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Charles de Bourbon was born in 1489, the son of François de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme and La Marche, and Marie de Luxembourg, dame de Saint-Pol.

The house of Bourbon had its origins in the sixth son of king Louis IX, the comte de Clermont (count of Clermont). Vendôme was a direct agnatic descendant of Louis IX.

Charles had two brothers:

• François de Bourbon, comte de Saint-Pol (1491–1545). Saint-Pol would serve as the governor of Dauphiné.
• Louis de Bourbon, cardinal de Bourbon (1493–1553}.

Vendôme's sister Antoinette de Bourbon, married the comte de Guise, who in 1524 was made the governor of Champagne and then in 1527 became the first duc de Guise and a pair de France (peer of France).

From his mother Marie, Charles would inherit many Picard lands, among them: La Fère, Ham and Condé-en-Brie. She also brought him Flemish fiefs, including Enghien, though these revenues would be confiscated by the Holy Roman Emperor.

His wife, Françoise, brought the seigneuries of the comté de Soissons(confirm) and the baronnies de Château-Gontier, La Flèche and Beaumont-sur-Sarthe.

The royal pensions enjoyed by the Bourbon-Vendôme grew from the figure of 2,000 livres in 1482 to 14,000 livres in 1525, then 24,000 by 1532 near to the end of Vendôme's life.

While there is much visible in the historical record for lines of credit extending from officers to 'grandees', the historian Hamon argues our visibility of the reverse is far more obscure. He notes one such case in a loan made by Vendôme to a certain 'Jehan de La Forge' for a sum of 1,200 livres in 1524.

He possessed a 'beautiful' hôtel (grand town house) in Cambrai which would serve as a residence for the queen mother Louise during the negotiations of the Treaty of Cambrai in 1529.

The Bourbon-Vendôme family, chief among them Charles served as the protectors of the du Bellay family which would rise to great prominence in the early sixteenth-century. The future cardinal Jean du Bellay would dedicate several works in his youth to the family.

The duc de Vendôme would enjoy strong ties with the vicomte de Thoaurs, and the two would be companions in arms during the 1520s.

On 16 May 1513, Charles married Françoise d'Alençon, who was the sister of the premier prince du sang (first prince of the blood - closest agnatic relative to the king) Charles de Bourbon, duc d'Alençon. This created a connection between the two branches of the royal house.

With Françoise d'Alençon he would have thirteen children, among whom:

• Antoine de Bourbon (1518–), eldest son of the couple, married Jeanne, queen of Navarre, their son Henri would ascend the French throne as Henry IV in 1589.
• Marguerite de Bourbon (–1559), married the duc de Nevers with issue.
• Charles de Bourbon, cardinal de Bourbon, king Charles X for the Catholic Ligue (League).
• François de Bourbon, comte d'Enghein.
• Jean de Bourbon, married Marie de Bourbon, duchesse d'Estouteville.
• Louis de Bourbon, prince de Condé, had issue.

During 1535, he sought a match for one of his daughters with the king of Scotland. Also around this time there was a royal project to see the Scottish king married to king François' daughter Madeleine. It was François' project which succeeded, though the marriage would be a brief one, due to the early death of Madeleine.

His wife would outlive him, dying in 1550.

Both Vendôme, and his brother Saint-Pol would serve as capitaines for compagnies d'ordonnance.

Louis XII leaving Alessandria to attack Genoa, on the horse behind him, with a red coat can be seen the comte de Vendôme, identifiable due to his motto espérance (hope) written on the livery

After a period of agonies, Louis XII died in the late evening of Monday, 1 January 1515 in the hôtel des Tournelles in Paris.

His bedside was crowded by many of his faithful companions as well as princes du sang including the comte de Vendôme, his brother the comte de Saint-Pol, the duc de Bourbon, the comte de Dunois and the vicomte de Thouars. The bishop of Paris was also present, accompanied by mendicant friars and English officers.

On 10 January, the king's funeral was held in Paris. Behind the hearse walked four of the princes du sang: the Charles IV, Duke of Alençon (of the Valois-Alençon), the duc de Bourbon and the duc de Châtellerault (of the Bourbon-Montpensier) and the comte de Vendôme (of the Bourbon-Vendôme). On 11 January the funeral cortège proceeded to Saint-Denis for the burial ceremony.

The duc de Valois succeeded to the throne, assuming the name François I. His arrival was not a radical shake up but rather largely a continuity. The various officers of the crown were confirmed in their positions, from the parlements to the governors. He lacked much in the way of a party of his own, and therefore the royal councils were occupied by many of the men who had been present during the reign of Louis: the comte de Vendôme, the duc de Bourbon, the duc d'Alençon, the vicomte de Châtellerault, the maréchal de Trivulzio who had participated in all Louis' campaigns and the duke of Albany who Louis had elevated to the marshalate in 1514.

He quickly set to work distributing favours on those who had been close to him in his youth. The vicomte de Thouars received the admiralty of Guyenne and Bretagne, the seigneur de Boisy was made Grand Maître (great office of the crown and head of the king's household with various privileges), and the comte de Vendôme received the dual honour of being made governor of Paris and governor of the Île de France. He acceded to the latter charge on 18 February.

As governor of the city of Paris, Vendôme was responsible for the defence of the city. He was one of the authorities who maintained order in the capital (alongside the parlement and the bureau de la Ville. Along with the parlement, Vendôme was a conduit for royal commands.

During the reign of Louis XII, men of bourgeois extraction, like Étienne de Poncher, Jean de Ganay, Jacques de Beaune and Guillaume Briçonnet (respectively a bishop, the chancellor, and two généraux des finances) had enjoyed places of influence on the conseil du roi. As the 1520s wore on, prestigious French nobles began to usurp their place in royal affairs, with Vendôme one of them, alongside the comte de Guise, baron de Montmorency, and cardinal de Tournon among others.

In total, princes like the comte de Vendôme would comprise around 15% of the 33 nobles d'épée on the council during the reign of François I.

The historian Michon argues that figures in council like Vendôme, the duc de Lorraine, and the connétable de Bourbon were present on the royal councils primarily as a tool of legitimisation. Their illustrious signatures legitimising decisions in which they lacked either political influence or major involvement. Michon classifies Vendôme, by virtue of his status as a prince and later a duc as a born adviser to the crown. Thus, alongside other similar men like Alençon, the king of Navarre, the duc de Bourbon, and the cardinal de Bourbon they were frequently called to council, even if none of these men had political weight.

Rentet and Michon catalogue those figures present on the council during the reign of François I, dividing the figures into principal members of the council, and those who were also present. Vendôme figures as a presence on the council from 1515-1516, 1518, 1524, 1527-1528, 1530, 1534 and 1537; elevated to the rank of a principal person of the council during the crisis of 1525.

In February, after his coronation, François made a grand entry into Paris. Various spectacles were put on in the city to mark the occasion, including one where the king was represented in his regalia surrounded by two women one 'France', the other 'Faith'. Around these three figures were six armoured figures whose heraldry identified them as the duc d'Alençon, the duc de Bourbon and the comte de Vendôme. Further figures represented the common people, loyalty and vigilance. The display also featured a brief text concerning David's triumph over Goliath.

Vendôme would be permitted by the new king to address the latter as 'monsieur'. According to Brantôme, when his brother, the comte de Saint-Pol attempted to address the king likewise, he was told the privilege of this address extended only to Vendôme and not to he.

In 1515, the comté de Vendôme was elevated to the rank of a duché by François as a reward for his military service. This separated it from its dependant status on the duché d'Anjou. Concurrently Vendôme also became a pair (peer).

