The second son of Guillaume de Balsac and Louise d'Humières he was a member of a prominent Massif-Central noble family.
He became close to the king, serving him as a gentilhomme de la chambre, before defecting to the household of his brother Anjou.
Frustrated at the continued concessions he was forced to make to the ligue, Henri resolved in December 1588 to kill its leader the duke of Guise.
His heir, the Protestant Henri IV secured his service through a promise to protect Catholicism, and he served with him against the ligue in early 1590.
[6] His military career commenced in 1565, through service in the company of Marshal Cossé first as his guidon and then as his ensign in 1567 at the outbreak of the second war of religion.
[15] In 1583 he was rewarded for his service with an elevation to the king’s new most senior order of chivalry, being established as a chevalier de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit.
[16] That same year he joined the penitential order established by one of the kings chief favourites Joyeuse, the Pénitents Bleus de Saint-Jérôme as one of its 72 members.
[21] With the murder of the duke, it was alleged that Entragues helped himself to the diamond ring on the deceased grandees hand by the ligueur writers.
[24] Entragues was scandalised by the king’s decision, in the wake of his near capture outside Tours to don the white sash that was associated with the Protestants.
[25] Entragues remained in the king’s intimate circle of favourites however, and was with him at Saint-Cloud as he prepared to besiege Paris back into submission.
They were now faced with the prospect of serving a Protestant king, which violated their interests, religion and access to the monarch, Navarre already having his own cadre of advisers.
[28] To ensure he could bring these distraught Catholic nobles on board, Navarre, now styling himself Henri IV, issued a declaration.
This was sufficient for segments of the Catholic nobility, among them the lieutenant-general of Champagne, Dinteville, Marshal Aumont, the duke of Longueville and Entragues.