Jacques d'Albon

In 1547 François I died; while Henri was not meant to be involved in the process of obsequies, he secretly viewed the funeral from a house en route with his close associates Saint André and Vielleville. Henri became emotional and began to cry; Vielleville and Saint André recounted for him how his elder brother had celebrated a false report that he had drowned years prior, hoping to channel his grief into anger.[4] In 1547 at the advent of his reign, Saint André was made lieutenant general, governor and sénéschal of Lyonnais. The same year he was elevated to the position of grand chamberlain, and made a marshal of France.[5] Claude d'Annebault was compelled to cede his Marshal title so that Saint André could be elevated.[6] In his capacity as royal chamberlain he slept in the king's chamber with him, providing him a great deal of access and ability to influence the king.[7] In 1550 he inherited his father's governorship of Lyonnais.[1][8]

In the early years of his reign Saint André and his father were both regular fixtures of the Conseil Privé, and after his father's death in 1549, Saint André continued his presence in the exclusive council.[9] By 1550 his government was expanded to the Lyonnais, Forez, Beaujolais, Auvergne and Marche. He quickly became the wealthiest and most connected man in the region.[10]

With the resumption of the Italian Wars in 1551 France initially achieved success, securing a hold on the Three Bishoprics. Charles moved to recapture the towns in late 1552, Saint André was assigned to defend the town of Verdun however Charles selected as his target Metz, where Guise was stationed; after a few months he broke off the siege in failure.[11] Charles V was quick to avenge this loss, and in 1553 he besieged, and then razed the town of Thérouanne. This sudden strike caught Henri off guard, having been under the impression there was no serious threat to the city. He spent a day in his chambers, refusing to speak to anyone other than Saint André and his mistress Diane de Poitiers.[12] In the campaign season of 1553, Montmorency and Saint André led the main royal army into Picardy, under Montmorency's overall leadership the army would not accomplish much of note, conducting a very cautious campaign.[13]

In the campaign of 1557, the French army under Montmorency was brought to battle while trying to relieve the siege of Saint-Quentin and annihilated by the duke of Savoy; among the many notables captured on the field were Montmorency and Saint André.[14] Phillip II was keenly aware of the value of the two prisoners to Henri, among his many other noble captives, as such he paroled Saint André in 1558 to bring the king on board with the Spanish peace terms.[15] Saint André would be ransomed for 50,0000 écus in March 1559.[16]

Diane and Saint André keenly encouraged Henri in his repression of Protestantism, advocating for the Edict of Compiègne and Edict of Ecouen in early 1559.[17]

Saint André represented the king as one of his principle negotiators during the peace talks that followed his release.[18] At the peace celebration for the conclusion of the Italian Wars in 1559, Henri was killed in an accident during a joust by his opponent Montgommery. Saint André was one of the three guards of honour who stood over the body for the forty days preceding the funeral, alongside Montmorency and Coligny.[19]

Opposition to the Guise administration coalesced into a conspiracy in early 1560, with armed groups attempting to storm the court while it stayed at the castle of Amboise. On March 15 Saint André was sent out from the castle with 200 horse, and permission to requisition local garrisons for men at arms, to ensure Tours was securely held by the regime.[22] With Condé's involvement in the conspiracy suspected, and subsequently confirmed in relation to a planned uprising in Lyons, Navarre and Condé were summoned to present themselves at court to answer the accusations of their involvement in seditious activities. Saint André provided his support to the king, flanking him during the icy meeting with the renegade princes.[23]

With the crown increasingly tolerating the presence of Protestantism, under the chancellorship of Michel de l'Hôpital and regency of Catherine de Medici Saint André aligned himself with Montmorency and Guise in their opposition to this, agreeing to work together to ensure France remained Catholic in April 1561.[24][25] Together they attended mass conducted by Cardinal Tournon on 7 April, and Guise and Montmorency who had been rivals for a decade exchanged the kiss of peace.[26] Concurrently an agent of the Lyons town council reported back to the city that the governor of the Lyonnais, Saint André, had lost much of the influence he had held at court in the prior two reigns.[27] François d'Agoult was granted the governorship of the town of Lyon, a subordinate position to Saint André in 1561. While not openly Protestant, he was deeply sympathetic to the religion in contrast to his superior.[10]

In January 1562, Catherine convoked an assembly at Saint-Germain, hoping to create an edict to solve the religious issue. Guise and Montmorency were absent, however Saint André attended to represent opposition to any toleration.[28] Despite his presence the assembly would draw up the Edict of January which granted formal toleration to Protestantism for the first time.[29]

Shortly after the Massacre of Wassy perpetrated by Guise's men, Saint André was ordered to return to his government by Catherine on 3 March.[30] He however ignored this order, and entered Paris alongside the Constable and Guise, to a warm welcome from the militant Catholics of the city.[31] Now united, they began planning the logistics of raising troops and funds.[32] In the negotiations that filled the early months of the first war of religion, Condé demanded as a condition for his disarmament the removal of several figures from court, among them Saint André.[33]

With talks breaking down Saint André made an attempt to capture the city of Lyons in July, but was unsuccessful in this attempt.[34] Moving on from the city, he seized Poitiers from the rebels in early August.[35] He followed this victory with the equally quick recapture of Angoulême.[36] In October, a large mercenary force that the rebels had successfully hired entered France under the leadership of Andelot. Saint André pulled the majority of the army's cavalry and the screening force that was weakly sieging Orléans to intercept this force, and prevent it linking up with the main rebel body under Condé. He would however fail in this and Andelot would outmanoeuvre him, achieving juncture.[37] In the same month, Navarre would be killed while conducting the siege of Rouen. Upon his death the idea of inserting Saint André as a deputy to the new governor of Guyenne was floated as a possibility.[38]

These forces augmenting his army to a considerable strength once more, Condé decided to make an attempt on Paris; he was however unable to reach beyond the outskirts before finding himself compelled to retreat northwards. His retreat was shadowed by forces under Montmorency, Guise and Saint André, who were able to bring his army to battle at Dreux on 19 December 1562.[39] On the field of Dreux, Saint André was second in command under the overall leadership of Montmorency.[40] He was impatient on the field, keen to attack quickly, however his command of the right wing of the army was more theoretical than practical, and he could not advance without the permission of Guise.[41] About two hours into the battle, with the destruction of the royal left under Montmorency, Guise and Saint Andre at last advanced into the combat annihilating the Huguenot infantry.[42] Saint André however, would be captured on the field of battle by de Mézières, who held a personal grudge against him and executed his prisoner.[43][44][45]

Jacques d'Albon, seigneur de Saint-André by Jean-François-Théodore Gechter, Galerie des batailles at the château de Versailles