As a soldier in the French army, Condé fought at the Siege of Metz in 1552 where Francis, Duke of Guise successfully defended the city from the forces of Emperor Charles V. He, and his brother Enghien were responsible for the section of walls from Saint-Thibaut gate to the river Seille.

[5] Despite his military participation, neither he nor his brother would hold significant office during the reign of Henri, the king choosing instead to lavish it on his favourites Anne de Montmorency and Francis, Duke of Guise leaving Condé comparatively poor.

[12] Despite the failure of the attempt to seize the king at Amboise, disorder continued throughout the kingdom, as independent armies raised in support of the effort marauded in a guerrilla war.

[18] Condé would not however languish in prison long, and soon the death of the young Francis II would sever the Guise's link to political authority, opening the way for a regency government under Catherine de Medici.

[17] Conscious that the estates might prefer Navarre's rights to the regency, Catherine used the leverage of Condé's imprisonment to buy him off, promising to release him and annul his sentence in return for his support of her governance.

On 13 March Condé swore in front of the court that he had never conspired against the king and the council formally absolved him, with an ordinance by Charles denoting this fact to be registered in Parlement.

[25] The court hoped this would be sufficient for Condé, however he remained curt with Guise, and sought a further validation of his innocence, a formal judgement from the Parlement that had convicted him, and a denunciation of his accusers.

[27] The Parlement was consumed in its opposition to the Ordinance of Orléans and the Edict of 19 April and did not come to address the matter of Condé's guilt until 13 June, when, under pressure, it declared his innocence.

[28] The religious direction of Catherine's government increasingly isolated it among the grandees of the kingdom, with first Guise and Montmorency alienating themselves from the crown and departing court, and then Navarre entering opposition after the publishing of the landmark Edict of January.

[29] In this tense political moment, the duke of Guise, while travelling back to Paris at the request of Navarre to aid in his opposition, oversaw a massacre at Wassy.

[35] Condé failed to seize on the initial momentum however, and was in Orléans in May when Catherine sent François de Scépeaux to negotiate with him, offering the deprival of Guise and Montmorency of their offices and the sole command of the French army by his brother.

The royal command tasked Marshal Saint André with intercepting them before a linkup was established, he was however unable to do so and, troops in hand Condé began a march on Paris.

[46] The forces under the command of Condé, Charles de Cossé, Count of Brissac and other leaders brought the cities back into submission by August 1563.

[49] Condé would however drift away from the Guise in the coming years, as they abandoned their non-religious approach and began championing the Catholic ultras in pursuit of their vendetta.

[51] When a further modification was made to the edict of Amboise in 1567, expanding the ban on Protestantism in Paris to the Ile de France region, at the same time as Alba began marching north to the Netherlands, Condé got into a shouting match with the king, and then decided to withdraw from court.

[52] Writing from his estates he protested to Catherine about the hiring of Swiss mercenaries to protect France from Alba's troops, seeing them as a tool of Huguenot extermination.

[54] Eventually it was settled on to kidnap the king and the queen mother at Meaux, and assassinate members of the court who opposed them, specifically the Cardinal of Lorraine.

[57] With their coup a failure, Condé and the other leading plotters decided to besiege Paris, hoping to starve the king out before the crown could assemble the full force of its army against them.

[59] Condé negotiated aggressively with those sent out to meet him, demanding a free exercise of religion, the expulsion of Italian financiers and the repeal of all taxes created since the time of Louis XII.

[51] Condé withdrew from Paris, making his way east, conscious that his position was critical, but that the death of Montmorency had bought him some time while the royal army reorganised.

Having successfully linked up with mercenaries and other Huguenot armies in the country, he turned back, and decided to besiege Chartres seeing it as a rich target to pay his restless troops.

[63] The siege dragged on, in part due to Condé's poor placement of the cannons, but before it could conclude, negotiations between the two sides brought a truce on 13 March.

[67] Meanwhile Condé and the Huguenot leadership disregarded the prohibition on foreign alliances, coming to terms with Protestant rebels in the Spanish Netherlands to aid each other against 'wicked counsel'.

[68] By September Lorraine had a majority on the council for the overturning of the peace, eager to take up Pius V offer of financial assistance in return for a war on heresy.

[71] Not having the benefit of uprisings in northern cities, Condé and Coligny would reorientate the axis of the third civil war to a defence of the Huguenot heartlands in the south.

She brought as her dowry the château and small town of Conti-sur-Selles, southwest of Amiens, which would pass to their third son, progenitor of the princes de Conti.