The ceremony of his investiture was conducted with extraordinary pomp; and when he had taken the oath, De Luynes received from the hands of the King a sword richly ornamented with diamonds, which was buckled on by Gaston, Duc d’Anjou.[61] The murmurs elicited by this extraordinary promotion were universal, and the rather as it had long been promised to the Duc de Lesdiguieres, who was compelled to content himself with a brevet of Marshal of France, and the title of colonel-general of the royal army, which constituted the veteran soldier the lieutenant of De Luynes, who had never been upon a field of battle.[62]

The remainder of the year was occupied in a campaign against the Protestants, who, on the departure of the King from Bearn, had rallied in the defence of their religion, and revolted against the outrages to which they had been subjected by a lawless rabble.  Their churches had been desecrated and burnt down at Tours, Poitiers, and other cities, themselves publicly insulted, and they began to apprehend that they were about to be despoiled of all the privileges accorded to them by the Edict of Nantes.  Under these circumstances they had convoked a general assembly at La Rochelle, in order to decide upon the measures necessary for their preservation; and although warned immediately to dissolve the meeting, they had refused compliance with the royal edict, even while aware that they were not strong enough to contend with any prospect of ultimate success.[63]

The new Connetable eagerly seized this opportunity of exerting his authority, and an army of forty thousand infantry and eight thousand horse was marched towards the Loire, at the head of which were the King himself, De Luynes, and the Marechal de Lesdiguieres; while, as though the projected expedition had been a mere party of pleasure, not only did a crowd of the great nobles volunteer to swell the ranks of the already enormous host, but the two Queens, the Duchesse de Luynes, and a numerous suite of ladies also accompanied the troops to share in the campaign.  The result of this fearful contest is known.  The unhappy Protestants were driven from their strongholds, and with the exception of Montauban, which was so gallantly defended that the King was ultimately compelled to raise the siege, they found themselves utterly despoiled, and exposed to every species of insult.

No event could have been more unfortunate for the ambitious Connetable than the successful defence of Montauban.  Louis loved war for its own sake, but he was also jealous of success; and he felt with great bitterness this first mortification.  He had, moreover, become conscious that he was a mere puppet in the hands of his ambitious favourite; and he was already becoming weary of a moral vassalage of which he had been unable to calculate the extent.  As the brilliant Connetable flashed past him, glittering with gold, the plumes of his helmet dancing in the wind, and the housings of his charger sparkling with gems, he looked after him with a contemptuous scowl, and bade the nobles among whom he stood admire the regal bearing of le Roi Luynes; nor was he the less bitter because he could not suppress a consciousness of his own disability to dispense with the services of the man whom he thus criticized.