Vendôme undertook a diplomatic mission to Flanders in 1515 so that he might liaise with the lord of the Netherlands (future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). He was accompanied by the diplomat the seigneur de Langey whose services he may have recommended to the crown.

In the Autumn of 1515, the French had success in their advance into Italy. The Imperial commander Colonna was bested by the maréchal de La Palice (marshal of La Palice) at Francavilla. The king and royal army followed La Palice over the Alps into Italy, and La Palice and Genouillac were ordered to capture Novara. Little desiring a sack, Novara surrendered to La Palice, and he was appointed governor of the city. At the Battle of Marignano, François achieved a capital success. Writing to his mother Louise on the evening of the victory he cited the presence of various nobles, among them Vendôme, his brother the comte de Saint-Pol, La Palice, and the comte de Guise. Vendôme's brother Saint-Pol would come in for particular praise for his valour, with Vendôme being considered a somewhat second rate commander by the king.

It was agreed that a meeting would take place between François, and the Pope in Bologna. The Pope arrived for this meeting accompanied by many cardinals and soldiers on 8 December 1515. The king arrived three days later with a grand company. François and his chancellor Duprat emphasised their devotion and loyalty to the Pope, alongside the king's willingness to lay down all that he had in service of the Pope. Through one of his cardinals, the Pope thanked François, and named him the eldest son of the church, a fairly new title which had first been granted to Charles VIII in 1495. Louis XII had not been granted the title. They then got down to business, discussing plans for a crusade against the Ottomans, the claims of the French crown to the kingdom of Naples, and in particular the supercession of the Pragmatic Sanction with a new Concordat. Duprat would spend several days working on the nature of this Concordat with the cardinals (Ancona and Santi-Quatro). The various ambassadors in Bologna were troubled by the new alliance between the Pope and France. François worked to reassure those of Spain, Venice, the Swiss cantons and Portugal. The Pope would do likewise. After a supper debate took place on the nature of the Concordat, with François affable on many points. In return for his affability, the Pope conceded to withdraw his troops from Verona on condition of Venice being prohibited from returning to Ravenna and Cervia. At François' request on 13 December, the Pope raised the brother of the Grand Maître to the cardinalate. In the evening François and the Pope dined alongside the duc de Bourbon, the duc de Vendôme and three cardinals. The Pope agreed to remove a censure on the French clergy, and in return François granted the release of the condotierri captain Colonna and a postponement of his campaign into Naples. He was more vague on his commitments as concerned a crusade.

On 14 December, François departed Bologne, content in the success of his mission. He had secured leadership of the potential crusade, been granted the title of 'eldest son of the church' and strengthened his alliance with the Papacy. The Pope for his part could feel happy to have subordinated the French to the Roman church through the establishment of the Concordat (which he anticipated would replace the Pragmatic Sanction), delayed any French aggression against Naples and incubated the possibility of a crusade. Vendôme and the comte de Guise led an embassy to the Doge of Venice to inform him of the outcome of the meeting in Bologna. The rough Concordat of Bologna that had been negotiated took the following form: elections to ecclesiastical benefices were to be suppressed. In their stead, the king would nominate within six months of a vacancy opening, either a university graduate or a nobleman of the age 27 or more for churches. This candidate would then receive the approval of the Pope. Milan was de facto recognised as a French territory, and he was given permission to have the décime (tithe) raised at a rate of his discretion, as long as part of the sum went to Rome to fund the building of the Basilica di San Pietro. The sovereign authority of the Papacy was to be recognised absolutely. Various other smaller matters were also discussed.

A great mock battle was staged at Amboise in April 1518, with six hundred men under the command of François and the duc d'Alençon commanding the defence of a model town. Leading the attack in this staged combat was the duc de Bourbon and duc de Vendôme, in command of an equal number of soldiers. The combat received the effusive praise of the seigneur de Fleuranges. The fake combat nevertheless terrified some, and was responsible for the deaths of others.

Sometime after April in 1519, Vendôme acceded to the position of governor of Picardie. On 16 December 1519, the duc de Vendôme was relieved of his charge as governor of the Île de France. With some brief interludes, he would hold the charge of governor of Picardie until his death. The Île de France was handed over to his brother the comte de Saint-Pol who became governor the same day. Unlike other grandee governors such as Montmorency, who was rarely to be found in his charge of Languedoc, Vendôme would spend much time in Picardie during his governorship.

During the campaign of 1521, François snubbed the connétable de Bourbon by denying him command of the army for Italy, the most prestigious command, granting the honour to the vicomte de Lautrec. Bourbon was instead put in charge of the army in Champagne. François furthered this snub by installing Vendôme at his side, in a role Jacquart describes as being like that of a supervisor.

The military endeavours of the summer went poorly for François. For want of money his plans had either ended in defeat or postponement. Now there was a risk that Mézières would fall to the Imperial army, and with its fall much of Picardie would be opened to the forces of the Emperor. Such an eventuality was not tolerable. The Imperial army, under the command of the graaf van Nassau subdued Mouzon before turning its attention to the capture of Mézières.

Keen to avoid this eventuality, 2,000 men were dispatched into Mézières at the end of August, most notably among them being La Rochepot (brother of the maréchal de Montmorency), the famed captain the seigneur de Bayard, and the future amiral de France the seigenur d'Annebault. The city was put to siege by the Imperial army whose formidable artillery set to work on the city. Though the city initially resisted well, food quickly ran low, and disease spread. Thus the king, operating out of Reims ordered the cities resupply. François was also assembling a large force in Reims, with the king ordering the gendarmerie of Bourgogne and men of his household to come to Reims. Further to this Vendôme was to gather 10,000 infantry around Saint-Quentin and Laon, and the duc de Bourbon to join with the king in Reims at the head of roughly another size thousand. A small force bringing supplies under the command of Vendôme's brother the comte de Saint-Pol arrived on 23 September, dashing the hope of the Imperials to subjugate the city by starvation alone. Conditions outside the walls were just as dire as inside, and not long after, on 25 September, the Imperial force was ordered to make a retreat from the city. In addition to the poor conditions, Nassau was aware of the imminent approach of an army under François' command.

Success in front of Mézières was a welcome morale boost for the French army after a difficult summer. François looked to seize the initiative and put himself at the head of an army of 30,000 men to lead a pursuit of the retreating Nassau. The Imperial commander was moving towards Montcornet with the intention of besieging Guise.

The duc de Vendôme was dispatched to occupy Vervins so that he might impede the Imperial retreat. Vendôme's brother seized back Mouzon. Nassau now changed his plans, and after putting Aubenton to the sword, he made for Estrées. Despite these French successes on the Picard frontier, and in the south of the kingdom (where Bonnivet was profiting), the Emperor would not countenance establishing a truce or a peace with the French. He opined that until such time as France returned to him Dauphiné, Bourgogne, Provence, Montpellier, Asti, Milan and parts of Roussillon, there could not be a peace. This was in itself a moderation of his claim to the entire kingdom of France, that was his by right of a Papal decision in 1303. The Emperor's ally, the English were less bullish about their prospects, and looked to obtain a several year truce.

From camp at Origny on 12 October, François responded to the English truce proposals. A truce would be granted only if it included the entire coalition, lasted four to five years, compelled the Emperor not to visit Italy, provide money to the king of Naples, return the kingdom of Navarre to its despoiled king and that the Emperor reaffirm his intentions to marry Charlotte de Valois.

