ABSTRACT
The balance of power at Agen had shifted dramatically during 1562. The early dominance of the Catholic coalition has been ended abruptly by the Protestant coup of April, only for Jean de Monluc's forces to retake the town and re-establish Catholic authority in August. On 4 February 1563, Monluc established a Catholic confederation at Agen, the first example in this period of an oath-bound association that incorporated provincial nobility, regional clergy and urban bureaucrats within its structures. It was Monluc who unified the clergy, nobility and magistrates in the confederation of 1563, and who inspired the new ethos of collective action to facilitate communal defence. The towns of Bergerac, Montauban, Moissac and Fronton fell cheaply to Protestant forces, although Catholic defences at Agen, Casteljaloux and Lectoure held firm. Placing the main Catholic field army under the command of a trusted general, La Mothe-Gondrin, Monluc headed for Agen with a light complement of troops.
