René de Birague (Italian: Renato da Birago; –24 November 1583) was an Italian then French noble, lieutenant-general, chancellor and cardinal during the latter Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion. Born to a prominent Milanese family in 1506, his family sided with the French, and as such when Milan was occupied by Emperor Charles V they were forced to flee to French controlled Piedmont. Declared a criminal in 1536, his Milanese estates would be seized. Birague entered French service in the 1540s, being elevated to premier président of the Parlement of Turin, which in combination with his service under the French governor Marshal Brissac from 1550, afforded him immense administrative power in the French occupied territories. In 1562 with the French withdrawal from the Piedmont, he departed his post in the Parlement, however the following year would see him elevated in one of the remaining French held towns, as leader of the Supreme Council of Pignerol. Moving into French service in France, he served as a diplomat in securing Charles IX's marriage to Elisabeth de Hapsburg in 1563. In 1565 he secured the unusual appointment as lieutenant-general of the Lyonnais, granting him military powers over the province and administrative in the absence of the governor. He deftly mobilised the town to provide large funds for a mercenary force during the second war of religion. In 1568 he was replaced as lieutenant-general by François de Mandelot. In 1568, Michel de l'Hôpital lost the seals of the Chancellorship, which went to Morvillier, in 1570 he in turn ceded them to Birague. As chancellor Birague enjoyed a rocky relationship with the Parlement. Birague was among the council that decided on the plan to liquidate the Protestant leadership in a pre-emptive strike, which would spiral out of control into the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew in 1572. That same year, on the death of his wife, Birague began to consider a career in the church, taking up the post of Bishop of Lodève in 1573. Birague urged first Charles and then Henri III to take a harsh line against the prince's who plotted with the Malcontents in 1574-5. During the interregnum between Charles' death and the return of Henri to the kingdom, Birague led the regency council for Catherine de Medici. His advice was however ignored by the kings, and after the flight from court of Alençon, brother to the king, he was accused