In 1595 he would again invade Bourgogne with considerably more success, Beaune, Auxonne, Autun and finally Dijon falling to him in late May of that year.

A Spanish army under the Constable of Castilla invaded in response and joined forces with the duke of Mayenne lieutenant-general of the ligue.

[3] In 1586 Biron was involved in a major duel with La Vauguyon, a great noble of Limousin over the prospect of being able to marry Anne de Caumont.

[3] In early 1593, Biron was in a place of some disenchantment with Henri, and was for a brief time drawn towards the 'third party' at the nascent court, that sought to promote Cardinal Bourbon as an alternate candidate to the throne.

In exchange for yielding the post, he was established as a Marshal of France by Henri, just as his father had been, he was further granted a monetary compensation of 420,000 livres.

[19] It proved a strategic choice for Henri, as Mayenne had long built patronage networks in Bourgogne that he could rely on to support him.

For the first year under royalist control half of the échevins were to be selected from a shortlist drawn up by Henri as opposed to their usual appointment by the mayor.

After his victory at Fontaine-Française, he arranged a special procession for the consecrated host on 1 July to replace the festivities that Biron had disrupted.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, Henri refused to countenance a retreat, and he and Biron would lead two successful defences against assaults from the enemy before starting a counterattack.

[24] Mayenne urged the Constable to engage his entire army, but he was cautious, suspecting Henri would not dare attack unless he had far greater forces in the area.

Biron and the city council succeeded in overruling the Parlement, and it was declared that elections would occur 'in the traditional format... without any changes, alterations or innovations of any kind'.

To this end military supplies and food were stocked up, however Amiens was conscious that a garrison would infringe upon its traditional liberties and refused the royal presence.

Biron had begun the siege early in April, with an insigificant force of 3000 men, which was outnumbered 2:1 by the Spanish garrison and lacked artillery.

Henri's lack of time for the advice of many of the grandees who had enabled his rise to power led to Biron remarking 'courage was of no value' in this new order.

The duke however refused, securing instead a several month truce in which he hoped Biron would strike at Henri, however no blow against the king came.

[41] Soon thereafter, peace was established in the Treaty of Lyon, signed 17 January 1601 which traded the French possession of Saluzzo for Bresse, Bugey, Pays de Gex and Valromey.

[3] This personal discontent was combined with a more general disquiet among the great nobles of Henri's autocratic centralising tendencies which were beginning to express themselves.

Biron outlined that the king's refusal to grant him Bourg-en-Bresse had led to him holding treasonable thoughts, and that he had desired to secure the hand of the duke of Savoie's third daughter in marriage.

[33] There would however be an air of menace to his visit, with Elizabeth emphasising for him the punishments that befell rebels, even showing him the severed head of the earl of Essex.

[34] In March of that year, La Fin told the king that Biron had plotted to have him killed during the final campaign against Savoie and had provided secret military information to the Savoyards.

[36] La Fin's defection from Biron in March was motivated by his eclipse in the duke's favour by the baron de Lux.

[44] Henri ordered La Fin not to include other lords that he wished to implicate in his depositions, focusing the treason trial on the person of Biron.

[46] In May Henri established himself at Poitiers, ultimately deciding to abolish the tax that had caused the protest, fearing that it might be a channel of support to Biron in any future showdown.

Henri was keen to lull Biron into a sense of security, and wrote to him to warn him of Spanish movements across the border from his governate.

[46] Henri put on a welcome face publicly after Biron arrived, playing Jeu de Paume with the Marshal, showing him his new statue and plans for Fontainbleau.

Henri for his part was conscious that Birons trial would be a sensitive matter for the high nobility, and assembled many grandees, so he could read the documentary evidence La Fin had prepared to them.

This proved a failure however, the high nobility largely disgusted by Birons treatment, refusing to take up their roles in the Parlement to oversee the case.

Biron continued to deny the accusations levelled at him and defended himself in front of the Parlement of Paris after his trial began on 17 June.

[55] In defiance of Henri, many senior aristocrats would visit his final resting place at the church of Saint-Paul in the coming years.

[56] According to Pierre de L'Estoile, a Parisian diarist in years previous Biron had been warned that he would be killed be a strike from behind delivered by a man from Dijon.