Jean du Bellay
San Crisogono | |
---|---|
Diocese | Paris (1532–1560) |
See | Albano (1550–1553) Tusculum (1553) Porto (1553–1555) Ostia (1555–1560) |
Orders | |
Created cardinal | 21 May 1535 by Pope Paul III |
Personal details | |
Born | 1492 |
Died | 16 February 1560 (aged 67–68) Rome, Papal States |
Buried | Sma. Trinità dei Monti |
Nationality | French |
Residence | Paris |
Parents | Louis du Bellay Marguerite de la Tour-Landry |
Occupation | Diplomat |
Education | Licenciate in Canon and Civil Law |
Alma mater | Sorbonne (?) |
Jean du Bellay (1492
Biography
Du Bellay was born at Souday,[2] second of the six sons of Louis, son of Jean du Bellay, Seigneur de Langey, and Marguerite, daughter of Raoullet, Baron of La Tour-Landry. Four of their sons survived infancy, including Guillaume, Martin, and René. They had two daughters, Renée, who married Ambroise Baron des Cousteaux, and Louise, who married Jacques d'Aunay, Sieur de Villeneuve-la-Guyart .[3] The fief of Bellay was located near Saumur in Anjou.[4]
He is said to have gotten his education in Paris.
Diplomat in England
He was well-fitted for a diplomatic career, and carried out several missions in England (1527–1534). He was Ambassador Ordinary from November 1527 to February 1529, when his elder brother Guillaume replaced him. When his brother departed, he was again Ambassador, from 15 May 1529 to January 1530. He returned on a mission in August–September 1530, and again, as Ambassador Extraordinary, in October 1531. After returning to Court, he was immediately dispatched again to England on 6 November 1531.[10] He was in England again as Ambassador Extraordinary in August and September 1532. A meeting between the English and French monarchs took place at Boulogne on 20 October 1532,[11] at which Bishop du Bellay was present,[12] and immediately thereafter Cardinals Tournon and de Gramont were sent to Rome to negotiate with Pope Clement VII. Du Bellay returned to England from November 1533 to January 1534.[13] In this last embassy, it was his duty to explain the agreements made between Francis I and Pope Clement VII during their negotiations in Marseille in October and November 1533.[14]
Rome
He was then sent as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Papal Court in Rome (January–May 1534).
In September 1534 Bishop du Bellay's secretary, Claude de Chappuys accompanied the French cardinals who were going to Rome for the Conclave that followed the death of Pope Clement VII. There, the Cardinals and Chappuys used their influence to promote the candidacy of the Bishop of Paris for a cardinal's hat. They were assured that the new pope, Pope Paul III, was favourable to their importuning.[19]
Cardinal
On 21 May 1535, at his second Consistory for the promotion of cardinals,
On 21 July 1536 du Bellay was nominated "Lieutenant-General" to the king at Paris and in the Île de France,
In the last years of the reign of
Eclipse under Henry II
King Francis I died on 31 March 1547. His funeral ceremonies were conducted at S. Denis on 23 May, and were presided over by Cardinal du Bellay.
