His maternal grandfather Jean de Beaumanoir, Marquis of Lavardin (1551–1610) was born a Protestant but like many in that period changed sides and religions when needed and ended his career as a trusted advisor of Henry IV.

[b] After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, he carried out the so-called dragonnade of Huguenots in the Principality of Orange and was military commander of the Dauphiné and Languedoc provinces in 1686.

When France withdrew in 1689, Louis XIV ordered a scorched-earth policy; de Tessé commanded operations in the Palatinate, including the burning of Heidelberg and destruction of over 20 substantial towns and villages.

[3] When the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701, de Tessé commanded the French garrison at Mantua; he was wounded several times, his brother Philibert-Emmanuel dying of dysentery at Cremona the same year.

In 1708, he acted as French Ambassador in Rome, then Spain in 1723, when he persuaded Philip V to resume the Spanish throne after the death of his eldest son Louis I.