With these terms quite impossible, François and the French army set off in pursuit of Nassau. On 19 October, in battle formation, they marched towards Valenciennes. According to the historian Le Fur, the duc d'Alençon led the vanguard, the king and Bourbon were in the battle, and the duc de Vendôme led the rear-guard. It was traditional to assign the vanguard to the connétable. According to Hamon, Bourbon was with Vendôme in the rear-guard. He adds that Bourbon was doubly aggrieved both by his lack of command and that his tactical advice was ill listened to. After receiving troubling reports, François dispatched the comte de Saint-Pol, the seigneur de Fleuranges and the maréchal de La Palice to Bapaume, which they stormed and then torched and razed. Vendôme replicated his brothers treatment of Bapaume at Landrecies on 22 October, razing the settlement.

With the French now in Imperial territory, the Emperor had resolved to meet the invaders on the field. By 22 October he was at Valenciennes. In the opinion of Knecht, the French had the opportunity at this time to strike a major blow against the Imperials. The possibility of making battle was considered by the French, and to this end a bridge over the Escaut to be constructed. The Emperor dispatched 16,000 men to interfere with this work, but they found the comte de Saint-Pol's men already in order, and the French vanguard soon following. Debate now followed as to whether to engage in battle, with the duc de Bourbon, the vicomte de Thouars and the maréchal de La Palice in favour, and the maréchal de Coligny among those who opposed. François sided with those who wished against battle. Despite this, he permitted his captains to pursue the Imperial force towards Valenciennes. That night, the Emperor withdrew from Valenciennes with 100 light horse.

The French leaders set about securing the surrounds of Valenciennes: the duc de Bourbon seized Bouchain, the duc de Vendôme surprised Somain. The town of Hesdin was burned despite the wealth that the French troops fancied in the town. The châteaux of Renty and Bailleul-Mont were also seized by the French.

Come November, François had withdrawn to Compiègne where he reunited with the queen and Louise. His failure to give battle was a source of some embarrassment, as not only had he declined it before Valenciennes, but several days later when offered battle before Bouchain by the graaf van Nassau, he had again refused it. In addition to these failures, negotiations with England were struggling to progress (with the threat of the English king Henry joining with the Emperor in military alliance in November if the French king did not reach an agreement with the Imperial party by that time) and at the end of November Tournai fell to the Imperial army besieging the city. The French texts of the campaign limited themselves to describing the conquered places and the destruction wrought.

This army faced off against that of the Emperor in October 1521. Again, Bourbon was denied the pre-eminent position usually associated with his office when command of the vanguard was granted to the duc d'Alençon.

While the vicomte de Thouars yearned to be granted the prestigious responsibility of leading the campaign to reclaim Milan for France in the spring of 1522, he was instead ordered to join with Vendôme so that they might both protect Picardie against the Anglo-Imperial coalition.

In April, the duc de Bourbon's wife Suzanne died. She had willed all her property to her husband. François and his mother were determined to frustrate the succession of this property.

In the spring campaign of 1522, a raid from Arras was foiled by the men of the seigneur d'Estrées who caused the party to return to their starting point empty handed. This reverse occasioned a new imperial action, with Doullens (of which Estrées was the protector) put to siege on 19 March. Vendôme, based out of Amiens, implored his brother Saint-Pol to gather 2,000 Swiss soldiers who were garrisoning Abbeville and lead them to Doullens. The Swiss troops would however refuse to fight, citing lack of pay, and they returned to the mountains. Thus Saint-Pol instead demanded 1,000 soldiers from Hesdin. With this troop assembled, the besiegers of Doullens were scattered.

Come the end of April, various bands on the border, for want of food, were causing havoc for Vendôme. He resolved on a radical solution, having several fortresses razed, and putting the land to fire around Arras. Once Vendôme had returned to Doullens he was appraised of the movements of an English army. Henry VIII was assembling a force at Dover intending to land in Calais.

Relations between the two crowns were difficult, in particular due to the failure of François to pay his debts to the English, something that Henry queried him about. Nevertheless, Henry proposed a truce with the threat that he would make himself the protector of the low countries if it was refused. François remained firm. Towards the end of May, the Emperor departed for Calais, and would meet with cardinal Wolsey and soon thereafter the English king. He would spend the next month in England. On 29 May, Henry's declaration of war was read to François by a herald: the English king complained of the unpaid debts, breaches of the treaty of London, French aggressions against the Emperor, French support for the duke of Albany (an enemy of Henry's). François allegedly delivered a quick and scornful response in which he assured that the English would quickly tire of waging war.

The ban and arrière-ban (service levies on the nobility) were ordered raised in Normandie. The vicomte de Thouars departed for Picardie with 2,000 men to supplement Vendôme's forces in the province and reorganise the urban defences. Vendôme's Picard army was still too small to effectively control the whole province, and therefore he concentrated his men on Hesdin, Boulogne, Thérouanne, Montreuil and Abbeville. Meanwhile he abandoned other sites that were less defensible, such as Ardres.

From July the English menaced the Breton coast and reeked devastation. François was concerned to raise a new tax to resist the English intrusions without having to deprive the edges of Flanders, Artois, Guyenne and Provence which were equally threatened of their soldiery.

Poor weather delayed the English arrival, allowing the French to take the initiative, putting Bapaume to the torch, and pillaging and burning villages across Artois to compromise the ability to supply forces in the region. This accomplished the soldiers returned to their garrison towns. Even slower than the English soldiers were their supplies. Vendôme's brother Saint-Pol and the comte de Guise were tasked with containing the English force and they advanced to Desvres and Samer before the English were reunited with their supplies.

In Picardie, the earl of Surrey and duke of Suffolk took command of the English forces. They marched out of Calais in September, looking to provoke the French into battle. Linking up with the graaf van Buren (count of Buren) they easily conquered the area between Saint-Omer and Ardres. This was accomplished with few fruits however, and their destruction of the countryside failed to induce Vendôme to battle, the prince simply rebuking the English for their 'foul warfare'. Thérouanne, where the seigneur de Brion was holding up with parts of his compagnie d'ordonnance, was put to siege by the English. Vendôme was ordered by the king to relieve the siege. The seigneur de Brion would see to the resupply of Thérouanne while Vendôme held up in Audincthun.

The English-Imperial army looked to strike at Hesdin, seeing it as the weak link in the defended royal chain of towns. Their batteries set to work on Hesdin, and, despite the efforts of the comte de Guise and a certain Pontdormy after fifteen days made a breach. Despite this success, no assault through the breach would be ordered, bad weather and the ferocity of the skirmishes persuading them to disengage in favour of an attack on Doullens, which was torched (along with all the surrounding villages). Saint-Pol had seen Doullens as a liability and had ransacked its food store and pulled down its gate so that he might move to Corbie. Meanwhile, Vendôme shadowed the Anglo-Flemish army towards the Somme, supported by a force under the maréchal de Montmorency.

In Le Fur's opinion, so far the Anglo-Flemish had failed to achieve any major conquest, succeeding only in spreading panic across the north of France. Come the winter the soldiers were exhausted, and the army withdrew into Artois.

In the Autumn of 1522, the connétable de Bourbon fostered his contacts with the crowns of England and the Holy Roman Empire. Vendôme's brother Saint-Pol worked over the winter to reconcile Bourbon with François.

In March 1523, the connétable de Bourbon was tasked by the king with undertaking a police mission to suppress various bands in the Champagne, Brie and Bourgogne. Vendôme, Saint-Pol and the vicomte de Thouars were entrusted with working with him on this operation.

