The youngest son of the Duke of Épernon, he was destined for an ecclesiastical career and accumulated numerous abbacies while still very young. In 1614 he was appointed Archbishop of Toulouse and in 1621 a cardinal, at the insistence of Richelieu, of whom he was one of the most trusted favourites (Pastor, XII, p. 247). He resigned the archbishopric in 1627, as he was disliked by the Chapter, and, having never taken holy orders, held various military posts. He commanded the Rhine army (1635), an appointment that provoked a brief of protest from Pope Urban VIII (Pastor, XIII, p. 526 ff.), and later that of Italy (1638). At his death the Pope forbade the funeral service (ibid., p. 534).
BIBL.: Ed. Sénemaud, s.V. in Nouvelle biographie générale-XIX, Paris 1858, cols. 968-69; A. M. de Noailles, Le card. La V. lieutenant général des armées du Roi 1635-39, ibid. 1906. Renata Orazzi Ausenda