Étienne Poncher (died 15 March 1553), was a French clergyman of the 16th century. He was successively

Bishop of Bayonne The Diocese of Bayonne, Lescar, and Oloron, commonly Diocese of Bayonne, (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baionensis, Lascurrensis et Oloronensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayonne, Lescar et Oloron''; Basque: ''Baionako, Leskarreko eta Oloroeko elizbarrutia'') ...

, then

Archbishop of Tours The Archdiocese of Tours (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd century, while the formal erection of the diocese dates from the 5th century. The ecclesiastical pro ...

Early life

Poncher was the son of Jean Poncher, Treasurer of

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, and Catherine Hurault.

Career

Doctor of Canon Law Doctor of Canon Law (, JCD) is the doctoral-level terminal degree in the studies of canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. It can also be an honorary degree awarded by Anglican colleges. It may also be abbreviated ICD or dr.iur.can. (''Iuris Can ...

, he served as

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of (in

La Roë La Roë () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. History The Bretonic ascetic preacher Robert of Arbrissel founded a community of canons regular in 1092 which was confirmed by Pope Urban II in Angers in February 109 ...

) from 6 July 1530, Master of Requests () in 1531, Chaplain-in-Ordinary of the King () to

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: People Kings and emperors * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708–1765), reigned 1745–1765 * Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor ...

in 1534. He allowed Étienne Amyot,

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of Craon, to occupy La Roë Abbey in 1533, and had as vicars for the temporal and spiritual: Louis Leroux,

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, in 1542, and Georges Macé,

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of Saint-Aignan d'Angers, in 1550. He was made

in 1532, presiding over the general chapter at

. In 1549 he set forth regulations, in thirteen articles, for the abbey of La Roë, proscribing, among other things, heretical books. After resigning from Roë at the beginning of 1551, he began serving as

in April 1551, as well as Abbot of Charité and Saint-Pierre-le-Vif.

Personal life

In 1543, Poncher began construction on the

Château d'Esclimont The Château d'Esclimont is a historic château that is located in the commune of Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien (formerly Saint-Symphorien-le-Château), in the French departments of France, department of Eure-et-Loir in the Centre-Val de Loire re ...

in the commune of

Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2016 by merger of the former communes of Auneau and Bleury-Saint-Symphorien. Bleury-Saint-Symphorien ...

(formerly

Saint-Symphorien-le-Château Saint-Symphorien-le-Château () is a former commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. In January 2012 it merged with Bleury into the new commune Bleury-Saint-Symphorien, which was merged into Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien on ...

), in the French department of

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (; ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior ...

region. The château replaced an old feudal fortress. Poncher died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 15 March 1553 and was buried at the

Couvent des Célestins The Couvent des Célestins ("Convent of the Celestines") was an ancient convent located near the Place de la Bastille in Paris, France, active between 1254 and 1790. It was the second most important burial site for royalty after the Basilique Sa ...

. After his death, his chateau passed into the family of

Philippe Hurault de Cheverny Philippe Hurault, comte de Cheverny (1528 in Cheverny, Loir-et-Cher – 1599) was a French nobleman and politician. His son Philippe Hurault de Cheverny was a bishop. Life He was counsellor to the parlement de Paris, maître des requêtes (156 ...

Keeper of the Seals The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...

of King Henry III, then

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of King Henry IV.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poncher, Etienne Year of birth missing 1553 deaths Bishops of Bayonne Archbishops of Tours 16th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in France