Following the death of
When Cardinal du Bellay returned to France after the Conclave, he took up residence in his Italian-style villa at Saint-Maur, some seven miles southeast of Paris, where he enjoyed the company of Rabelais, Macrin, Michel l'Hôpital, and his young cousin Joachim du Bellay.[36] King Henry II struck again in 1551, dismissing him from the See of Paris.[37] Catherine de' Medici was a frequent visitor, and in 1563 she purchased the Château du Bellay from his heirs.[38]
After three quiet years passed in retirement in France (1550–1553), the Cardinal was charged with a new mission to Pope Julius III. In Rome he discovered that the Imperialists were in control everywhere, and he was shocked when, on 11 December 1553, Cardinal Carafa was given the See of Ostia and the office of Dean of the College of Cardinals, which Du Bellay believed ought to have been his. He complained in a letter of 22 December 1553 to the Constable de Montmorency.[39]
The Cardinal du Bellay continued to live in Rome thenceforth in great state. In 1555 he was appointed
Paul IV died on 18 August 1559 after a contentious reign of four years, two months and twenty-seven days.[41] The Conclave to elect his successor held its opening ceremonies on 5 September 1559 with forty-four cardinals in attendance. On 6 September, Cardinal du Bellay, who was Dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit, and then the Conclave settled down to a leisurely conduct of business. They finished the Electoral Capitulations on 8 September, and the bulls referring to conclave rules were read on 9 September. Du Bellay, however, was ill, and did not attend the reading. In the First Scrutiny, held later that day, he had to cast his vote from his sickbed. Beginning on 26 September various ambassadors, led by the Spanish Ambassador, appeared at the entrance to the Conclave area and harangued the cardinals inside about the necessity of getting a pope elected. Security was so bad that on 2 October, the cardinals appointed a reform committee, with Du Bellay its leader, to restore order. It was ineffective. On 9 October the known agents of the Powers and a considerable number of Conclavists were expelled. On 1 November there were forty-seven cardinals at the Conclave, five confined to bed. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, after a good deal of politicking, the cardinals finally settled on Cardinal Giovanni Angelo de' Medici, who was elected by acclamation. He was asked if he would consent to a Scrutiny the next morning, and he agreed, providing that it was recognised that he had been validly and canonically elected on the 25th. He chose the throne name Pius IV. Cardinal du Bellay was absent.[42]
Death
Cardinal Jean du Bellay died in Rome on 16 February 1560 at 13:30 hours, Rome time, in his gardens at the Baths of Diocletian. He was buried in the Church of Santissima Trinità dei Monti.[43] Since he had died in Rome, the appointment to his vacated benefices, according to the Concordat of Bologna of 1516, belonged to the Pope, not to the King. Pope Pius IV reminded Henry II of this in a letter of 9 August 1560.[44] This was one of the principal reasons that French kings did not want their very richly beneficed cardinals to reside in Rome; as a result, when a Conclave became necessary, either the French party did not arrive in time, or did not bother to come at all. Since they were unknown to most of the cardinals, they were rarely serious candidates for the papal office.
Du Bellay's Last Will and Testament was contested, and his relatives fought over various parts of the inheritance. The Cardinal's sister Louise, who had received the Cardinal's property still kept in the Episcopal Palace in Paris, to ensure her claim to the inheritance, made a donation of the Cardinal's antiquities to the Queen Mother, Catherine de' Medicis.[45]
Appreciation
Less resolute and reliable than his brother Guillaume, the Cardinal had brilliant qualities, and an open and free mind.
Du Bellay and François Rabelais
Rabelais was under scrutiny by the church due to "humanistic" nature of his writings. Rabelais's main work of this nature is the Gargantua and Pantagruel series, which contain a great deal of allegorical, suggestive messages.
References
- ^ J. & L. Michaud (edd.), "Bellay (Jean du)," Biographie universelle Tome IV (Paris 1811), p. 94.
- ^ Léon Séché, "Le Cardinal du Bellay," Revue de la renaissance 1 (1901), 217–238, pp. 217–219.
- ^ Jean Pinsson de la Martiniere (1661). La Connestablie et Mareschavssee de France, ou recueil de tous les edicts ... sur le pouvoir et jurisdictioni de ... Connestables et Mareschaux de France (etc.) (in French). Paris: Rocolet. pp. 495–496.
- ^ Bourilly, Guillaume du Bellay, p. 4.
- ^ Denis de Saint-Marthe, Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), p. 1320. "Johannes vero noster a puero in Parisiensis academiae sinu institutus..."
- ^ Bourilly, Guillaume du Bellay, p. 6.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 128. Denis de Saint-Marthe, Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), p. 1320.
- ^ Gallia christiana VIII (Paris 1744), p. 160.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 270. Honoré Jean P. Fisquet (1864). La France pontificale ... Paris (in French). Vol. Tome premier. Paris: E. Repos. p. 364.
