Born in 1546 into one of the most prominent noble families of Bourgogne, he was the son of Nicolas de Bauffremont and Denise Patarin.

Auxonne was a key strategic border city and its control was keenly desired by Sennecey's patron the duc de Guise.

[2] In the sixteenth century they were among the most senior of the noblesse seconde (secondary nobility) of Bourgogne in the estimation of the historian Henri Drouot, alongside the families the Saulx-Tavannes and Chabot-Charny.

Sennecey therefore dispersed the troops he had raised in July, and was greeted by a furious letter from Alençon, and a congratulatory missive from Henri.

He turned to La Châtre, and his brothers-in-law Vitry and Sennecey, finding them all united in purpose with him in their shared hatred of the arch-favourite Épernon.

[13] Maineville acted as the representative for their alternate candidate to succeed Henri III, the Cardinal de Bourbon (who would reign as Charles X).

They accomplished this by letting Beauvais-Nangis know, that if he were to defect in his allegiance, Guise would reward him when he was ascendant with the post of colonel-general of the infantry.

[17] Their coup would be a short term one, Beauvais-Nangis, upon realising that their promise Guise would provide the office of colonel-general would not come to pass, quickly retreated into political neutrality.

The historian Niepce believes this may reflect a caution Sennecey felt towards the ambitions of the ligueur princes and desire to wait and see how the situation developed.

[22] The city of Auxonne in Bourgogne had great strategic value, offering a strong defence against Spanish and other foreign efforts to invade France.

With peace between the ligue and crown the Protestant forces were re-arming in preparation for a new campaign against them, and to this end were likely to be requesting the support of German reiters.

[25] Guise instructed Sennecey to travel to the court and present his grievances with developments in Bourgogne (at both Auxonne and Mâcon).

[27] Sennecey informed Guise that he was content with the reception that Catherine had received, and felt that it met the needs of his diplomatic mission.

[28] The next day Sennecey enjoyed a personal audience with the king which reinforced the opinions he had received from Catherine de Lorraine as to Henri's favour towards the Guise.

He added however that Guise must renounce any efforts to assist Jean de Saulx in returning to his charge, as it was necessary this man be put on trial for his various corrupt dealings.

This can be explained by the fact that Catherine de Lorraine had recommended Sennecey to take command of Auxonne on at least a temporary basis pending a decision on who to replace the disgraced governor by Mayenne.

Sennecey rushed to the court to receive this appointment, meanwhile in Auxonne Léonor Chabot, comte de Charny the lieutenant-general of Bourgogne was put in temporary command.

To allow for a smooth transition of command to Sennecey, Henri amnestied many of the coup participants in Auxonne for their actions against their former governor.

These discussions were seized upon by Jean de Saulx who denounced the leaders of Auxonne as entering the Protestant camp.

[34] Pluvault justified himself to the representative of Guise sent to negotiate with him that the inhabitants of Auxonne were entirely opposed to Sennecey, so he could not therefore persuade them to allow the admission of the new governor.

[35] In January the sieur de La Croisette, uncle of Pluvault, attempted to bring Auxonne over to Sennecey, but his effort was a failure.

A few days earlier, Jean de Saulx had escaped from the captivity he had been placed in by means of a rope, and he therefore found himself in a position to put pressure on Guise.

The comte de Charny was dispatched to give one final offer of submission to Auxonne in mid May 1586, however the king was by this point somewhat two faced, and though the city was threatened with being declared guilty of lèse majestė, the baron de Lux also informed those he was entreating with that the king wished for them to continue resisting.

Mayenne hoped that Jeannin could prevent his brother from leading the negotiations and avoid military conflagration engulfing his governate.

[47] While this agreement was generous to Pluvault, contemporaries believed Guise had little method by which to undertake an effective siege and it was cheaper for him to take a victory that allowed the installation of one of his clients.

[9] In December, with tensions at the Estates escalating between Guise and Henri, Henri resolved that the only course of action to take was to assassinate the duc de Guise, this accomplished on 24 December 1588 a new war between the crown and the ligue was brought about with the ligue seizing many cities across France, including Paris, and establishing the duc de Mayenne as their lieutenant-general of the kingdom.

[51][52][53][54] In early 1589 Sennecey took up residence in the hôtel de Guise in Paris, the building acting like a mini fortress in the city.

[55] Fervaques would prove a poor choice, and he frustrated Mayenne by refusing to swear the oath to the ligue himself, declaring that he was a faithful servant of the king.

Seeing which way the wind was blowing by late 1594, he refused to hand over his governate of Auxonne to Mayenne and entered talks with Henri for his submission in early 1595.