He would take the opportunity civil war presented to usurp the authority of his father, and drive him into exile, temporarily claiming the title of governor for himself, before relinquishing it during peace.

[1] He was a Catholic, and opposed the Protestantism of his step-mother and younger brother René, and the Protestant sympathies of his father Tende.

[5] In 1562 he was raised to the office of lieutenant-general of Provence by Catherine de' Medici, a role that put him on a collision course with his father.

[8] He further introduced his garrison into Marseille, and with the assistance of Papal troops from Avignon drove his father into exile in Savoy for the remainder of the first civil war.

He made attempts with the comte de Suze to cross the Rhône with the aim of recovering Montpellier, however his army was intercepted by the southern Huguenots, and destroyed.

[10] In January 1563 he invited the Papal governor of the Comtat Venaissin to Aix, so that they could discuss measures to repress the Protestants in their respective territories.

In late 1563 Biron was sent into the region under arms to bring Sommerive and Carcès back into line with the crown.

The elderly count would note 'the ingratitudes and disobedience of Honorat, our eldest son, whose youth and bad judgement pitted him against us, as everyone knows to our great regret and displeasure, which would justify disinheriting him if we wished to'.

In Provence the Huguenots seized Lauris and Cadenet and the baron de Cipières, his younger brother marched on Saint-Maximin with 500 men.

Shortly thereafter the Protestant captain of Fréjus and his garrison were massacred with both the local authorities and Sommerive complicit in the act.