- ^ Bourilly, Guillaume du Bellay, pp. 77–84.
- ^ Cardinal de Tournon was present, according to the Venetian Ambassador Giovanni Antonio Venier, along with the Cardinals Du Prat (the French Chancellor), de Bourbon, de Lorraine and de Gramont. Rawdon Brown, Calendar IV, p. 362. Bourilly, Guillaume du Bellay, pp. 136–139.
- ^ Hamy, p. 64.
- ^ Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, IX. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. 1907. pp. 17, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.
- ^ Alfred Hamy (1898). Entrevue de François Premier Avec Henry VIII, À Boulogne-sur Mer, en 1532: Intervention de la France Dans L'affaire Du Divorce, D'après Un Grand Nombre de Documents Inédits (in French). Paris: L. Gougy. pp. cccxciii–ccccvi, no. 115.
- ^ Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, IX, p. 63.
- ^ Bourilly (1907), pp. 1-2. The Pope's decree was at first only monitory; it gave King Henry VIII six months to repent his misdeeds. The Pope needed to be convinced that he had repented, or was repenting, or would repent.
- ^ Picot, I, pp. 95–97.
- ^ Bourilly (1907), p. 2-3.
- ^ Best, p. 136.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 24 and n. 1. Best, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, IX, pp. 54 and 63–64.
- ^ Picot, I, p. 96.
- ^ Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, III. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. 1889. p. 229, no. 8577.
- ^ Best, p. 137.
- ^ a b c d Isaac 1911.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 222.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 142.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 162.
- ^ Fisquet, p. 360.
- ^ Ribier, II, p. 1.
- ^ Ribier, II, p. 162: "[Le cardinal]... nous a écrit des volumes si grands, qu'ils serioent suffisans pour contenir toute la fr:Chronique de l'Empereur, et toutesfois il n'y a en substance qu'un mot..."
- ^ Ribier, II, p. 243.
- ^ Ribier, II, p. 256.
- ^ Voting was by preference ballot. A cardinal could place as many names as he wished on his ballot. Hence, the number of votes was sometimes several times the number of votes. But the canonical rule was that a candidate must receive the votes of two-thirds of the votes to be elected.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 56.
- ^ Dickinson, p. 2.
- ^ Fisquet, pp. 360, 364.
- ^ Henri Clouzot (1910). Philibert de l'Orme (in French). Paris: Plon et Nourrit. p. 74.
- ^ Ribier, II, pp. 481–482.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 56. J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1555.. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-415-92230-2.
- ^ J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1559.. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
- ^ Gulik and Eubel, p. 24, note 3.
- .
- ISBN 978-1-317-06186-1.
- ^ Other appreciations: Fisquet, pp. 360–363.
- ^ Picot, I. pp. 95–104.
- ISBN 978-0-313-31034-8. Raymond Mauny (1977). "Rabelais et la Sorbonne," Les Amis de Rabelais et de la Devinière (Tours), 3, no. 6, 1977. pp. 252–261.
Bibliography
- Best, A.-M. (1966). "Additional Documents on the Life of Claude Chappuys". Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance. 28 (1): 134–140. JSTOR 41429867.
- Bourilly, Victor-Louis (1901). "Jean Sleidan et le Cardinal du Bellay: Premier séjour de Jean Sleidan en France". Bulletin Historique et Littéraire (Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français). 50 (5): 225–242. JSTOR 24286271.
- Bourrilly, Victor-Louis (1905). Guillaume du Bellay: seigneur de Langey, 1491–1543 (in French). Paris: Société nouvelle de librairie et d'édition. p. 237.
- Bourrilly, Victor-Louis (1907). Le cardinal Jean du Bellay en Italie (juin 1535-mars 1536) (in French). Paris: Honoré Champion.
- Brown, Rawdon, ed. (1871). Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice: And in Other Libraries of Northern Italy. 1527/1533. Vol. IV. London: Longman Green.
