Feeling abandoned by Henri after the disgrace of his brother, La Valette took the opportunity of the
Estates General at Blois to form a cross confessional alliance in Provence, entering compact with the Protestant commander of Dauphiné, Lesdiguières. He further entered alliance with the duke of Montmorency. The duke of Savoie meanwhile decided in September as the Estates were ongoing to invade Saluzzo, and he found that with the Nogaret family cut off from royal favour, it fell to him relatively smoothly. In the formulation of the
cahiers prior to the meeting of the Estates, hatred of the Nogaret family ran high. The
cahiers of Paris denounced Épernon and La Valette as partisans of Navarre who had enriched themselves at the expense of the state. When the Estates themselves met, Guise proposed that La Valette and Épernon be declared rebels and Protestants. He was not able to carry the Estates along with this, but Henri was incensed at the continued attacks on his favourites. This added to a long list of grievances held by the king against Guise that drove him to
have him assassinated on 23 December.
War with the ligue , where the attack took place. The assassination of the duke was the breaking point for many cities across France, which defected to the
ligue in the coming months. Lyon, one of the chief cities of the kingdom, did not initially defect from the crown. However the cities hatred of La Valette and his brother led to a coup in the city on 23 February of the following year. The
ligueur duke of Nemours established himself in the city shortly thereafter. In Provence, the
ligueur lieutenant-general the
baron de Vins travelled first to Aix and then Marseille with news of the dukes assassination. The consulate of Marseille greeted him with a great procession to mourn the death, he was cheered by the assembled crowds, while those royalists in the town, who would be loyal to La Valette were abused as heretics. By this time La Valette was the sole commander of royal forces in Provence. Fortunately for La Valette the
ligue he would be faced with in Provence would prove to be fractured between a Savoyard faction and a faction loyal to
Carcès. The
duke of Savoie had invaded France, seeing opportunity in the civil war to aggrandise his realm. La Valette in conjunction with Lesdiguières would successfully best him in an engagement. However, with the support of Spanish reinforcements, and allied French
ligueurs, the duke was able to secure his hold of Aix,
Marseille and
Draguignan. At the opening of 1589, Henri wrote to Épernon, to clarify the status of his family as regards the disgrace they had received the prior year at the behest of the
ligue. He confirmed Épernon's governate of Saintonge and the Angoumois, La Valette's authority over Provence and the comte de Brienne's control of Metz. He confirmed the prior decision to grant La Valette the admiralty, and maintain Épernon in the office of colonel-general though without the ability to exercise its authority. He insisted however that Épernon hand over his governate of Boulogne. The Estates General however had other ideas, baulking at the notion of the combining of the charge of Admiral,
maître de camp of the light cavalry and governor of Provence. Therefore, La Valette divested himself of the responsibilities of Admiral on 25 February to
Beauvais-Nangis, who would in turn be succeeded by
the son of the Marshal Biron in 1592, who La Valette had initially hoped would succeed him in the office. ==Reign of Henri IV==