François de Luxembourg

François de Luxembourg, duc de Piney (1563–c. 1613) was a French noble, prince étranger, military commander and diplomat during the latter French Wars of Religion. Born into a sovereign noble family, Piney expected an esteemed place in the French court. He fought for Henry III during the sixth war of religion under the nominal command of the king's brother Alençon seeing combat at La Charité-sur-Loire and Issoire. The following year, 1578, he was elevated as a chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint-Michel, although he complained frustratedly to the secretary of state about how we was shut out from access to the king's person.

In 1581, his lordship of Piney was elevated to a duché-pairie, in a flurry of royal erections for new peers of the realm, making Piney among the most senior members of the nobility. During 1588 Henri, frustrated at the influence the Guise family had over his rule, assassinated the duke of Guise. In the wake of this coup, many cities defected from the crown. Approached by royalists in Reims, Henry nominated Piney as the new governor of the city, however this alienated the Catholic League which saw him as too royalist, and they joined the ligueur Sainte-Union. When Henry in turn was assassinated on 1 August, Piney quickly swore himself to the Protestant Henry IV, after the king had promised to protect Catholicism. He served Henry as his ambassador to the states of Italy in early 1590, securing Venice's recognition of Henry IV as king, and receiving a warm reception from the Pope despite his master's Protestantism. He would again serve as ambassador to the Pope in 1598, during Henry's attempt to annul his marriage, though without succeeding in acquiring Papal approval. He died in 1613.