to Joinville. In 1565 he was among the notables who attended the Conference of Bayonne. During the meeting the Duke of Alba, negotiating for the Spanish complemented Cardinal Guise on his steadfast Catholicism. While the subject of the meeting was the fairly uncontroversial matter of marriage arrangements between the royal families of the two kingdoms. This was misinterpreted, deliberately or otherwise by leading Protestant nobles who were not present as a meeting to discuss the liquidation of French Protestants. This would be one of the impetuses for the Protestant coup that started the second war of religion. That same year, he attempted to prosecute a 'heretical' curate in the town of Courtenay, his efforts were however confounded when the seigneur de Courtenay seized the official that the Cardinal had sent, holding him as a hostage until the curate was released. Third war of religion At a council meeting in May 1568, the majority of the councillors present pre-occupied themselves with how best to ensure that the recent Peace of Longjumeau was properly enforced, proposing various methods by which the king could make his authority on the matter clear. For Cardinal Guise and Lorraine there was a different priority. They spent the meeting discussing how it was important for the Protestants to be brought back to Catholicism, and that until such time as that could be achieved, they must be kept under armed guard. For the moment their advice was ignored. Cardinal Guise was among those in the procession in Paris in 1568 at the outset of the third war of religion. Charles IX had just recovered from a grave illness, and as such the symbols of monarchical authority were carried through the streets by clergyman. On 5 October 1568 he was made Bishop of Metz. That same month, he and Lorraine travelled to Étampes in the company of the lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the kings brother, Anjou who had set out to campaign against the Protestants. During the war he would be dispatched to Spain to secure reinforcements for the crown from Philip II. Catherine wrote frustratedly to him in June, inquiring as to why the troops had not yet arrived. At this time, the Duke of Nevers had emerged as the leading adviser to Anjou, who would one day be king as Henri III. Nevers counselled Anjou that Cardinal Guise was a dullard, who had no place on the