Duc de Bouillon, on the north of Lorraine, and the Duke of Savoy,
farther to the south, also regarded themselves as independent. The
former, as Huguenots, had a strong leaning towards the Protestant
Hollanders, and both were ready to furnish asylums to French nobles
who had incurred the wrath of their kings or ministers.

The Duc de Bouillon, father of Turenne, had fought bravely on the
side of Henry of Navarre through the wars of the League. He died
when the viscount was but ten years of age, and, his elder brother
being but six years older, his mother became regent of the little
state. After having greatly weakened the strength of the Huguenot
nobles by the siege and capture of La Rochelle, which had long been
the stronghold and bulwark of that religion, Richelieu obtained
from the duchess a treaty by which she engaged to remain always
attached to the interests of France, while the king undertook to
protect the house of Bouillon. The Duke of Savoy was next compelled
to hand over to France the town and province of Pignerol, and
Richelieu then turned his attention to Lorraine. The reigning
duke had entered into an alliance with Austria, and the invasion
of his territory was therefore the first step by which France
entered into the terrible struggle known as the Thirty Years' War.

The duke had given Richelieu an excuse for hostilities. He had
married his cousin, the nearest heir to the dukedom, but he treated
her so badly that she fled to France and begged the protection of
Louis XIII. This he gave her, a French army was at once set in
motion against Lorraine, and it was in this struggle that Turenne
had first fought under the French flag. He had always evinced the
strongest predilection for the life of a soldier, and when he
reached the age of fourteen, Richelieu being at the time engaged