Despite receiving these he would not gain access to Bourges, whose governor Claude de La Châtre was also resistant, in January he fled court and entered rebellion again, forcing the crown into a favourable peace later that year.

After the Siege of Haddington was broken, Ruffec was among the men called back to France by Henri alongside Piero Strozzi, Guillaume de Joyeuse and future Marshal Bourdillon.

[5] During 1575, the king's brother Alençon had fled from court, and it was viewed as a serious risk by the crown that he would put himself at the head of the Malcontent rebels.

Ruffec justified his disobedience to the duke of Montpensier who had come to receive Angoulême on behalf of the prince that if he opened his gates he would be cut down by his enemies as Du Guast recently had been in Paris.

[5] As the terms of the truce continued to hang in the air, a Protestant mercenary army under Casimir crossed the border in support of the rebels, catching the court off guard.

For her part she argued it was not her doing that the governors had refused to hand over their charges, and that if the king did not march on them to bring them into obedience, she would depart court for her family lands in Auvergne and do it herself.

Meanwhile François de Montmorency, who had been entrusted with dispossessing La Châtre proposed that Alençon receive Blois, Tours and Amboise instead.

[8] Meanwhile, at court, Alençon accused Chancellor Birague of attempting to poison him, and used this as his excuse to back out of his commitment to the truce and join the rebels.

[11] As Épernon travelled to court, hoping to make an impression on Henri of the value of his services, he made several stops on route to ensure that he could provide the monarch with the most complete picture of the political situation in Guyenne.

[12][13] In the Autumn of 1579, Henri dispatched Catherine to the south east border of France, to deal with a situation involving one of his former favourites who had entered rebellion Marshal Bellegarde.