During his brief career he was faced with his families overwhelming debts, which the crown intervened in to avoid his situation inducing a more general financial crisis in the nobility.

[12] Like his elder brother, Nevers was for a time drawn to the Protestant faith, this was reinforced by his relations to the duke of Bouillon through his wife.

[16][17] Shortly before his death, in early January 1563, king Charles had granted Nevers permission to begin selling off family lands to satisfy his debts.

[18] Now duke of Nevers, he tasked his ducal council (which included men such as Pierre Séguier, président of the Paris Parlement and François du Pontot the bailli of the Nivernais) with combatting the extensive debts that had been accrued under his immediate predecessor.

[19] To assist him in this, his maternal uncles Cardinal Bourbon and the prince of Condé petitioned the crown on his behalf, highlighting the heavy burden of debt that Nevers was subject to.

[21][22] In May 1564 the royal conseil privé (privy council) took further steps to protect Nevers from his debts, calling upon the chambre des comptes of the duke to begin looking into solutions.

[23] The king's mother Catherine de Medici wrote to two of the duke's councillors (Pierre Séguier and Charles Lamoignon) who were to be lead the effort.

There was friction between these two agents of the crown and Nevers, the former complaining that the ducal council tried to involve itself in the business of debt management that they were overseeing.

[25] Since the beginning of the French Wars of Religion, the financial situation of the house had been deteriorating, and this was only accelerated by the extinction of the male line.

[26] It was not possible for the Clèves possession of the governate of Champagne to be returned to the dukes of Nevers upon the assumption of the title by Louis; though the monarchy would have liked to diminish Guise's power they were unable to.