Georges d'Aubusson de La Feuillade
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Georges d'Aubusson de La Feuillade (1609 to 1697) was a French Catholic clergyman under
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, who served as
Archbishop of Embrun The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Embrun was located in southeastern France, in the mountains of the Maritime Alps, on a route that led from Gap by way of Briançon to Turin. It had as suffragans the Diocese of Digne, Diocese of Antibes and Gras ...
(1649-1668), then
Bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Es ...
(1669-1697). He also held a number of diplomatic posts and actively supported measures against French
Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss politica ...
; he died in May 1697 and was buried in
Metz Cathedral Metz Cathedral, otherwise the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, Metz (french: Cathédrale Saint Étienne de Metz), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen. First begun in the early 14th centu ...
.


Early life

Georges d'Aubusson de la Feuillade was born in 1609 near
Aubusson, Creuse Aubusson (; Occitan auvergnat: ''Le Buçon'', formerly ''Aubuçon'') is a commune in the Creuse department region in central France. Geography Aubusson is situated in the southern part of the ''département'', at the confluence of the rivers Cre ...
, second of five sons of François, Comte d'Aubusson (ca 1590 to 1632) and Isabeau Brachet de Pérusse. Both his father and elder brother Leon (? to 1648) were senior aides to
Gaston, Duke of Orléans '' Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a '' Fils de France''. He lat ...
(1608-1660), heir to the French throne until the birth of
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
in 1638. He had three younger brothers, Gabriel-Bratchet (? to 1638), Paul (1622-1646) and
François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, known as 6th duc de Roannais (1631–1691) was a French military officer and noble who served in the wars of Louis XIV and became a Marshal of France. He was also responsible for initiating the design and co ...
(1631 - 1691). Of his five sisters, Elizabeth (1624-1704) became
Abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
of the convent of Sainte-Marie de la Règle in 1679 but little is known of the others, who all appear to have become nuns.


Career

The first half of the 17th century in France was a period of intense civil strife; the 1590
Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...
ended the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...
but continued state persecution caused a series of
Huguenot rebellions The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted agains ...
in the 1620s. This was followed by the 1635-1659 Franco-Spanish War, accompanied by an internal power struggle during the minority of Louis XIV that led to the 1648-1653 civil wars or
Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
. Their impact is reflected in the history of Georges's immediate family; his father was killed in 1632 at
Castelnaudary Castelnaudary (; oc, Castèlnòu d'Arri) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. It is located in the former province of the Lauragais and famous for cassoulet of which it claims to be the world capital ...
, while three of his four brothers also died in battle, Leon at Lens in 1648, Gabriel-Brachet at Saint-Omer in 1638 and Paul at
Mardyck Mardyck (Dutch: ''Mardijk'', vls, Mardyk) is a former commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is an associated commune with Dunkirk since it joined the latter in January 1980.Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
university in April 1639 and joined
Solignac Abbey Solignac Abbey, or the Abbey of Saint-Peter and Saint Paul of Solignac, is an abbey in Solignac, near Limoges, in Haute-Vienne. It was founded around 631 AD by Saint Eligius (Éloi). The present buildings date to the 12th century, but have b ...
; in 1645, he was nominated as one of the delegates from the
Diocese of Limoges The Roman Catholic Diocese of Limoges (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lemovicensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Limoges'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the '' départments'' of Haute-Vienne and C ...
to the
Assembly of the French clergy The assembly of the French clergy (''assemblée du clergé de France'') was in its origins a representative meeting of the Catholic clergy of France, held every five years, for the purpose of apportioning the financial burdens laid upon the clergy ...
in Paris. Control of the Assembly was an important political post, since the conflict between Protestant and Catholic was mirrored by internal divisions among French Catholics. Some were theological, like the dispute over
Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...
, others political, such as resisting demands by the regional
Parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...
s that the Church pay taxes or the re-admission of Assembly members expelled by
Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
in 1641. As a sign of his growing stature, in September 1649 he was made
Archbishop of Embrun The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Embrun was located in southeastern France, in the mountains of the Maritime Alps, on a route that led from Gap by way of Briançon to Turin. It had as suffragans the Diocese of Digne, Diocese of Antibes and Gras ...
, a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in an area historically dominated by Huguenots. During the ''Fronde des nobles'' (1650–1653), the La Feuillade brothers supported the Court party led by Louis XIV's mother,
Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...
and
Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...
. Georges was appointed President of the Assembly of Clergy in March 1651 and published an attack on Charles de Fiesque, a senior aide to Condé, one of the Fronde's leaders. He reaped the benefit of his support for the Crown after October 1652 when the Fronde ended in a crushing defeat for its leaders. He served as Ambassador to the
Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
(1659-1661), followed by
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
(1661-1669), after which he was appointed
Bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Es ...
, a position he retained until his death in 1697. This was an important and sensitive position; Metz had been occupied by French troops since 1552 but officially remained part of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
until ceded to France in the 1648
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
. He also published a number of tracts backing the policies of Louis XIV, including measures against French Protestants that culminated in the 1685
Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...
and the French claim to the Spanish throne. Allegedly
senile Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a Syndrome, set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negativ ...
in the last years of his life, a financial audit of the
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
after his death in 1697 showed that a large sum of money was missing. The report concluded this had been stolen by his nephew
Louis d'Aubusson de La Feuillade Louis d'Aubusson de la Feuillade, duc de Roannais (30 March 1673 – 28 January 1725) was a French military officer and courtier who fought in the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Early life Louis d'Aubusson de la Feuilla ...
; Louis XIV wanted to dismiss him from the army but a family connection, Louis de Pontchartrain, persuaded him not to do so. In his ''Mémoires'' written in the 1720s, Saint-Simon (1675-1755) describes the bishop as overly familiar and avaricious, although the accuracy of these comments is hard to assess. He was equally scathing in his assessment of François de La Feuillade, who died in 1691 when Saint Simon was 16 and in general, uniformly hostile to Louis XIV and his supporters, the majority of whom he dismissed as commoners.


References


Sources

* Anselme, Augustin Dechauffé & Du Forny; ''Histoire de la Maison Royale de France, et des grands officiers de la Couronne, Volume V;'' (Compagnie des Libraires, 1750); * Bergin, Joseph; ''The Politics of Religion in Early Modern France'' (Yale University Press, 2014); * Chapman, Sara (2004). ''Private Ambition and Political Alliances in Louis XIV's Government;'' (University of Rochester Press, 2004); * De la Feuliade, Georges d'Aubusson; ''Response de Mgr l'archevesque et prince d'Ambrun eorge d'Aubusson de La Feuillade président de l'assemblée du clergé, faite à M. le comte de Fiesque, et autres gentils-hommes, envoyez à ladite assemblée, de la part de Messieurs de la noblesse, le mercredy 15 mars 1651;'' (G le Rond, 1651); * Tucker, Spencer C; ''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East: A Global Chronology of Conflict in 6 volumes;'' (ABC-CLIO, 2009);


External links

* ; * {{DEFAULTSORT:d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, Georges University of Paris alumni 17th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France Archbishops of Embrun Bishops of Metz Bishops appointed by Pope Innocent X 1609 births 1697 deaths