Cardinal Lorraine with the ambition of keeping the French court appraised of developments on the peninsula. He had since 1547 been maître des requêtes of Vizelle. In 1550, Marshal Brissac assumed authority as lieutenant-general of the Piedmont. To support him in this strategic office, Birague took charge of the civil administration of those areas under French control, while Vimercato provided local military leadership. The following year he was involved in the negotiations that saw the surrender of Chieri to the French, after a siege by Brissac. Heresy Birague used his authority in Piedmont to suppress and persecute the Waldensians, this aroused the concern of the council of Bern, which wrote to Brissac to protest Birague's actions. Brissac did little in response, as Birague's actions were in agreement with the policy of the king. Reign of Charles IX Pignerol As the crisis of the civil wars deepened with the fall of many major towns to the Protestant rebels, it was decided that it would serve the crowns interests well to secure the friendship of the duke of Savoy. To this end Catherine decided that several towns that the French had held onto in the Piedmont at the end of the Italian Wars would be ceded to the duke. Bourdillon lieutenant general of Piedmont, Morvillier, Alluye and Birague were entrusted with the commission to oversee the transfer of the settlements. Bourdillion refused his role, arguing that as the king was a minor such a transfer could not take place. Bourdillion was eventually bought off from his opposition by an offer of the marshalate, allowing the transfer to go ahead. One of the towns that France maintained authority over was Pignerol. A council was set up to govern this territory, with Birague at its head in June 1563. During that same year he travelled to Wien to secure the marriage negotiations between Charles IX and Elizabeth de Hapsburg. Lyonnais In 1565, Birague was elevated to the position of lieutenant-general of the Lyonnais, giving him authority over the military situation in the province and the powers of governor in the absence of Jacques, Duke of Nemours. This was an unusual appointment for a member of the administrative nobility, but not unheard of. At the outbreak of the second war of religion, he mobilised the Catholic notables of Lyon to provide a forced loan to defend the town against an attempted Protestant seizure. He authorised