He served both Marie de' Medici and her son Louis XIII during a period of conflict between Catholics and Protestants in France, the French Wars of Religion.

[1] In 1588, at the age of nineteen Phélypeaux entered the office of the minister Louis de Revol to study administration.

[7] In 1610 Henri IV made him Secretary of State for Protestant Affairs, saying he knew of nobody more worthy, faithful and capable.

[4] Pontchartrain remained minister during the regency of queen Marie de' Medici.

He set a rare example in an age of intrigue of a minister who thought only of the interests of the state, and never of his personal gain.

He feel ill at the siege of Montauban, and died at Castel-Sarrazin on 21 October 1621 at the age of fifty-two.