The Duc de Bouillon, father of Turenne, had fought bravely on the side of Henry of Navarre through the wars of the League.  He died when the viscount was but ten years of age, and, his elder brother being but six years older, his mother became regent of the little state.  After having greatly weakened the strength of the Huguenot nobles by the siege and capture of La Rochelle, which had long been the stronghold and bulwark of that religion, Richelieu obtained from the duchess a treaty by which she engaged to remain always attached to the interests of France, while the king undertook to protect the house of Bouillon.  The Duke of Savoy was next compelled to hand over to France the town and province of Pignerol, and Richelieu then turned his attention to Lorraine.  The reigning duke had entered into an alliance with Austria, and the invasion of his territory was therefore the first step by which France entered into the terrible struggle known as the Thirty Years’ War.

The duke had given Richelieu an excuse for hostilities.  He had married his cousin, the nearest heir to the dukedom, but he treated her so badly that she fled to France and begged the protection of Louis XIII.  This he gave her, a French army was at once set in motion against Lorraine, and it was in this struggle that Turenne had first fought under the French flag.  He had always evinced the strongest predilection for the life of a soldier, and when he reached the age of fourteen, Richelieu being at the time engaged in breaking the power of the Huguenots and in the siege of La Rochelle, the boy’s mother sent him to his uncle Maurice of Nassau, who at the death of his father had become the leader of the Dutch people.  He was treated by his uncle in exactly the same way as other gentlemen volunteers, carried a musket, and performed all the duties of a private soldier.

Six months later Prince Maurice died, and his brother, Henry Frederick, succeeded him in the government of the United Provinces.  He at once promoted his nephew, and the latter speedily rose to the rank of captain of infantry.  Here he was indefatigable in his duties, and unlike most young men of good family, who left the internal economy and discipline of their companies to subordinate officers, Turenne saw to everything himself.  He drilled and instructed his soldiers, insisted not only upon strict military discipline, but on good manners and conduct in every particular.  He won their respect and affection by his personal kindness, and denied himself almost the necessities of life in order to be able to add to their comforts.  In the wars in the Netherlands there were few pitched battles, and the operations consisted almost entirely of the sieges of fortified towns or of measures for their relief.