Just before Easter 1523, the campaign in the north began again with a Flemish army numbering around 12,000 making an attempt on the town of Guise. The seigneur de Fleuranges commanded the nearby royal army, but François did not wish to give battle. Fleuranges withdrew to near Sedan on the border, and Vendôme was tasked with seeing Thérouanne kept in supply. Thérouanne was menaced by Imperial forces lodged in Audincthun and Delettes. Vendôme boasted a force of around 4,000 landsknechts, roughly equivalent numbers of Picard soldiers, strong artillery and 500 hommes d'armes. He took charge of the road to Saint-Omer to strangle Imperial supplies and soon caused the Flemish army to scatter. He pursued the retreating Flemings along the Scheldt river repeatedly skirmishing with them, while tasking the seigneur de Brion with bringing the supplies into Thérouanne.

François showed little apprehension about affairs on the northern frontier, viewing the Flemings as poor soldiers, and the English as insufficiently numerous to pose a threat. He declared the counties of Flanders and Artois to be confiscated from the Emperor and ordered the blockading of the Calais harbour. The duke of Albany was tasked with entering Scotland and making war as soon as possible with the English on their northern frontier, for which he was granted 100,000 livres. These security decisions taken, he felt comfortable peeling off much of Vendôme's forces in the province, leaving him with only 2,000 infantry and 780 lances, so that he might employ the rest for his Italian campaign. The maréchal de Montmorency took much of Vendôme's former army south to Lyon.

The situation would not remain calm in the north. The duke of Suffolk landed with an army of 15,000 in Calais sometime in July. He linked up with the soldiers under the command of the graaf van Buren. This combined force made for Hesdin. The vicomte de Thouars, who was serving as the new lieutenant-général of Picardie, had placed the seigneur de Fresnoy and the seigneur de Pierrepont there with 2,000 soldiers. The coalition army did not stop at Hesdin, marching first to Doullens and then Corbie (where Thouars was based) before passing this in turn. The manpower situation Thouars was faced with was dire and he was forced to juggle his limited soldiers to ensure they were placed in the towns in front of the army of invasion. In October, the coalition force seized and plundered the towns of Roye and Montdidier. These yielded significant riches to the conquerors.

The army was now close to Paris, and was rumoured to be eyeing attacks on Compiègne, Breteuil and Clermont, Oise. On 24 October 1523, Vendôme was restored to possession of the governate of the Île de France, to hold it in parallel with that of Picardie. In his absences from the governate in the coming years, the power of governor was wielded by the the archbishop of Aix. Vendôme was thus dispatched to the capital with total authority. Several taxes were demanded of the bourgeois to raise a company of archers and fortify the suburbs (an action directed by the seigneur de Brion). The two men (Brion and Vendôme) had visited the suburbs facing Suffolk's army several times before resolving on fortifying them. The coalition army soon became aware of Vendôme's presence in the capital, and with him out front, and the vicomte de Thouars behind, they began to fear being sandwiched between them. They thus began a retreat towards Saint-Quentin. Nesle was put to the torch as they retreated, with the army concluding its march in Artois, where Suffolk disbanded the force before All Saint's Day (1 November). Vissière, drawing on the work of Gunn cites rather the coming of winter as the reason for Suffolks' withdrawal.

The historian Le Fur sees the campaign as largely a failure, that managed little other than to reconnoitre the road to Paris (a 'dress rehearsal').

By the summer of 1523, word was reaching the queen mother Louise of the nefarious intentions of the connétable de Bourbon. On 26 July, a capitaine La Clayette informed her that Bourbon had installed 50 hommes d'armes (men-at-arms) in his fortified holdings of Chantelle and Carlat and was mustering victuals and artillery. Bourbon had by this time reached agreement with the Emperor to marry the latter's sister and betray France at the moment that England and the Empire invaded the kingdom.

With an understanding of Bourbon's coming betrayal now established, royal suspicion fell on many others. Vendôme was a particular focus of royal concern. Both the Emperor and his aunt Margarete, the regent of the Netherlands often discussed the clients and allies of Bourbon who they imagined might follow him in his treason. Chief among the names they floated the duc de Lorraine, the king of Navarre and the Bourbon-Vendôme brothers (Vendôme and Saint-Pol). Moreover, both Vendôme and Saint-Pol were close with the connétable. Both their fathers had served as companions in arms during the early Italian Wars. The two families were also linked by marriage. The historian Michon sees the fact that the king would suspect one of his closest favourites (by which is meant Vendôme's brother Saint-Pol) of treason as indicative of the state of the court in 1523.

In a state of alert, the crown dispatched the vicomte de Thouars to Picardie so that he could engage a watchful eye over Vendôme, lest he prove sympathetic to his cousin's treason. Thouars had a particularly notable contempt for the connétable de Bourbon, making him in theory ideal for the mission. Nevertheless, he enjoyed warm relations with the duc de Vendôme, and would protest to the king the fact he was to replace him. In addition to the Vendôme component of his mission, his travel to Picardie would allow him to assure himself of the defensiveness of the province. Vendôme was recalled to the court in Lyon in August.

The defence of Picardie was also a matter on Vendôme's mind in June, as war preparations to face off against the Holy Roman Emperor were underway. Vendôme looked to bolster the defences of Thérouanne in particular. To this end the acquisition of oats, salt and other provisions were made that required the requisitioning of horses from as far away as Normandie to bring into the town. This provisioning effort cost around 6,500 livres'. This sum was paid for by the king's secrétaire, upon Vendôme's instruction.

While staying at Gien, where he had arrived on 12 August, the king made two declarations. Firstly that he was going to campaign in Italy, so that he might secure 'his duchy' (i.e. Milan). The second declaration, a connected one, was that in his absence his mother Louise would serve as regent of the kingdom, as she had done in 1515. Her regency was ratified by the parlement on 7 September.

Around this time, François received confirmation of the treasonous dealings of the duc de Bourbon. His mother, Louise, had received confirmation of the plot from the comte de Maulévrier (who was the sénéchal de Normandie, and the son-in-law of one of the conspirators, Saint-Vallier). She promptly wrote to her son with the information.

François visited the connétable at Moulins, where the latter was convalescing with a fever. He did not imply any awareness of the duc de Bourbon's betrayal, and was assured by the latter that he intended to join with the king for the campaign into Italy. François departed, but left Bourbon under the eye of the seigneur de Warthy.

From Lyon, on 5 September, François struck against the conspirators. He ordered the arrest of Saint-Vallier, Aymar de Prie and the bishop of Le Puy. His suspicions of Vendôme meant that the prince was recalled from his governate of Picardie (leaving Thouars in charge) so that Vendôme might be at his side. The prince was charged with assisting his cousin, the duc d'Alençon in suppressing any potential rebellions that arose in the Bourbonnais and Auvergne.

After his meeting with the king, Bourbon retired to his château de Chantelle, still nominally under the cloud of his illness. By now this was a ruse, and he was preparing to depart the kingdom. On 7 September he wrote letters to many major personages of the kingdom, including the king, and Louise. He offered apologetics for his actions as being justified, arguing he only sought to take what was rightfully his. That night he made his flight from Chantelle and out of France. Though it is difficult to reconstruct his movements over the coming weeks, on 9 October he was in Besançon, then in Italy in December.

The maréchal de La Palice and the comte de Tende had been instructed to make for Chantelle to locate the connétable. However, by the time of their arrival, he had since fled, and they were unable to pursue, not knowing where he had gone.

