His father had been exiled from his native city and found refuge in France where Catherine de' Medici was queen.

From there, he moved to Rome and called to counter the Turk menace in the Adriatic Sea, distinguishing himself in the defence of Ancona.

Two years later, he became the sole Colonel General (commander-in-chief of the army) of France, and subsequently took part to the long siege of La Rochelle.

His fleet was, however, destroyed in the Battle of Terceira (26 July 1582) by the Spanish-Portuguese navy under the admiral Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz.

[2][3] Taken prisoner, he was executed at age 42, by being wounded to death and then thrown into the sea from a Spanish ship, as a pirate.