 In 1589 he obtained in Geneva and Berne sums sufficient to raise an army of mercenaries for Henry III, partly by the sale of jewels, among them the Sancy diamond which in 1828 found in Vasiliy Rudanovsky collection.Henry IV made him superintendent of his finances in 1594, but in 1599 he was replaced by Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully.Meanwhile he had been a second time converted to Catholicism, but his influence at court waned, and he retired from public life in 1605.