François de Joyeuse (24 June 1562 – 23 August 1615) was a French churchman and politician.

Biography

Born at

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Au ...

, François de Joyeuse was the second son of Guillaume de Joyeuse and Marie Eléanor de Batarnay. As the younger son of a ''

seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

'' in an intensely religious family of bishops and soldiers, he was destined for a career in the church. He studied in Toulouse, then at the

Collège de Navarre The College of Navarre (french: Collège de Navarre) was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris, rivaling the Sorbonne and renowned for its library. History It was founded by Queen Joan I of Navarre in 1305, who provided for th ...

, Paris, and received his doctorate degrees in canon and civil law at the University of Orléans. Thanks to the influence of his elder brother Anne de Joyeuse, a

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

of King Henry III of France who created him duke and peer in 1581, he became a privy councillor to the King and rose rapidly in the church. He was made

Archbishop of Narbonne The former Catholic diocese of Narbonne existed from early Christian times until the French Revolution. It was an archdiocese, with its see at Narbonne, from the year 445, and its influence ran over much of south-western France and into Catalon ...

on 20 October 1581 (with a papal dispensation for not having reached canonical age), a cardinal on 12 December 1583 (still aged only 21), Archbishop of Toulouse on 4 November 1588, and

Archbishop of Rouen The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Arch ...

on 1 December 1604. He was a Knight of the

Order of the Holy Spirit , status = Abolished in 1830 after the July RevolutionRecognised as a dynastic order of chivalry by the ICOC , founder = Henry III of France , head_title = Grand Master , head = Disputed: Louis Alphonse, Duke of AnjouJean, Count of Pari ...

. His brothers Anne and Claude were captured in 1587 after the

Battle of Coutras The Battle of Coutras, fought on 20 October 1587, was a major engagement in the French Religious Wars between a Huguenot (Protestant) army under Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV) and a royalist army led by Anne, Duke of Joyeuse. Henry of Na ...

and killed in the general massacre that followed. As a result, François became Duke of Joyeuse. In 1590 the title of Duke of Joyeuse was passed to another of his younger brothers, Scipion, who drowned himself in the Tarn after the defeat of Villemur in 1592, then to Henri de Joyeuse, the youngest brother, who died in 1608. The title passed to Henri's daughter Henriette, who had married

Henri de Montpensier Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, (12 May 1573 – 27 February 1608) was Dauphin of Auvergne, Duke of Montpensier, Sovereign Prince of the Dombes and Lord of Châtellerault. Henri was born at Mézières, the son of François de Bourbon, D ...

in 1597. On 16 February 1587 he was appointed by Henry III French minister to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, cardinal protector of France; he retained his predecessor's secretary,

Arnaud d'Ossat Arnaud d'Ossat (20 July 1537 – 13 March 1604) was a French diplomat and writer and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy with the papacy in the reign o ...

, a skilled diplomat with long experience in Rome who served as liaison with the papacy during Joyeuse's numerous absences. Joyeuse returned to France after King Henry's murder in 1589 and joined the Catholic League. However, he broke with the League in 1593 to support

Henry of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

(King Henry IV of France), and returned to Rome where he obtained papal absolution for Henry from Pope

Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

in 1595. Reappointed cardinal protector in January 1596, he returned to France and was returned to Rome by Henry IV in September 1598, arriving the following February; that year he negotiated the annulment of King Henry's marriage to

Marguerite de Valois Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...

, opening the way for a second marriage to Marie de' Medici. François became

in 1604, though he did not take up residence. He participated in the papal conclaves of 1605. In 1606-07 he played a decisive role in negotiating a rapprochement between the Papacy and Venice, at the time of the

Venetian Interdict The Venetian Interdict of 1606 and 1607 was the expression in terms of canon law, by means of a papal interdict, of a diplomatic quarrel and confrontation between the Papal Curia and the Republic of Venice, taking place in the period from 1605 to 1 ...

.Barbiche 1965. After the murder of Henry IV in 1610 he lost influence at the court of the Regent, Marie de' Medici. He died at Avignon, aged 53, while travelling to Rome.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyeuse, Francois de 1562 births 1615 deaths People from Carcassonne 16th-century French cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Ostia Cardinal-bishops of Sabina Archbishops of Rouen Archbishops of Narbonne Archbishops of Toulouse 17th-century French cardinals Francois Deans of the College of Cardinals University of Paris alumni