In 1584 the Duc de Guise established a Catholic Ligue (League) to oppose the succession of the Protestant king of Navarre to the throne.

To appease Nevers, Guise selected an intimate of his the comte de Grandpré to replace La Vieuville, establishing him in the city.

Pierre became a gentilhomme de la chambre du roi (gentleman of the king's chamber) for Charles IX in 1566.

[4] The garrisoning system of Champagne, which had in the reigns of François I and Henri II been put towards territorial defence against external attacks was diverted to new purposes in the religious civil wars of the latter part of the century.

La Vieuville informed the king on 8 September 1568, that soldiers under his command had been despatched to Vézelay so that they might support the lieutenant-general of Champagne the seigneur de Barbezieux in attacks against the Protestants of the region.

Pierre de La Vieuville had reconfigured the towns constitution to have the échevins elected by the militia officers.

This only furthered the resentment felt in Mézières that had been developed against their governor, and inclined them more towards Guise and (eventually) the Catholic ligue (league).

In the event, Condé would never receive Mézières as the truce was violated before his control could be established, with the civil war resuming.

While the duc and duchesse hoped to repurchase the seigneuries in sunnier days, this would not prove possible, and in 1596 Henriette would renounce her right to redeem the territories.

Guise, conscious that he could not disposes La Vieuville without upsetting Nevers, selected the comte de Grandpré, a close intimate of the duc as the candidate to replace them.

This appeased any potential objection Nevers could have to the effort, and thus the path was open for Guise to increase his credit in Champagne and be free of a man who was associated far too greatly with the royalist cause.

[15] In April Guise arrived and installed Grandpré in the city over the objection of the king and Nevers, who both wrote to the council demanding they re-admit La Vieuville.

Catherine de Medici, negotiating for the crown was however unwilling to concede on this point, and for the moment La Vieuville was left in his charge formally.

[8] Both Grandpré and La Vieuville were thus left in limbo by the Treaty of Nemours which brought the war between the ligue and the crown to a close.

[17] The treaty effectively outlawed Protestantism in France, while the Lorraine princes were granted surety towns to ensure the terms were abided by.

[14] The assassination of the duc de Guise during the Estates General in December 1588 created a situation in which the royalist and ligueur parties competed for the allegiance of the provincial authorities.

He liaised with the governors of Rocroi and Maubert-Fontaine in north Champagne and they jointly formed an oath to remain loyal to the crown and to support each other.

[24] In Mézières, La Vieuville worked to buttress his position, bringing some garrisons to bear on the town and removing them once he had extracted a renewal of the promise the council had made to him and oaths of obedience to Nevers and Henriette.

This proved sufficient for the council on a temporary basis, with a decision to wait until word from Nevers had arrived in March before declaring their allegiance.

[25] Things did not proceed well for La Vieuville, with the ligueur agents working on the population of Mézières, and himself short on personal means to resist.

[26] An order arrived to garrison royal soldiers in the city, justified as a means to protect Mézières from Protestant held Sedan.

[28] The ligueur appointed lieutenant-general of Champagne, Saint-Paul hurried to Mézières to ensure its loyalty to the ligue, arriving on 22 April.

He received appeals to fully join the ligueur camp from the duchesse de Guise, meanwhile the more royalist inclined La Vieuville provided him a long report in August, detailing the critical situation in which the kingdom found itself and the need to demonstrate his good character.

[34] In 1591 La Vieuville launched an assault on ligueur held Mézières in conjunction with the new duc de Bouillon.

The attack was launched on 29 June, but failed to breach the citadel, gaining only temporary possession of a single tower before withdrawing.

He wrote back to the elder duchesse de Nevers, Henriette, telling her of her sons performance and the ways in which he was serving the family.

[38] His position with the Gonzague-Nevers family meant that, when a matter of dispute rose over their inheritance in 1605, he was tasked with intervening to resolve it by king Henri.

This was not an attempt by Henri to dilute the power of the secondary nobility in Champagne, which had showed itself vital during the religious wars, but rather to focus the responsibilities so it could be more effective.