It was now time for the king to make his response official. On 11 September he wrote a letter urging the bonnes villes (good towns) to maintain their loyalty to the crown. A large bounty of 20,000 écus was also offered for the parties who would hand over the rebel duc de Bourbon to the king.

In this dramatic moment, François did not feel in a position to lead his army that was due to cross the Alps into Italy as he had planned. Therefore, command was given to the amiral de Bonnivet. The first contingents crossed the Alps at the end of the summer.

Though his suspicion may have lingered on Vendôme and Saint-Pol for several weeks in the wake of the revelations of Bourbon's betrayal, it quickly passed as it became clear both brothers would remain in their loyalty to the king. François therefore was quick to affirm his trust in them both. In October, Vendôme departed for Paris in the company of the bishop of Aix, and the seigneur de Brion to declare that the king had entrusted him with the security of Paris.

In November, a false rumour spread that the comte de Saint-Pol had fled to join with Bourbon in rebellion, and that the king had responded by detaining Vendôme.

The king held a lit de justice on 7 March 1524 at the parlement. Many pairs were present for the occasion, including the duc de Vendôme, the duc d'Alençon, the Michel Boudet (bishop of Langres) and the bishop of Noyon. Also present were the sénéchal de Normandie, and the vicomte de Thouars. In this session, the duc de Bourbon was accused of rebellion, desertion and lèse majesté. His arrest was ordered, the sentence declared to be death and all his lands declared to be defaulted to the king.

Anxious concerning the troubles of his army in Italy, on 10 March François ordered a procession be conducted for the following day, so that god might grant his soldiers victory. He participated in this procession in the capital, alongside Vendôme, Alençon, the duc de Longueville, the vicomte de Thouars, the Grand Maître and all the various parlementaires.

Bonnivet had with him around 30,000 men, compared with the Imperials who had mustered approximately 15,000. He also boasted two princes du sang in his ranks: the duc de Vendôme and duc d'Alençon, as well as the maréchal de La Palice. The Imperial army, led by the condotierri Colonna retreated into Milan. Ill inclined to directly assault the well defended city, Bonnivet looked to isolate Milan by controlling its surrounds, though the famed seigneur de Bayard failed to secure Cremona for the royal army. The Imperial command Colonna died, and was replaced by the viceroy of Naples de Lannoy. Lannoy looked to attack the French supply lines rather than confront the invaders directly. In early 1524 the French army under Bonnivet withdrew towards Novara, with his troops beginning to desert him. As the army was crossing the river Sesia, northwest of Novara, the Imperial force leapt on them. The French rearguard was forced back, and Bonnivet, wounded, was evacuated back to France. Command of the French army fell to Vendôme's brother Saint-Pol with the force being subject to another attack on 30 April in which Bayard was shot by an arquebus. The campaign now entered France, with the connétable de Bourbon invading Provence. The army of Bonnivet re-entered the kingdom in June 1524.

With the driving out of the Imperials from Provence, François prepared to lead the fight back into Italy. At Pignerol on the border from 15 to 17 October he ratified the designation of Louise as regent of the kingdom with the rights she had enjoyed in 1515. Only a few captains who had distinguished themselves for their loyalty during the affair of Bourbon's treason would be left to protect the kingdom in his absence: Vendôme for Picardie and the Île de France; the comte de Guise, and comte de Vaudémont for Champagne and Bourgogne; the comte de Maulévrier in Normandie; the comte de Laval in Bretagne; and the seigneur de Lesparre for Languedoc and Guyenne. Even as he was putting his affairs in order before his departure, the vanguard of the French army was already menacing Milan.

Starting in September, Vendôme was entrusted with the defence of Picardie while the king was on campaign. He thus spent the next few months in Picardie, tending to the defence of the province.

With François in captivity, the regency was assumed by his mother Louise from Lyon. On 3 March she wrote to the king's various councillors, urging them to do all they were able to do for the preservation of the kingdom. She chiefly looked to her old faithfuls Florimond Ier Robertet and chancellor Duprat but was wise enough to expand her council. In the absence of the premier prince du sang, the duc d'Alençon, the duc de Vendôme was summoned to council in the city, alongside his brother the cardinal de Bourbon, the vicomte de Lautrec (governor of Guyenne), the comte de Guise (governor of Champagne) and the seigneur de Lesparre (brother of Lautrec). Jean de Selve was brought over from the parlement, and before his departure to Lyon, he urged the body to moderate its criticism of royal policy. This would be for nought. The support of Vendôme and Lautrec was particularly sought for securing the queen mothers base. According to the memoires of the du Bellay brothers, around this time a coalition tried to encourage Vendôme to usurp the position of Louise and take the regency for himself. He refused to take this step but according to the memoires of du Bellay 'dipped his foot in the water'. Recognising the threat he represented for what it was, Louise moved to sate him with the honorary position of head of the royal council. Thus the duc de Vendôme presided over royal council.

Though he was head of the royal council, ambassadorial reports of the time suggested he remained politically insubstantial. He would have to navigate and secure the approval of a council comprising twenty four persons, without whom he was powerless. It was Lautrec and Duprat who held the real strength. Vellet gives an example of this in the arrival of the English agent Casale at the French court on 28 September, in the wake of the Treaty of the More, which was signed on 30 August. Casale informed Louise that his master, Henry VIII remained true to France even though he was receiving the entreaties of the Imperial party directed at Wolsey. She told Casale that she would discuss all he had said with Duprat and Lautrec.

On 7 March, Louise authorised the parlement of Paris to take the necessary security measures to assure itself of the capital. Collaborating with the municipal government of the city it was agreed to close most of the gates of the city, prohibit the passage of the Seine at night with goods and a new council was established, not only to manage affairs in Paris but also more distant cities in the north. There would be thirty five meetings of this council prior to July.

Vendôme passed through Paris on his way to Lyon on 10 March. He urged the city to show itself well as an example to the rest of the kingdom during this time of crisis. Around the city, bands of soldiers were engaging in pillage.

In April, absent from his governate while he was on the council in Lyon, the comte de Brienne was dispatched as his lieutenant to deal with the problems of the pillaging soldiers. Vendôme would remain in Lyon until such time as François was released from captivity.

In addition to the above grandees in the council, men of the church and robe were summoned to Lyon. The first priority of the regent and her council were to prevent an invasion of the kingdom, clamp down on any possible disorders, and fill all the offices vacated by the slaughter of the gendarmerie at Pavia.

The elements of the gendarmerie that had not accompanied the king over the alps were assembled. Alençon then returned with what was left of the army of Italy in a pitiful state. A few thousand men were allocated to the maréchal de Lautrec to hold the line at the Alps. Other sensitive areas (Bourgogne, Champagne, Picardie, Lyon) were bolstered. The latter became the most defended city in the kingdom. Elsewhere on the frontier local initiative was looked to. Alençon himself would die of illness on 11 April, thereby making Vendôme the premier prince du sang. Much to the considerable fury of Vendôme, Duprat and Louise had convinced the childless prince to establish as his heir, the king's second son, the duc d'Orléans, rather than his sister, to whom Vendôme was married. Though his brother, Saint-Pol had escaped from his captivity after Pavia, he was too wounded to support Vendôme in this dispute, leaving the prince powerless to impose himself.

Vendôme requested Andrea Doria, the général du galères du roi (general of the king's galleys) and La Fayette the vice-amiral (vice-admiral) to facilitate the return of the army of the duke of Albany which was in the Papal States. This force would then reinforce the domestic French forces.

The poverty of the state forced efficiencies. The compagnies of French captains were reduced in size, sometimes by up to a third. Concurrently ransom money was advanced to free captives in Italy.

