Pierre Lizet (1482 – 17 June 1554) was a French

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

. He received his education in civil law and

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. From 1529 to 1549, he was the president of the

Parlement de Paris The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...

. During the spread of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in France, the French Parliament started to evaluate appeals against sentences written by the Roman Catholic diocesan courts. In selected cases, bishops were censored by the civil legislative assembly when their decisions were declared to be heretical. In 1525, Guillaume Poyet, future lawyer of the king of France, asked the Parliament to suspend

bishop of Angers The Roman Catholic Diocese of Angers ( Latin: ''Dioecesis Andegavensis''; French: ''Diocèse d'Angers'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The episcopal see is located in Angers Cathedral in the city of A ...

Francis

de Rohan The House of Rohan ( br, Roc'han) is a Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to trace back to ...

(1480-1536) from its functions. It was the first case discussed in France. The bishop was guilty of simony because he had allowed his priests to be paid by Christian believers in order to administer sacraments to them. Lizet compared simoniac bishops to the heretics and asked the royal court to replace the ecclesiastical jurisdiction upon similar cases. Jean Guibert was the first French citizen to be locked up in a monastery by order of the king and then to be liberated in 1527. Two years before, his judicial case was instrumental to attribute to the king the power of interdicting Roman Catholic bishops from their local jurisdiction upon the cases of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. At the time of his death,

Theodore Beza Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ...

wrote the following French

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

for him:

References

External links

Johnfoxe.org
French magistrates 1482 births 1554 deaths 16th-century French judges {{France-mayor-stub