Born into the middling Norman nobility as a son of Valéran d'Espinay and Marguerite de Groucher, Saint-Luc had his debut into French politics with his participation in the siege of La Rochelle in 1573 in which he was injured.

At the end of the sixth war of religion, the duke of Mayenne secured the strategic Guyenne town of Brouage, which controlled a deep port and salt production.

In the autumn he accompanied Catherine de Medici, mother to the queen on her mission to negotiate with Henri's disgraced favourite Marshal Bellegarde who had set himself up in rebellion.

Upon the death of Alençon in July 1584, the king's heir due to his childlessness, he aligned himself with the Catholic ligue that was established by the Lorraine family to oppose the succession of the Protestant Navarre.

Established as grand maître de l'artillerie on the resignation of La Guiche he would die in the conduct of this charge on 8 September 1597 during the siege of Amiens.

[1] [2][3] His family was a member of the ancient middle nobility of the region of haute Normandie, which claimed to have ruled the fief of Hayes since the 12th century.

[4] The lands of Saint-Luc's seigneurie were acquired by the family at the end of the 15th century, and were located around Évreux[5] His father Valéran d'Espinay was a gentilhomme de la chambre for Henri II as well as his écuyer d'écurie and governor of Louviers.

The event was a flashpoint for relations between the king and his brother, with one of Henri's favourites Maugiron taking the opportunity of the ball to celebrate the match to insult the prince to his face.

[15] To ensure he was aware of ecclesiastical vacancies at the first opportunity, he had a network of spies in Normandie, so that he could quickly request their granting in ways that suited his families interests.

[19] When word arrived at the siege lines that Anjou had been elected as king of the Commonwealth, Saint-Luc was among those young men who accompanied the prince to join his court in the eastern kingdom.

[24] Unlike many of Anjou's travelling companions, Saint-Luc stayed with the king in the Commonwealth until his departure back to France upon the death of Charles IX.

[1] He saw combat at the Battle of Dormans where the duke of Guise confronted the vanguard of a Protestant mercenary army under Casimir that was attempting to invade the kingdom in support of domestic rebels.

[30] He fought with his men in the main royal army under the command of the king's brother Alençon at the siege of the Protestant held La Charité-sur-Loire, which was concluded with a vicious sack.

[31] The royal army then moved to reduce Issoire, with Saint-Luc supporting the prince in the capture of the town, which fell on 11 June, being subject to another brutal sack.

Though small, Brouage could boast a deep water port; allowed competition for the control of the coastline with Bordeaux and La Rochelle; and had extensive salt works.

[42] An ambitious man, Saint-Luc hoped both to be raised to the title of duke, as several favourites of Henri would be in the 1580s, and to attain the office of grand écuyer which was held by Léonor Chabot.

[46] Saint-Luc also collaborated with Maugiron in an effort to intimidate another of Alençon's favourites Claude de La Châtre by ensuring he lost a court case he was involved in.

[34] During August 1579, Henri dispatched his mother Catherine de Medici to confront his renegade favourite Bellegarde who had established himself in rebellion in south east France.

He fundamentally misunderstood Alençon's political priorities at the time however, as disorder in the court was in his interest while he was negotiating marriage plans with England, and as such he would have shown the letter to the king.

Le Roux puts his support behind the final factor, arguing that the favourites of the king no longer saw themselves as a collective but as individuals struggling to secure a monopoly on royal favour for themselves.

[15][43] Keen to ensure the rebellion was contained, Henri despatched his version of events to Elizabeth I, the queen of England, and the mayor of La Rochelle, so that neither would be tempted to align themselves with Saint-Luc.

[58] Saint-Luc for his part took the council of his wife Jeanne, who advised him in letters to seize the royal salt supply that Brouage controlled so the king could not have it.

On 6 June 1580 he agreed to abandon his governorship of Brouage to Charles de Belleville in return for financial compensation of 117,000 livres and a declaration of his innocence.

[64] Giving up on the king, Saint-Luc turned to his brother for patronage, with no position in Henri's household, he became maître de la garde-robe for the duke and was a part of his retinue.

They were able to rally to their side nobles who felt they had been left out in the cold away from royal favour among them Brissac, and the disgraced favourites of the king D'O and Saint-Luc.

[70] Saint-Luc was drawn into rebellion in the hopes of regaining royal favour, now that his alternate patron was dead, the explosive rise of Joyeuse and Épernon illustrating starkly what he could have had.

[74] Condé however made himself vulnerable by dividing his forces so he might besiege Angers as well, and overstretched was bested and driven off by the comte de Bouchage, brother of Joyeuse.

[82] He proved a valuable asset to the king, with Henri appointing him as lieutenant-general of Bretagne putting him in direct conflict with the ligueur duke of Mercœur who looked to rule the province as his personal fief.

Saint-Luc and his wife assured him that if he defected to the royalist camp and brought over the city, Henri would affirm his position as a Marshal of France that had been illegally confirmed on him by the ligueur lieutenant general Mayenne and grant him a reward of over 1,000,000 livres.

[88][12][82] In the crisis that confronted the king after the Spanish capture of Amiens in 1597, Saint-Luc played an important role in the French recapture of the city.