Defence of the kingdom would be led by Vendôme, Lautrec, Guise, and the duke of Albany who had extracted his small army back into France.

In May, bands of Lutheran peasants from the Empire invaded Bourgogne, imagining they would find a kingdom in total chaos. They were brutally crushed by the duc de Lorraine, the comte de Guise and the comte de Vaudémont.

Along with many of the other advisors he urged deference to the parlement of Paris. He would go as far as to criticise the king's advisors and reaffirming his desire to follow the lead of the parlement while he was in Paris on 10 March. As for the parlement, it followed its traditional approach during crises in the kingdom, looking to strengthen its own position.

This position of Vendôme's worked well with that of many conseillers of the Paris parlement, who were hostile to Louise and the chancellor Duprat. The parlement was particularly hostile to a matter close to Louise's heart, the Concordat of Bologna by which the king had gained the right to designate the holders of bishoprics and abbeys, suppressing the prior system of elections. François' captivity had opened the door to openly oppose nominations, such as that of Duprat as archbishop of Sens and abbot of Saint-Benôit-sur-Loire in February 1525. The parlementaires sought for Vendôme to assume a position of pre-eminence over them. By this means the parlement hoped to take advantage of divisions in the state to limit royal power and accentuate their own.

On 5 September 1525, the parlement declared the assumption of an abbey, by another candidate of Louise, a certain Chantereau, null and void. He was prohibited from collecting the income of the abbey. This was to overturn the judgement of the Grand Conseil which had decided in Chantereau's favour in assuming the charge. That same day, the parlementaires decided to write to Vendôme, Saint-Pol, the cardinal de Bourbon and vicomte de Lautrec hoping that these men were hostile to Duprat and the enterprises of the Grand Conseil (over which Duprat was judge). The letters to these men would be issued on 12 September. Duprat's 'machinations' were put in opposition to the interests of François, Louise, and justice. In addition to this appeal the parlement summoned a meeting of the pairs de France for 12 November so that they discuss matters as related to the king, the authority of the parlement and justice. However, the parlement were hesitant to follow through with this threat, and postponed the summons until they had received a response from Louise's council.

Though stalling the summoning of the pairs, the parlement requested Vendôme and the cardinal de Bourbon present their remonstrances to Louise. Both men were invited to sit in the parlement. On 12 September, the parlement wrote to Louise complaining that the independence of justice was threatened by enterprises of 'certain individuals' in the name of the Grand Conseil (i.e. Duprat). Louise remained firm in her faith in Duprat, and was wary of Vendôme who the body was pushing forward.

According to a certain account, Louise made out that she wanted to establish the vicomte de Lautrec as lieutenant-général over Vendôme, hoping by this means to make clear to Vendôme what he had to lose if he joined the parlementaires party of opposition. Vendôme and Lautrec had been in a rivalry for pre-eminence in the kingdom. While Vendôme had greater legitimacy, he was poorer in military experience than Lautrec, allowing the latter to better pose as the kingdoms saviour at a time when the borders were vulnerable. Thus, Louise could set up Lautrec in opposition to him. According to an English informant, there was tension between the two men during May. During June, Vendôme and Lautrec entered a dispute with one another, during their argument Louise and Duprat took the side of Lautrec, while Vendôme enjoyed the support of Robertet. Champollion-Figeac dates the document concerning the plan to appoint Lautrec lieutenant-général in Vendôme's stead to around October 1525, Michon disputes this however, arguing that from what it says about Saint-Pol elsewhere that it can be placed in May or June.

Through her manoeuvrers she was able to quickly defuse the opposition alliance of the princes du sang and parlementaires.

The parlement for its part had been less interested in stoking the fires of hatred between Vendôme and Lautrec than in isolating and attack Duprat.

Negotiations for peace with England took place in the summer of 1525. Finally, on 30 August, at the English palace of The More, a treaty was agreed. By its terms, hostilities between England and France would cease. A defensive league was to be established including the participation of England, France, Hungary, Navarre, Scotland, the Papacy, the duc de Lorraine and others. Between England and France there would be free movement of peoples and goods. Henry VIII would release his French hostages that were held as security for the French payment of Tournai (which had been sold to the French in 1518). The English king would renounce all his rights in France, and assist in the securing of François' release for 'reasonable terms'. The French for their part, would give the English 2,000,000 écus in the form of 100,000 écus annuities paid every year in two instalments, May and November. The pensions the French crown had provided to English princes would be restored. In the absence of François, to ensure the French abiding by this treaty, Louise and, the king's eldest son the duc de Bretagne would be obliged to appear before an ecclesiastical tribunal to request excommunication should they fail to uphold the terms. The French debt to the English was pledged against eight bonnes villes of France, and nine nobles (among whom were the maréchal de Montmorency, the vicomte de Lautrec, the seigneur de Brienne, the duc de Longueville and the duc de Vendôme and his two brothers). François would have to validate the peace within three months, by letter if still in Imperial captivity.

The peace was published in France on 22 September and on 27 September a text for the subjects of the French crown was distributed. It failed to mention the sums the government had paid to ensure tranquillity on the borders. Vendôme and the other nobles kept quiet about the obligations the peace imposed on them. The parlement would register the peace on 20 October, to be followed by the reticent city of Paris a few weeks later.

When the regent Louise learned of the transfer of her son from Italy to Spain, the chancellor Duprat and Vendôme designated the parlementaire de Selve to begin to undertake negotiations with the Imperial party.

In October, Vendôme was appraised of the ill health of the king, who was still in captivity in Madrid. There were some fears that the king would die from his illness.

As negotiations were undertaken for peace with the Holy Roman Emperor, François' conditional release was contingent on the provision of hostages to the Imperial camp. Two possible sets of hostages were proposed. The one, the king's two eldest sons (the duc de Bretagne and the duc d'Orléans) or alternatively, just the eldest son, but combined with twelve great nobles of the kingdom (including Vendôme, his brother the comte de Saint-Pol, the vicomte de Lautrec, the duke of Albany and the maréchal de Montmorency). In effect these represented all the potential leaders of a French army. The choice was therefore easy for the regency government, and it was chosen to send the two eldest sons of the king into captivity. The crown's propagandists made it clear that the surrendering of the king's two eldest sons was a demand the monarchy could not escape. On 28 January 1526, Montmorency brought the treaty of Madrid to Lyon.

One term of the treaty of Madrid was that Vendôme's cousin, the connétable de Bourbon, would be restored to his lands and dignities. François would put as much stock in obeying this condition of the treaty as he would all the other terms.

On 17 February the vicomte de Lautrec set off with the two royal princes destined to be hostages in Spain. This procession slowly made its way to Bayonne, where it arrived on 13 March. The exchange for the king was set for 17 March on a pontoon in the middle of the Bidasoa river between Hendaye and Hondarribia. On that day, at 7 in the morning, François embarked on a barge and his children did likewise. The two parties met on the pontoon in the middle and had a brief and silent meeting in which they kissed one another. François then embarked on the children's barge and made his way into France. He was greeted by celebratory cries, and quickly rode for Bayonne.

