The youngest son of Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise and Antoinette of Bourbon-Vendôme Elbeuf's career began at a young age.

In the following years he would be involved in the expedition that seized Corse, and a further campaign in Italy in 1557, before playing a key role in the capture of Calais in early 1558.

Though only the sixth son of the late duke, an advantageous marriage was secured for him with the prominent heiress Louise de Rieux through which he gained much of the County of Harcourt.

In the following years he spent time with his niece in Scotland before returning to France with the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion.

Over the following years he worked with his brothers in the prosecution of their feud with the Admiral, who they blamed for the assassination of the Duke of Guise, participating in their armed entrance into Paris in 1565.

René was born at Joinville, Haute-Marne in 1536, the sixth son of Claude, Duke of Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon.

[3] As Elbeuf's tutor she selected Charles des Boves to replace the recently deceased Etienne de Morainville, who was reputed to have provided his charge with a 'good and wise education'.

[10] Elbeuf participated in the opening campaign of the final period of the Italian Wars, joining Brissac in Piedmont in preparation for the invasion in favour of the duke of Parma.

Instead of defending the city of Parma when it came under siege, Brissac instead sought to draw off the Imperial army, successfully reducing the town of Chieri before engaging in inconclusive skirmishing for the remainder of the year.

[16] In his new position of total military authority, Guise sort to reclaim French honour through capturing Calais, which had been in English hands since 1347 and was heavily defended.

With Guise having left to return to camp, Elbeuf and Aumale led the defenders of the castle in withstanding two ferocious attempts by the English to recapture the fortification.

Unable to achieve victory in this endeavour, the English soon surrendered on 8 January, Guise had pulled off a major coup, seizing a city in weeks that had resisted French control for over one hundred years.

[17] In 1559, Lorraine was hopeful that Elbeuf would soon be able to be sent to Scotland, to support Marie de Guise's regime against the increasing Protestant tenor of the country.

[18] Elbeuf meanwhile took up residence in Dieppe, where the Protestant minority which was strong in the town found their worship proscribed for the next several months before departing south in March.

[20] Elizabeth I on hearing of Elbeuf's appointment as lieutenant in Scotland, decided to act; sending William Wynter to blockade Leith in February 1560, and entering into an alliance with Marie's opponents, the Lords of the Congregation, by the Treaty of Berwick.

[26] According to the chronicle of Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, Elbeuf was impressed by the variety of Scottish produce served at the banquets in February 1562 to celebrate the wedding of the queen's half-brother, Lord James Stewart and Agnes Keith.

[31] While Protestant fortunes in the first war of religion had reached a low ebb after the loss at the Battle of Dreux in December, Coligny engaged in a lightning campaign in Normandie in early 1563 seizing back many towns that had fallen to the crown, with little royal forces available to stop him.

[34][35] Recently installed in Provence in his capacity as commander of the Mediterranean fleet, he died in 1566, a heavy blow for the Guise family.