Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille le Jeune

Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille le Jeune

Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille le Jeune (in contrast to his uncle Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille l'Ancien , * 1339 in La Font in the Diocese of Limoges , † January 13, 1401 in Avignon ), known as Cardinal of Saint-Étienne , was a son of Aymar d'Aigrefeuille , Marshal of the Papal Court, and Aigline de Montal, nephew of the cardinals Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille l'Ancien and Faydit d'Aigrefeuille , and a relative of Popes Clement VI. and Gregory XI. ; he got the nickname as the cardinal priest of Santo Stefano Rotondo (1367-1401).

Life

Since he was the youngest son, his parents intended him for a career in the church. His siblings were: Jean (Baron de Gramat), Aymar II (Seigneur de la Font et de Tudeils), Florence (she married Olivier de Cazillac, Hugues de Montferrand and Arnaud de Bérail), Hélène (called Douce, she married Jean de Maumont and Bertrand de Faudoas), Marie (she married Bertrand de Loudun and Hélie de Lestrade).

Remnants of the livery cardinalice of Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille le Jeune, former commandant of the Knights Templar in Avignon, called Saint-Jean-le-Vieux on today's Place Pie

Training in canon law

He first came to the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Cluny , which him to the University of Toulouse sent to Canon Law to study; he graduated with a doctorate. Around 1362 he became dean of the cathedral chapter in the diocese of Clermont , then apostolic protonotary and auditor of the Rota in Avignon .

The Cardinal of Saint-Etienne

At the consistory of May 12, 1367, before his departure for Rome, Pope Urban V appointed Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille le Jeune (as the only one) cardinal. He was only 28 years old. He received the titular church of Santo Stefano Rotondo . He accompanied the Pope to Rome, where he received the benefice of a canon from Charminster ( Dorset , England) and the priory of Bere (also in England) in 1370 .

His first stay in Rome ended when Urban V returned to Avignon, who died shortly afterwards. Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille took part in his first conclave on December 29, 1370, at which 18 of the 20 cardinals elected his relative Pierre Roger de Beaufort, who was named Gregory XI. assumed.

On January 3, 1371, on behalf of the Pope in the Limousin, he arbitrated a paragium of the fiefs Carbonnières and Pesteils between the knights Guy de Pesteils , who was absent and was represented by his uncle Jean de Carbonnières, as well as Pierre, Bertrand and Guillaume de Merle and the Prior of Saint-Martial, Seigneur de Rosiers. The latter promised to return the castle and tower of Pesteils and pay homage to them.

The new Pope gave him back the office of canon and the associated benefices at Hightworth in 1371 , and in the same year appointed him Archdeacon of Berkshire . In 1377 he became Camerlengo , in March 1378 Gregory XI. him to his executor.

The legacy of Clement VII.

On the evening of April 7, 1378, the conclave met in Rome to appoint a successor to the deceased Pope. Under pressure from the population, the cardinals elected Bartolommeo Prignano ( Urban VI ), Archbishop of Bari , the sixth and last to become Pope without having previously been a cardinal.

The eunuch Pierre de Cros , Archbishop of Arles , was the first to face the revenge of the new Pope. Urban VI. wanted to arrest him in the Castel Sant'Angelo , and gave the cardinals Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille, Gui de Malessec and Pierre deortenac the appropriate order. The cardinals are careful not to obey, because the new Pope has all the cardinals against him, all of them, French or Italian, meet on August 9, under the presidency of the chamberlain, and decide to leave Rome and flee to Anagni is located in the Kingdom of Naples . On September 20, 1378, a new conclave was opened in Fondi . Robert Count of Geneva, who calls himself Clement VII, is elected unanimously . On October 3, Clement VII was crowned in the presence of an envoy extraordinary from Queen Joan I of Naples and numerous Neapolitan nobles .

The new Pope appointed Cardinal d'Aigrefeuille legate in France. On May 7, 1379, King Charles V and his court were received in the Great Council in Vincennes . It takes the approval of the king and princes with it to the election in Fondi, who thus join Clement VII. Then he traveled on to the Empire, where he stayed from November 29, 1379 to January 25, 1385: he succeeded in convincing the Duke of Austria and several large cities to also join Clement VII. In May 1385 he appointed him cardinal proto-priest .

After Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille had participated in the conclave of 1394, which Benedict XIII. chose, he retired to his nephew Elzéar d'Aigrefeuille, Baron de Gramat . In his will he bequeathed all of his property to his brother Jean d'Aigrefeuille. He was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Sabina and then died on January 13, 1401 in Avignon. He was buried in the Chapelle Saint-Étienne in the collegiate church Saint-Martial in Avignon, which counted him among his benefactors. His epitaph was mentioned by Abbé Migne in the Dictionnaire d'épigraphie chrétienne : HIC. IACET. REVERENDISSIMVS. IN CHRIST. FATHER. DOMINVS. GVILLELMVS. DE. AGRIFOLIO. DECRETORVM. DOCTOR. TIT. S. STEPHANI. IN COELIO MONTE. SRE PRESBYTER CARDINALIS. QVI. OBIIT. THE. XIIII. MENSIS. IANVARII. ANNO. A. NATIVITATE. DOMINI. MCCCCI. ANIMA. EIVS. IN. PACIS. QVIESCAT. AMEN.

literature

• François Duchesne : Histoire de tous les cardinaux françois de naissance. Paris 1660.
• Étienne Baluze : Vitae paparum Avenionensium, sive collectio actorum veterum. Vol. I et II. Paris 1693.
• Auguste de Boyes, François Arbelot: Biography of the Hommes illustres de l'ancienne province du Limousin. Limoges 1854.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Aigrefeuille, iuniore, OSBClun., Guillaume d '. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website ), accessed January 4, 2019.
2. ↑ Anglic de Grimoard and Pierre d'Estaing were absent
3. ↑ Guy III. de Pesteil had gone to war in Piedmont against the Visconti with Raimond de Turenne .
4. ↑ Even if the three Italian cardinals abstained, one of whom had not voted for Prignano, they nevertheless stood behind Clement VII.
5. ↑ See Jean-Jacques Bourassé, Jacques Paul Migne , Dictionnaire d'épigraphie chrétienne , Paris, 1852.
6. ↑ “Here rests the most venerable Father in Christ, Mr. Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille, Doctor of Canon Law, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church under the title of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, died on January 13th of January in 1401 of the birth of our Lord. May his soul rest in peace. Amen."