- Dickinson, Gladys (1960). Du Bellay in Rome. Leiden: E. J. Brill. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- Du Bellay, Jean (1905). Victor-Louis Bourrilly and Pierre de Vaissière (ed.). Ambassades en Angleterre: la première ambassade, septembre 1529 – février 1529; correspondance diplomatique (in French). Paris: A. Picard.
- Du Bellay, Jean (1969). Rene Scheurer (ed.). Correspondance du cardinal Jean Du Bellay publiée ...: 1529–1535 (in French and Latin). Vol. I. Paris: C. Klincksieck.
- Du Bellay, Jean (1973). Correspondance Du Cardinal Jean Du Bellay: 1535- 1536 (in French). Vol. II. Paris: Klincksieck "Soc. d'histoire de France".
- Du Bellay, Jean (1969). Remy Scheurer and Loris Petris (ed.). Correspondance du cardinal Jean Du Bellay publiée ...: 1537–1547 (in French and Latin). Vol. Tome III. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-35407-111-0.
- Du Bellay, Jean (2015). Rene Scheurer and Loris Petris (ed.). Correspondance du cardinal Jean du Bellay: Tome VI : 1550–1555 (in French and Latin). Paris: Société de l'histoire de France. ISBN 978-2-35407-140-0.
- Dubois-Geoffroy, Claude (2014). L'épée et la mitre au service du roi. Les quatre frères Du Bellay, gloires du Maine au 16ème siècle (in French). lulu.com. ISBN 978-2-9543286-1-4.
- Gulik, Guilelmus van; Konrad Eubel (1923). L. Schmitz-Kallenberg (ed.). Hierarchia catholica medii aevi (in Latin). Vol. III (editio altera ed.). Münster: sumptibus et typis librariae Regensbergianae.
- Hamy, Alfred (1898). Entrevue de François Premier Avec Henry VIII, À Boulogne-sur-Mer, en 1532: Intervention de la France Dans L'affaire Du Divorce, D'après Un Grand Nombre de Documents Inédits (in French). Paris: Lucien Gougy.
- Legrand, Joachim (1688). Histoire du divorce de Henry VIII, roy d'Angleterre & de Catherine d'Arragon (in French). Vol. 2 volumes. Paris: Veuve d'Edmé Martin. [publishes fifty letters of du Bellay]
- Michon, Cédric, Petris, Loris (edd.) (2014), Le Cardinal Jean Du Bellay. Diplomatie et culture dans l'Europe de la Renaissance. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes. 978-2-86906-305-1 [eighteen articles, in French]
- Pauwels, Yves. "Philibert de l'Orme et ses cardinaux : Marcello Cervini et Jean du Bellay," in Frédérique Lemerle, Yves Pauwels et Gennaro Toscano (dir.) (2009). Les Cardinaux de la Renaissance et la modernité artistique, Villeneuve d'Ascq, IRHiS-Institut de Recherches Historiques du Septentrion (" Histoire et littérature de l'Europe du Nord-Ouest", no. 40), p. 149–156. (in French)
- Picot, Emile (1906). Les Francais Italianisants au XVI Siecle (in French). Vol. Tome I. Paris: Champion.
- Potter, David L. "Jean du Bellay et l'Angleterre, 1527–50", in Loris Petris, P. Galand, O. Christin, and C. Michon (eds), Actes du Colloque Jean du Bellay (Neuchâtel, 2014), pp. 47–66. (in French)
- Ribier, Guillaume, ed. (1666). Lettres et memoires d'estat, des Roys, Princes, Ambassadeurs et autres ministres sous les Regnes de François I., Henry II. et François II (in French). Vol. Tome second. Paris: François Clouzier. [letters to and from the Cardinal]
Attribution
- public domain: Isaac, Jules (1911). "Du Bellay, Jean". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 616. [Caution should be used; the content is obsolete.] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the