François de La Baume, comte de Suze (-) was a French noble, governor and military leader during the French Wars of Religion. Born in 1526, the son of Guillaume de La Baume, Suze was a Catholic noble, who fought for the crown in the fractious province of Provence, against leading Protestant military commanders, among them the baron des Adrets and Montbrun. During the second civil war he would face off against D'Acier who successfully forced him to cede control of the Rhône. In 1572 his barony was elevated to a county by royal patent. With La Rochelle threatening to enter rebellion in the wake of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, Suze was among those tasked by the king with negotiating the submission of the city to its royal governor, however he was unsuccessful in this and a siege followed. By 1577 he was lieutenant general of Provence, and found himself faced with a factional war within the governorship, between supporters of the Razats and those loyal to Carcès. In 1578 he was elevated from lieutenant general of Provence to governor as Retz resigned his role in his favour. He found himself unable to control the violence, and several towns defected to the control of Carcès. In late 1578 Catherine travelled south to quiet the disorder that was engulfing Provence and many other southern regions. In May 1579 Suze submitted his resignation as governor to her, and she replaced him with the king's brother Henri d'Angoulême. After the establishment of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit, Suze received the collar of the new more prestigious order. He continued to fight for the crown in the civil wars of the 1580s, dying at a siege of Montélimar in 1587. Early life and family François was born in 1526, the eldest son of Guillaume de La Baume. François was a member of a family which had been ennobled in the fourteenth century. His sister Marguerite, married Annet de Maugiron, this created an alliance between Suze, and the Maugiron family of Dauphiné. Therefore, he supported Louis de Maugiron on his entry to court, where he became a favourite of the king. After Maugiron's death during a duel in 1578, Suze imparted the news of the affair to the young man's father back in Dauphiné. He married Françoise de Lévis, a daughter of Gilbert de Lévis, comte de Ventadour in 1551. Together they would have nine children,