One of François' first acts was to distribute the charges once held by the dead of Pavia. The seigneur de Brion was made amiral de Chabot and lieutenant-général de Bourgogne , the former in lieu of Bonnivet and the latter in lieu of the vicomte de Thouars. Montmorency was made Grand Maître in lieu of the bâtard de Savoie (the bastard of Savoie) and the government of Languedoc in lieu of the connétable de Bourbon. The comte de Maulévrier was rewarded for his role in unfurling the conspiracy of the duc de Bourbon with the office of governor of Normandie, in lieu of the duc d'Alençon. Vendôme's brother, the comte de Saint-Pol was granted the government of Dauphiné, replacing the seigneur de La Palice in the charge. Vendôme himself remained a pillar of the royal council, alongside Duprat and the président Jean de Selve, however the promotion of many of the survivors of Pavia indicated François' need to attach to himself young men whose fortune and career depended entirely on him .

In March, Vendôme ceased to bear the charge of governor of the Île de France, resigning it in favour of the marchese di Saluzzo (marquis of Saluzzo).

In April 1526, the Venetian diplomat Andrea Rosso met with the new Grand Maître Montmorency in Bordeaux with view to establishing an anti-Imperial league. On 23 May 1526 Vendôme, Saint-Pol, Montmorency, the chancellor Duprat, the secrétaire Robertet and the archbishop of Bordeaux subscribed to the League of Cognac.

On 29 November 1526, François summoned several parlementaires before the grand conseil so that they might explain the opposition their body had offered to Duprat the previous year during the regency government over the bishopric of Sens and abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. A week later François met with the parlementaires again accompanied by the king of Navarre, the duc de Vendôme, the comte de Saint-Pol, the maréchal de Montmorency, the amiral de Chabot, the duc de Longueville, the duke of Albany and the archbishop of Bourges. They explained their alleged disobedience to the regency government and the council which Vendôme led. A few days after the meeting they were suspended from their duties.

In 1527, with the death of the connétable de Bourbon, the Bourbon-Vendôme became the most senior branch of the Bourbon family. Due to the confiscations of the duc de Bourbon's lands, this elevation came without receipt of the older branches lands.

On 24 July 1527, the king held a lit de justice in the parlement of Paris. He hoped to definitively settle the conflict of the regency period between Duprat/Louise and the parlement. The king took his place in his throne under the canopy, surrounded by the king of Navarre, the duc de Vendôme, the comte de Saint-Pol, the cardinal de Bourbon, the Grand Maître Montmorency, the seigneur d'Aubigny, and all the chevaliers de l'Ordre de Saint-Michel (knights of the order of Saint-Michel). Several bishops and the great officers of state were also represented. Duprat enquired of the parlementaires, as was tradition, if any of them had any remonstrances they wished the king to hear. The premier président Guillart spoke on behalf of the body. He urged the king to combat heresy, suppress venal office and to cease evoking affairs to the attentions of his council. His speech concluded by stating that while he did not want to challenge the absolute authority that the king enjoyed, it was wise to only use such absolute authority where it was for good and worthy causes. Having listened to Guillart's explosive remonstrance, François did not issue a reply but rather rose and locked himself in an adjoining room with his council (including Vendôme, Saint-Pol, the king of Navarre, and the various great officers of state). The king or his councillors there prepared their reply. In the afternoon this response was read before the parlement. The body was chided for trying to involve itself in affairs of state. It was denied that the parlement enjoyed any cognicance over the Concordat with the Papacy. Likewise they had no cognisance over Duprat, who was responsible to the king, and thus all they had done injurious to him was null and void, and all writings against him were to be destroyed. All the decisions made by Louise during her regency were affirmed. It was further affirmed she would enjoy the same powers in any future absences of the king. The king stated that he would not abide modifications of his ordonnances, or chastistements, and the responsibility of the parlement as regarded edicts was simply to advise. Vellet describes these lit de justice as a 'humiliation inflicted upon the parlement' something which well served the chancellor Duprat.

On 26 July the king held a new lit de justice before the parlement. The indictment of the recently deceased duc de Bourbon was read again and witnesses heard in the case. The next day, the connétable was declared guilty with his memory damned, coat of arms to be struck, lands he held at the king's pleasure restored to the crown and the rest he held privately confiscated. Finally the declaration of the king's council from 24 July was registered.

The July transfer of the property of the late duc de Bourbon to the queen mother Louise aroused the protestations of the duc de Vendôme, and the princesse de La Roche-sur-Yon. Though she was not granted Auvergne, she would receive the Bourbonnais, Beaujolais, La Marche, Forez, Châtellerault, and Clermont. The legal case for the territories was argued at length, and after the death of Louise in 1531 the lands fell to the king. The king was conscious of the service the Bourbon-Vendôme had rendered to him. In 1538, shortly after Vendôme's death, a first compromise was reached with the princesse de La Roche-sur-Yon by which she received the comté de Montpensier, the Forez and the dauphiné d'Auvergne. In return the Vendôme and La Roche-sur-Yon would renounce their claims to the rest of the inheritance. A final settlement would not be arrived at until the reign of Charles IX, long after the duc de Vendôme's death.

While war was proceeding in the south, the king met with the cardinal Wolsey outside Amiens on 4 August. Vendôme was among those nobles who joined with the king for the ostentatious occasion. The two parties entered the city to cries of joy. It would be Vendôme and the cardinal de Bourbon who fetched Wolsey from his apartments for his meeting with the ladies. After his meeting, it was they who returned him to them. The three Bourbon brothers would be around the king for his meeting with Wolsey the next day. The peace agreed in 1526 was affirmed and was to be sealed by a marriage between the duc d'Orléans and the English princess Mary. The collaborative willingness of the two crowns to see Orléans and Bretagne freed from Imperial captivity was also stated. If ransom was refused for their liberty, the two monarchs affirmed their willingness to fight against the Emperor for the liberty of the princes. Both men also committed to the liberation of the Pope, something the French were already campaigning to achieve. Further terms followed concerning Milan and Henry's marital situation. The new accord between the two crowns was celebrated on 20 August at Amiens Cathedral.

In November 1527 the baron de Montmorency returned from England. He assumed a dual responsibility to prepare the defences of the kingdom and to keep an eye on the progress of the royal armies in Italy. To the former's end, he centralised receipts of reports on the kingdom's border fortifications, receiving letters from the various frontier governors (Vendôme - Picardie, Guise - Champagne, du Biez - Boulogne, Annebault - Bourgogne, Clermont - Languedoc and Saint-Bonnet - Bayonne). Vendôme's brother, Saint-Pol was one of the men who reported to Montmorency on the campaign in Italy, until his capture in 1529. Montmorency's presence on the royal council in these years (of the late 1520s) reinforced the importance of many of these commanders (Vendôme, Saint-Pol, Chabot, Maulévrier and Genouillac).

By the terms of François' alliance with the English king, he had violated the terms of the Treaty of Madrid. In his alliance with Henry, it was declared that he would not grant any of his land to his former jailer. The possibility of being accused of perjury, François wanted to have this violation endorsed before a representative assembly. To this end, on 16 December 1527, a meeting of 200 delegates was held: comprising nobles, members of the clergy and parlements and representatives of the city of Paris. It was declared that François had always been a lover of peace, and had never aspired to war. He had only assumed arms to defend himself aggressors who threatened not only his kingdom but also his life. In particular, there was the criminal duc de Bourbon, who had compelled a pursuit into Italy. As for the treaty of Madrid, he lied that he had no role in its construction, and thus made it clear he did not feel bound by its terms. He also summarised the League of Cognac, devised he alleged to force the Emperor to renounce his pretensions to Bourgogne, and the offers made by himself and Henry VIII for the liberty of the princes. English and French delegates were on route to Spain, and the Emperor's response was anticipated. Whether their terms were accepted and there was peace with the Empire, or rejected, with war, 2,000,000 écus was required to either pay the ransom of the princes or finance the army. He then opened the floor to the delegates, asking them about the validity of the treaty of Madrid, whether he should return to Imperial captivity to pay off his debts and the wisdom of the ransom.

