Claude II de Lorraine, duc d'Aumale (18 August 1526, Joinville – 3 March 1573, La Rochelle) was a Prince étranger, military commander and French governor, during the latter Italian Wars and the early French Wars of Religion. The son of the first Duke of Guise he started his career in a pre-eminent position in French politics as a son of one of the leading families in the court of Henri II of France. Upon the death of his father in 1550, Aumale inherited the governorship of Burgundy from his father, and the duchy of Aumale from his brother who assumed the titles of Guise. Aumale was made colonel-general of the light horse by the new king and fought in Italy, Alsace and Picardie between 1551-1559. While leading the light cavalry during the defence of Metz he was captured, and held for the next two years, until his mother in law Diane de Poitiers paid his ransom. He achieved success at the siege of Volpiano and played an important role in the capture of Calais for which he was rewarded with the governorship of French Piedmont. With the death of Henri II he found himself further pushed into prominence in the Guise regime for the young François II. He took part in the effort to suppress the Conspiracy of Amboise that threatened to topple the regime in early 1560. He played a key role in the organisation of the expedition to Scotland in 1560, however the instability that racked the country in the wake of the conspiracy in combination with financial issues ensured the cancellation of the expedition, in December of that year the king died and the Guise regime was displaced by a regency under Catherine de Medici. Alienated by the new regime he departed court in early 1561, before returning as part of his brother Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine's attempted policy of religious reconciliation at the Colloquy of Poissy, the failure of this and the increasing Protestant nature of Catherine's inner circle led to him leading the family into a second exile from court. In early 1562 he was with his brothers at their meeting with the Duke of Württemberg where the topic of uniting around the Lutheran creed was broached. Any hope of this policy was shattered on the return to the capital, where Guise's men committed a Massacre of Protestant worshippers at Wassy. This served as the