Francis, Duke of Guise
On the accession of Charles IX in 1560 Montmorency again assumed his duties in the court. However, when his Protestant nephew Gaspard II de Coligny and the humanist chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital asserted influence over the young king's regency, the staunchly Catholic Montmorency left the court. In April 1561 he allied himself with Francis, Duke of Guise, his former enemy, and Jacques d'Albon, Marshal Saint-Andre to form the Triumvirate, an association for the defense of Catholicism.