In 1571 he received a break in his recognition when he gained stature through a mission he conducted to the Papal States that secured the release of a French subject condemned by the inquisition, succeeding through an audacious and aggressive style in intimidating the Pope.

Nevertheless, the Ottoman government was greatly perturbed at this development, and Catherine sought to sooth their anger through condemning those nobles who had rushed to join the defence of Malta and banishing those who had made the journey.

[3] Saint-Gouard was entrusted with the military responsibility of being capitaine de cinquante hommes d'armes des ordonnances du roi (captain of 50 men-at-arms in the royal ordinance company).

[23] Fourquevaux had advised the crown to select a 'man of experience' as his replacement, as after the death of the queen of España, Catherine's daughter, in 1568 the ambassador had been forced to operate alone in the defence of France.

Felipe maintained his cool, arguing that if the French intrigues with the Dutch rebels were successful they would throw down their mask and embrace the cause openly, while if it was a failure the 'double game' would continue.

[58] Saint-Gouard was greatly embarrassed when word reached España of the defeat of the French force under the command of the sieur de Genlis which had invaded Nederland in the hopes of relieving the Spanish siege of Mons.

[53] On 19 July the duque de Alba provided papers on Genlis' person dated to April allegedly from the French king to the Dutch rebel leader van Nassau.

Felipe abandoned his usual subdued demeanour, humiliating Saint-Gouard by asking him to recount the course of events several times on the pretext that his ambassador in Paris had written him a very jumbled account.

[66] Nevertheless, was thus much anger about the French victory in the election in España and rumours swirled in the country (fed by the Spanish ambassador in Paris) that the duc d'Anjou did not wish to assume the mantle of the Commonwealth's kingship, seeing the post as an 'exile'.

The following day the door of his ambassadorial residence was forced by an alcalde (mayor) and a group of soldiers who proceeded to arrest two young boys and a groom from his stable, taking them off to prison.

According to the contempotary historian de Thou, Henri had received a copy of the treasonous text from his ambassador Saint-Gouard, who in turn had discovered it after it was sent by the Pope to Felipe.

Felipe feared a new trouble, and his secretario Zayas wrote to the virrey de Catalunya urging him to maintain du Bourg in Barcelona, postulating that providing him wines might cease his progress.

[80] This was followed from September to December in 1578 by another extraordinary diplomatic mission, this time led by the marquis de Maintenon to again reassure Felipe about France's intentions as regarded Vlaanderen.

[82] Suspecting a man of Marseille named Reboul who was in Madrid of regularly selling information to the Spanish crown about Languedoc and Provence, Saint-Gouard attacked him in the street with his cane.

In return for French aid, the kingdom would be rewarded with possession of the Portuguese territories of Madeira, Brasil and Guiné Portuguesa in addition to rights to trade with the East Indies.

From here the affair escalated to such an extent that Saint-Gouard advised Henri in August to no longer allow the Spanish ambassador's despatches to be intercepted, as it left the impression in Spain that France could not control its population of Portuguese refugees.

[91] In June Henri tasked Saint-Gouard with travelling to Belém near Lisboa where Felipe was established to complain of the treatment of French merchants and people that had accompanied the occupation.

[55] At this time, a French military expedition to the Açores that was being organised under the command of the colonel-general Strozzi (son of the maréchal with whom Saint-Gouard had travelled to Malta in 1565) set sail.

On 10 July, shortly before he left Portugal he bore witness to the departure of the Spanish fleet that was going to crush Strozzi's expedition, led by the marqués de Santa Cruz.

In 1583 Henri established Saint-Gouard in the position of governor of the province of Saintonge, with particular responsibility for the château de Saintes, a charge that offered great prospects of profit.

[138] Henri for his part found himself subject to the distaste of the existing Papal Nuncio for his decision to seek negotiations with the Protestant king of Navarre and prince de Condé in the summer of 1586.

[138] Thanks to the work of the cardinal de Rambouillet and cardinale d'Este, the return of Pisani to his embassy would be arranged, and thus he departed Paris back for Roma on 23 June 1586, arriving in the city on 19 August.

Pisani was to assure the Pope that Henri remained committed to wage war against the Protestants in Poitou, but before he could do this, Guise needed to be removed from the capital and returned to his governate of Champagne.

Similarly France was never to have a 'heretical' king, he would adopt the decisions of the Council of Trent, grant to the Catholic princes the towns conceded to them in the 1585 treaty of Nemours, relieve Épernon of his governate of Boulogne and sell off the property of Protestants.

André Hurault de Maisse who was departing for Italia was instructed to inform the late duc's maternal uncle the duca di Ferrara that Guise had been poisoned by his ambition and was planning to seize Henri and hand him over to the ligueurs in Paris.

According to cardinal de Joyeuse, the Pope was not surprised to learn of the assassinations, remarking that Guise and his brother had received several warnings of the king's intentions.

Joyeuse seeing that neither he nor Pisani were making any impression on the Pontiff after a month of work, wrote to Henri urging him to establish a special envoy who would request absolution for him.

On 13 March Joyeuse brokered an agreement by which the bishop of Le Mans would make the appeal for absolution, kneeling at the feet of the Pope he confessed on the behalf of Henri.

[170] The change of dynasty from Valois to Bourbon that accompanied the death of Henri III did not result in Pisani's loss of importance, and through his reputation and political significance he entered into the confidence of the new king.

[9] Henri established Pisani as the sénéchal (seneschal) of Poitou and as the colonel-général de la cavalerie légère italienne (colonel general of the Italian light cavalry).