On 20 December, the delegates declared the treaty of Madrid to be null. By the invalidity of this treaty, there was no cause for François to return to captivity, and he lacked any obligations to the Emperor. The payment of the ransom was viewed as the path forward. For the clergy, the cardinal de Bourbon offered 1,300,000 livres to the king, in return for which the crown would see Lutheranism suppressed, defend Gallican liberties (the autonomy of the French church from that of Rome) and aid the Pope. Vendôme who served as the representative for the nobility of the assembly declared the classes willingness to lay down their lives and property for François. Président de Selve affirmed a similar willingness from the parlementaires. Finally the prévôt de Paris, on behalf of the people of the city, assured they would contribute to the royal ransom.

By this means, from both his allies and subjects, François had been endorsed to violate the treaty of Madrid.

From 1528, the the sieur de La Rochepot served as the lieutenant-général of Picardie in the absence of the duc de Vendôme from his province.

A scandal occurred in Paris on 1 June 1528, when a statue of the Virgin Mary was attacked. Her head and that of Jesus were decapitated, and Mary's body slashed at several times with a dagger. The heads of the figures, which had been cast into the mud were brought to the lieutenant-criminel of Paris. He offered a reward of 50 livres for whoever would find the criminal who had profaned the statues. With no result, the bounty was doubled. Word began to spread, and even reached the ears of the king, who was present for a procession on the day of the Feast of Corpus Christi. He had purchased a new statue, of silver for the sum of 248 livres, and wished to personally place it in the niche. At the site of the sacrilige, an altar for mass had been raised, covered by a canvas held up by Vendôme, Navarre, Longueville and the duca di Ferrara. François made his devotions to Mary and Jesus beneath this canvas before returning to the hôtel des Tournelles.

In the first days of July 1530, the successful ransoming of the royal children was accomplished, and they re-entered the kingdom of France after four years of exile. François was in Bordeaux, and received the news from Montpezat on 2 July. The royal propaganda recounted that François, alone in his room, was overwhelmed with his emotions and in a proper Christian fashion fell to his knees and prayed to god for the all the good fortunes he had afforded the king in his years. Tears streamed down his face, and he thanked god not only for placing him on the throne but also reuniting him with his children. This private prayer was quickly published. He was soon joined in the room by the great princes: Navarre, Vendôme, the cardinal de Lorraine, the duc de Guise and the comte de Saint-Pol (now free from his captivity). Having received the news, they too all began to pray and weep in joy. The broader populace of Bordeaux was invited to down their tools and celebrate the joyous news. A few days later, on 6 July, he was reunited with his eldest two sons.

On 10 July, the king, his new queen Éléonore, and the royal children made an entrance into Bordeaux by richly decorated boats. There was a grand host of boats carrying the various nobles of the court. Artillery was fired in Bordeaux to celebrate their arrival. With Éléonore in a litter and the royal sons on horseback, the party was accompanied into the city itself by Vendôme, Saint-Pol, the duc de Nemours, the comte de Nevers and the duc de Guise. The city they entered was hung with tapestries, and several allegorical displays on scaffolds.

Vendôme was at the château de Fontainebleau for royal council around July 1531.

The duc de Vendôme and his brother Saint-Pol were again with the king for a lit de justice conducted on 4 August 1533 at the parlement of Toulouse. Many of the other great seigneurs of the kingdom were also present for the occasion, including the king of Navarre, the comte de Nevers and the chancellor.

On the night of 17 October 1534, a great scandal occurred that has become known to posterity as the Affair of the Placards. Across many cities along the Loire including Paris and Lyon, and also the king's bedroom at Amboise, placards were hung. These placards ridiculed the Catholic faith, and were an explosive event. Rumours swirled that Catholics were to be massacred, sentences and burnings were quickly imposed on various suspects. In response to this act, a greater legal rigor against Protestantism was imposed. François returned to the capital and indicated his approval of the current measures taken. A new printing scandal occurred shortly after his arrival in the capital, and the king ordered the banning of all printing until further notice. François resolved to undertake a grand procession in the capital, which was undertaken on 17 January 1535. The procession featured the mendicant orders, the queen Éléonore dressed in black, then the king's daughters guarded by a crowd of gentleman and then the men of the various churches of the capital carrying the shrines and relics of the saints of the capital, the Swiss-guard. Cardinals, archbishops, and bishops carried relics of the passion, and the head of Louis IX. Cardinal du Bellay, the bishop of Paris, brought forth the holy sacrament under a canopy carried by Vendôme and the three sons of the king (i.e. the next four men in the line of succession). The king himself walked without a hat on his head, behind this canopy, along with the cardinal de Lorraine. Then followed many great nobles all with a lit candle in their hand. Finally came the parlementaires and the bourgeois of the capital.

After a mass and a dinner the king delivered a speech in which he announced his commitment to eradicating heresy. So firm was his belief in doing so that even if it infected his children, it would not stay his hand from killing them. Six Lutherans were burned at the stake in front of Notre-Dame, while the king, his family and his court were feasting. Soon thereafter it was declared that those who harboured heretics were as guilty as the heretics themselves.

The cardinal du Bellay was established as the governor of the Île de France and Paris in July 1536. There was threat of invasion at this time and thus Paris had been fortified, and funds raised to support the soldiery in Picardie.

As the Imperial army surged into Provence in July 1536, a parallel invasion was undertaken by the graaf van Nassau into Picardie, who invaded on 12 August. He laid siege to Péronne. The defence of Picardie was entrusted to Vendôme, the duc de Guise and the cardinal du Bellay. Vendôme found himself in an acrimonious dispute with the cardinal du Bellay who he alleged had exerted himself insufficiently in the service of providing his soldiers money. Du Bellay responded to the duc charging him with putting less faith in him than he should. In addition to the paucity of money, much of the gendarmerie was occupied dealing with the southern invasion. Despite these difficulties, Nassau could not succeed in his efforts against Péronne and was compelled to retire to Flanders.

In the March of 1537, Vendôme was dying, meanwhile another campaign was transpiring in his province of Picardie. The king spent some time with the prince in Amiens. On 25 March 1537, Vendôme died. His death was just one of many prominent deaths around this time that plagued upon the king (along with François' eldest son, his daughter the queen of Scotland, and his intimate companion the maréchal de Fleuranges).

In his position as governor of Picardie he was succeded by the sieur de La Rochepot, who held the charge for a year before Vendôme's eldest son assumed the position in February 1538.

The tomb of Vendôme and his wife in the collegiate church of Saint-Georges in Vendôme would be ransacked by Protestants in 1562, with the bones of the couple scattered. It is possible that this desecration occurred with the assent of Vendôme's daughter-in-law, the queen of Navarre.

Michon sees Vendôme as fundamentally uninterested in translating his position as head of the Bourbon-Vendôme family into that of a key royal advisor or favourite. The historians even finds this to be the case in 1525 when the king was a prisoner he had little desire to impose himself politically. He argues that Vendôme lacked a policy or a faction. For Michon, Vendôme never enjoyed royal favour, and even his favoured brother Saint-Pol was confined to a secondary position. The strength of the Bourbon-Vendôme, such as it was, was in their number, with three brothers comparing against the two Lorraine brothers, and the other royal favourites (like Montmorency, Annebaut and Chabot) who if they did have brothers, they were confined to secondary roles.

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