When the court stopped at Moulins he promulgated a wide reaching set of legal reforms, which sought to combat Venal office, severely curtail the number of jurisdictions and overlapping law codes, and limit the power of governors and certain judges to interpret and execute justice that rightfully flowed from the king.

[16][5] As a councillor, he took responsibility for drawing up the charges against the chief defenders of Boulogne (the seigneur de Vervins), who had surrendered the important port town to the English in 1544.

[20] In 1553 he entered the service of the Cardinal of Lorraine, serving them as a voracious polemicist and was rewarded by the family with the post of maître des requêtes for the hôtel du roi.

[24] In 1558 in his capacity at the chambres des comptes he offered a panegyric at the wedding of the dauphin François II to Mary, Queen of Scots in which he boasted that the marriage would subdue England without the need for a war or violence.

[1] While much of the French military aristocracy was disgusted by the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, which brought the Italian Wars to a close, L'Hôpital praised the treaty, writing a 'carmen de pax' in support of it.

[27] With Cardinal Lorraine taking charge of the kingdoms finances on the death of Henri II, L'Hôpital served as his chief financial adviser.

To salvage the kingdoms credit, he recommended to the Cardinal a radical program in which loans would be rescheduled, taxes raised and spending drastically cut.

[16] With the regime floundering in the aftershocks of Amboise, and with continued discord rocking the kingdom in the south, L'Hôpital was among those who pushed for the calling of an Assembly of Notables, to examine a potential package of financial and religious measures.

[34] The assembly soon found itself threatened with derailment by an altercation between Admiral Coligny and Cardinal Lorraine after the former brought forth a petition for Protestants to have temples in which to worship much to the latter's consternation.

While staying at Moulins, an edict was also issued outlining the special circumstances by which the royal domain could be temporarily alienated, through the supervision of the Parlement and chambre des comptes.

[47] In January 1563 he attempted to mollify Parlementaire opposition through a decree outlining that extraordinary courts established by the crown would be illegal without the Parlement having provided commission to the judges.

[48] The religious situation in France continued to deteriorate in 1561, in June of that year L'Hôpital warned the Paris Parlement that it would be necessary to stop Catholic children from parading through the streets with crosses, as this was viewed as incendiary by the Protestants, making it liable to cause a riot.

[50] During the debates in the pourparler that formulated the edict, L'Hôpital had been keen to go further, arguing that the ban on Protestantism was no longer workable, however the council voted against legalisation.

[53] On 3 January 1562, L'Hôpital gave a speech in front of the Paris Parlement in which he argued for the present necessity of religious toleration for Protestantism, as the only alternative to the kingdom descending into civil war.

A little taken aback, Catherine attempted to arrange another Colloquy, such as that which had occurred at Poissy, L'Hôpital took charge of outlining the subjects that would be debated at the conference, however it would be an ignominious failure, breaking down over the first topic of the agenda 'images', shortly after which it was dissolved.

[57] In the wake of the Massacre of Wassy, the kingdom rapidly descended towards civil war, as Protestants began to take arms and seize towns.

De Thou of the Paris Parlement was summoned to meet with L'Hôpital in May, and despite his best efforts to appease the chancellor was compelled to withdraw the courts policy that all its members complete a profession of faith.

The court set off in grand fashion that month, with 2000 persons accompanying them on the journey, including many of the leading nobles of the kingdom such as Constable Montmorency and Cardinal Bourbon.

[66] Each of the kingdom's Parlements was to be visited during the royal journey, with L'Hôpital tasked to provide a stern talking to the bodies at each stop, warning them to register the edict and respect the authority of the king.

Lorraine, arrogant in victory declared L'Hôpital always sought to be 'cock of the dunghill' and opined that he would refuse to attend council meetings in the man's presence going forward.

While these policies appear out of step with his wider program, L'Hôpital was keen to quiet the disorder in Paris, which had been growing more severe and threatening in the previous years.

[76] The Surprise of Meaux, in which elements of the Protestant nobility attempted a coup to seize the king and kill Lorraine, fatally discredited L'Hôpital's project in the eyes of Catherine.

[80] By this time, Catherine was increasingly weary of L'Hôpital, and when he proposed certain compromises the court could make to end the crisis, including the dispatch of a further embassy to the Protestant leaders so that they might better understand their intentions and aims, she accused him of bearing some responsibility for the current situation.

[81][82] To fund the mercenaries required to prosecute the civil war, L'Hôpital's list of offices to be suppressed on the death of their current holder, a key component of the Ordinance of Moulins was cancelled.

[83] Though the war was formally brought to a close at Longjumeau, it quickly became apparent the peace was ephemeral in the following months, with sporadic fighting continuing in the south.

[7] In a fiery session of council L'Hôpital clashed with Lorraine on 19 September, arguing that this course of action would plunge France into civil war and overrun the land with reiters.

Lorraine was uninterested in his efforts and turned to Catherine, informing her that L'Hôpital was the chief cause of the kingdoms ills, and that if he was in the hands of the Parlement of Paris, he would be executed within 24 hours.

[88] L'Hôpital for his part explained that in fact Lorraine was the cause of the kingdoms ills, but it was apparent to him that he no longer had the power to change the direction of the crowns policy, and he left again shortly thereafter to his estates at Vignay near Étampes.

[86] His dismissal as garde des sceaux elicited the rapturous excitement of radical preachers in Paris, Simon Vigor celebrated the news, denouncing L'Hôpital as the man who 'put the knife into the hands of our enemy'.

[93] Severed from access to power, L'Hôpital turned his attentions to the production of 'discours', the arguments he put forward in these differed greatly from those he presented earlier in his career.