Anne du Bourg was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 magistrat, nephew of the chancellor Antoine du Bourg.

Educated at the university of Orléans

University of Orléans

-History:In 1230, when for a time the doctors of the University of Paris were scattered, a number of the teachers and disciples took refuge in Orléans; when pope Boniface VIII, in 1298, promulgated the sixth book of the Decretals, he appointed the doctors of Bologna and the doctors of Orléans to...

, he became professor and had Étienne de la Boétie

Étienne de La Boétie

Étienne de La Boétie was a French judge, writer, anarchist, and "a founder of modern political philosophy in France." He "has been best remembered as the great and close friend of the eminent essayist Michel de Montaigne, in one of history's most notable friendships."-Life:"La Boétie was born in...

 as a student. He became counsellor of the Parliament of Paris in 1557. In 1559, during a mercurial (session of parliament), Du Bourg attacked the royal policy of repression against "those called heretics". He didn't make a secret of his Calvinist convictions. Henry II

Henry II of France

Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

 arrested him; after his death, the Guise

House of Guise

The House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...

 monopolized power to the detriment of François II. After a trial, during which Du Bourg utilized all recourses of law, he was convicted as a heretic, to be hanged on the place de Grève and his body burned.

The Palatine of the Rhine pleaded mercy to the king, to name him professor of law at Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, but in vain. He died on December 23, after having declared at the gallows "My friends, I am not here as a thief or a martyr, but for the evangelium."