Montpensier participated in negotiations undertaken by Catherine de' Medici in 1586 with Navarre, that were ultimately unsuccessful in establishing an agreement between the prince and crown.

In May of that year, Henri attempted a confrontation in Paris with the ligue, however this backfired, and he was forced to flee with his loyal advisers, among them Montpensier.

Establishing himself at Chartres he made numerous concessions to the ligue, among them dispossesing his favourite Épernon from his governate of Normandie, replacing him with Montpensier.

Montpensier fought for Henri in Normandie against an allied army of ligueurs and peasant rebels known as Gautiers, besting the latter in April 1589.

After the death of Henri III in August 1589, Montpensier followed his chosen heir the Protestant Navarre, something many other Catholic notables could not countenance.

[6] Louis, Duke of Montpensier had been in possession of a large super-governate of interior provinces, including Anjou, Touraine, and Maine.

[14] Montpensier was granted command of one of the four royal armies dispatched by Henri to campaign that year, leading his forces into the Rhône valley.

[15] The civil war would continue into 1576 when it would be brought to a close with the generous Peace of Monsieur which granted large concessions to the rebels and Protestants.

[16] Proposals for a marriage between the king's brother Alençon to the queen of England had long been mooted at the French court as a mechanism by which to remove a politically destabilising element from France.

[19] Elizabeth was playing for time, and spoke to each ambassador in turn, threatening Montpensier that if he did not put on a cap she would have one attached to his head.

At Alençon's 'joyous entry' into the city of Antwerp in February 1582, Montpensier and the earl of Leicester were in the procession alongside him, representing the support for his control of Nederland by England and France respectively.

[21] Catherine decided to provide support to her son's shaky position in the nascent kingdom, dispatching a force of Swiss, German, and French infantry to bolster him.

Alençon took his army into Antwerp, a city formally under his authority, and made a failed attempt to surprise it in a coup that would become known as the French Fury.

In early 1585 the Lorraine family and their allies declared war on the crown, seizing strategic cities across their areas of influence and forming an army.

The body was largely composed of secretaries of state such as Bellièvre, Brûlart and Villeroy but also featured nobles of the sword as embodied by Montpensier.

[32] Henri's participation in the war against his Protestant cousin Navarre was a reluctant one, and he dispatched his mother to conduct negotiations with the prince in late 1586.

Unlike the ligueur candidate of heir to the throne, Cardinal Bourbon, Montpensier was young and healthy and therefore had a realistic prospect of outliving the king.

[35] Ultimately however these theories foundered as Henri was unwilling to break from the fundamental laws of succession, and Montpensier was loyal enough to the king that he would not challenge him through the formation of a counter-ligue.

It was rumoured that Montpensier had secretly sent forces to join those under Soissons in the interest of strengthening the Bourbon family against their Guisard enemies.

[38][39][40] His establishment in Normandie was designed to appease the Norman nobility, which had despised the previous governor, the royal favourite Épernon.

This had the advantage of keeping him in close contact with Montpensier and the Bourbon family at the Château de Champigny, with whom he met in late June.

While Navarre as a Protestant could not attend, Montpensier, Soissons and Conti made attempts to defend his prerogatives in the face of a hostile set of Estates.

[43] Montpensier having spent some time at the Estates, despaired for their progress, and decided on 22 December to retire to his Château de Champigny for a holiday.

Montpensier though was among the Catholic notables who gave their support to Henri and continued the fight against the ligue, alongside the duke of Longueville, the prince of Conti and Marshals Biron and Aumont.

[54] Arriving in Normandie, he unified his remaining forces with those under the command of Montpensier and moved to Dieppe, which opened its gates to the Protestant king.

The Catholic notables who supported him, among them Montpensier, d'Aumont, Biron, the lieutenant-general of Champagne Dinteville and the duke of Piney-Luxembourg were all signatories to an explanatory letter to the granduca di Toscana on 18 August.

Montpensier having rejoined the main royal army held joint command of the kings left with Marshal d'Aumont, each possessing large cavalry formations.

[59] Nemours advance proved hard to resist and Montpensier's forces were pushed back, however in the centre the king achieved a decisive advantage and Mayenne was routed.