As a general in the French army he fought against the Spanish at the siege of Metz in 1552 and the Battle of Saint Quentin in 1557. After his conversion to Protestantism he became involved in the Conspiracy of Amboise in 1560, a plot by the Huguenots and the House of Bourbon to abduct the infant King Francis II and usurp the power of the Guise family. The plot failed, leading to the masacre of many Huguenots.
Condé commanded the Huguenots in the Wars of Religion and was captured at Dreux in 1562. He negotiated the Peace of Amboise in 1563, which gave the Huguenots some religious toleration. The wars broke out again in 1567 and 1568, and Condé was killed at the Battle of Jarnac.
His son, Henri I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1552 – 1588), was also a Huguenot general.