Guillaume Briçonnet (Cardinal)

Alabaster tomb of Cardinal Guillaume Briçonnet in the Saint-Just Narbonne cathedral

Alabaster tomb of Cardinal Guillaume Briçonnet (detail)

Guillaume Briçonnet , also: Jean Briçonnet (* probably 1445 in Tours ; † December 14, 1514 in Narbonne ) was cardinal and archbishop of Narbonne .

Life

Guillaume was the youngest son of Jean Briçonnet, Baron de Varennes, and Jeanne Berthelot. His father was the state secretary and head of the highest customs authority.

The son, too, initially went under King Ludwig XI. into the civil service and became the financial officer in the province of Languedoc . The king was very pleased with the work and dedication of Guillaume Briçonnet. King Charles VIII (1470–1498) finally made Guillaume Minister of Finance and a member of the Council of State; no instructions from the king could bypass him as general des finances , especially since the young king succeeded his father Louis XI. had started when he was only 13 years old.

After the death of his wife Raoulette de Beaune, Guillaume Briçonnet linked his political career with a career in the church. In 1493 he was appointed Bishop of Saint-Malo . As advisor to King Charles VIII, he was instrumental in ensuring that France began the first of the Italian wars in 1494 . As a result of the advance of the French troops, Pope Alexander VI. follow the instructions of Charles VIII to appoint Briçonnet cardinal. This happened on January 16, 1495.

In quick succession he acquired further offices and benefices :

In 1496 he became Bishop of Nîmes .
In 1497 he became Bishop of Toulon . The following year he left the diocese to his son Denis .
In 1497 he became Prince Archbishop ( Archevêque-duc ) of Reims , succeeding his eldest brother Robert .
In 1507 he became Archbishop of Narbonne by exchanging the Archdiocese of Reims for the Archdiocese of Narbonne.
In 1507 he was also Cardinal Bishop of Albano (until 1508). At that time this office was usually linked to that of the Archbishop of Narbonne.
In 1509 he became Cardinal Bishop of Frascati (until 1510).
In 1509 he became Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina (until 1511).

Guillaume Briçonnet rose to become one of the most successful collectors of office among the French bishops in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

1511 took Guillaume Briçonnet to the schismatic -Nazi Council of Pisa (1511-1512) and was therefore part of Pope on October 24, 1511 Julius II. , Together with the Cardinals Bernardino Lopez de Carvajal , Francisco Borja , René de Prie and Federico Sanseverino excommunicated and discontinued. With the exception of Cardinal Borja, who died in 1511, all were reinstated in office and dignity by Pope Leo X in 1513 .

Guillaume Briçonnet was buried in the Saint-Just Cathedral of Narbonne .

progeny

His marriage to Raoulette de Beaune had five children, two of whom later became bishops:

Guillaume , Bishop of Lodève and Meaux
Denis , Bishop of Toulon, Saint-Malo and Lodève

Web links

Commons : Guillaume Briçonnet (1445-1514) - collection of images, videos and audio files

Briçonnet, Guillaume. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed November 30, 2016.
Entry on Guillaume Briçonnet on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed November 30, 2016.
Francis Dumont: Guillaume Briçonnet . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 2, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1907.

Footnotes

↑ Jacques-Xavier Carré de Busserolle: Dictionnaire géographique, historique et biographique d'Indre-et-Loire et de l'ancienne province de Touraine . Rouillé-Ladevèze, Tours 1878, p. 423.
^ École nationale des chartes : Positions des thèses présentées par les élèves de la promotion de 1894 pour obtenir le diplôme d'archiviste paleographe . Marceau, Chalon-sur-Saône 1894, p. 10.

predecessor	Office	successor
Bernardino López de Carvajal	Bishop of Palestrina 1509–1511	Marco II. Vigerio
Bernardino López de Carvajal	Bishop of Frascati 1509–1510	Domenico II Grimani
Bernardino López de Carvajal	Bishop of Albano 1507–1508	Domenico Grimani
François-Guillaume de Castelnau	Archbishop of Narbonne 1507–1514	Giulio de 'Medici
Robert Briçonnet	Archbishop of Reims 1497–1507	Charles Dominique de Carreto
Jacques II de Caulers	Bishop of Nîmes 1496–1514	Michel Briçonnet
Pierre de Montfort de Laval	Bishop of Saint-Malo 1493–1513	Denis Briçonnet

personal data
SURNAME	Briçonnet, Guillaume
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French statesman and cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1445
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tours
DATE OF DEATH	December 14, 1514
Place of death	Narbonne

[1] Jacques-Xavier Carré de Busserolle: Dictionnaire géographique, historique et biographique d'Indre-et-Loire et de l'ancienne province de Touraine . Rouillé-Ladevèze, Tours 1878, p. 423.

[2] École nationale des chartes : Positions des thèses présentées par les élèves de la promotion de 1894 pour obtenir le diplôme d'archiviste paleographe . Marceau, Chalon-sur-Saône 1894, p. 10.