Arnaud d'Ossat
Encyclopedia
Arnaud d'Ossat 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 of Henry IV of France
.
, perhaps the natural son of the seigneur de Ramefort, and many of the important connections in his life were with other southerners, not excluding Henry IV himself. He was sent first to the nearby College of Auch
as tutor
to the sons of the local seigneur, then to the Collège de France
, Paris, where he studied rhetoric and philosophy with the famous humanist logician and mathematician Petrus Ramus
, who became his friend; he studied law briefly at Bourges under the famous legist
Jacques Cujas
and became an advocate before the Parlement of Paris, while acting as tutor to Jean de la Barrière
, the future reforming abbot of the Feuillant
s.
In 1572 he joined the household of Paul de Foix
, Archbishop
-elect of Toulouse
, whom he accompanied on various embassies and finally to Rome. De Foix dying in 1584, d'Ossat remained at Rome, supervising the French embassy for a year, and then becoming secretary successively to Cardinal Luigi d'Este
and François de Joyeuse
, two cardinals successively in charge of French affairs at Rome. In 1588 he refused the post of minister of foreign affairs to Henry III
, then, driven from Rome by the rupture of diplomatic relations after the murder of Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine
(1588), he returned after the death of Henry III the following year, as the private agent of the widowed queen, Louise de Vaudemont.
He used his unofficial position to support the cause of Henry IV, whose conversion to Catholicism he prepared Pope Clement VIII
to accept. As agent for Henry, cooperating with Jacques Davy du Perron, he negotiated the reconciliation with the pope, which took place on 19 September 1595. This was the greatest act of d'Ossat's diplomatic career, assuring as it did the definitive triumph of Henry IV over the House of Guise
and the Catholic League
, and the restoration of peace to France after more than thirty years of civil war (see French Wars of Religion
).
, Henry's minister of foreign affairs, himself consulted him on all matters in any way connected with Rome.
A measure of Ossat's skill and tact may be gained by the French measures he was able to present successfully to the Holy See: the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, the non-publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent
, the Edict of Nantes
, and French alliances with England, and even with the Sultan of Turkey, the annulment of Henry IV's marriage with Margaret of Valois, and the marriage of the Duc de Bar with Catherine of Navarre, the king's sister and an unrepentant Calvinist
.
At the same time d'Ossat used his influence at Rome for the benefit of French humanists: the historian Jacques-Auguste de Thou, witness to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
s, the philosopher Michel de Montaigne
, and the savant Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc.
, above the Piazza di Spagna; his tomb is still to be seen. Cardinal Bentivoglio said of him that never was a man more worthy of the cardinal's hat, because of his religious zeal, the integrity of his morals, and the eminence of his learning.
In the course of his diplomatic career Ossat wrote many letters and memoranda, a selection of which, printed in 1614, long served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which Ossat displays in them. The Académie Française
inscribed Ossat among the "dead authors who have written our French language most purely", and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the "simplicity and clearness of Cardinal d'Ossat's letters show how business letters should be written".
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...
diplomat
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and a Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
with the Papacy in the reign of Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
.
Early life and studies
Arnaud d'Ossat was born at Larroque-Magnoac in GasconyGascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
, perhaps the natural son of the seigneur de Ramefort, and many of the important connections in his life were with other southerners, not excluding Henry IV himself. He was sent first to the nearby College of Auch
Auch
Auch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.-The Ausci:...
as tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
to the sons of the local seigneur, then to the Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...
, Paris, where he studied rhetoric and philosophy with the famous humanist logician and mathematician Petrus Ramus
Petrus Ramus
Petrus Ramus was an influential French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was killed during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Early life:...
, who became his friend; he studied law briefly at Bourges under the famous legist
Legist
The term Legist, from the Latin lex 'law', literally denotes any expert or student of law.It was especially used since the Carolingian dynasty for royal councillors who advised the monarch in legal matters, and specifically helped base its absolutist ambitions on Roman Law...
Jacques Cujas
Jacques Cujas
Jacques Cujas was a French legal expert. He was prominent among the legal humanists or mos gallicus school, which sought to abandon the work of the medieval Commentators and concentrate on ascertaining the correct text and social context of the original works of Roman law.He was born at...
and became an advocate before the Parlement of Paris, while acting as tutor to Jean de la Barrière
Jean de la Barrière
Jean Baptiste de la Barrière was a religious figure. He was named reformer of the Feuillants at the age of 19. During his life he became a spiritual adviser to King Henry III of France...
, the future reforming abbot of the Feuillant
Feuillant
Feuillant, a French word derived from the Latin for leaf, has been used as a tag by two different groups:*Feuillant *Feuillant ...
s.
In 1572 he joined the household of Paul de Foix
Paul de Foix
Paul de Foix de Carmain was a French prelate and diplomat.He was son of Jean de Foix, comte de Carmain, by his wife Aldonce. He studied Greek and Roman literature at Paris, and jurisprudence at Toulouse, where shortly after finishing his curriculum he delivered a course of lectures on civil law,...
, Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
-elect of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, whom he accompanied on various embassies and finally to Rome. De Foix dying in 1584, d'Ossat remained at Rome, supervising the French embassy for a year, and then becoming secretary successively to Cardinal Luigi d'Este
Luigi d'Este
Luigi d'Este was an Italian Catholic cardinal, the second of the five children of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Modena and Ferrara, and Renée, daughter of Louis XII of France.-Biography:...
and François de Joyeuse
François de Joyeuse
François de Joyeuse was a French churchman and politician.Born at Carcassonne, François de Joyeuse was the second son of Guillaume de Joyeuse and Marie Eléanor de Batarnay. As the younger son of a seigneur in an intensely religious family of bishops and soldiers, he was destined for a career in...
, two cardinals successively in charge of French affairs at Rome. In 1588 he refused the post of minister of foreign affairs to Henry III
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
, then, driven from Rome by the rupture of diplomatic relations after the murder of Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine
Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine
Charles de Lorraine , Duke of Chevreuse, was a French Cardinal, a member of the powerful House of Guise. He was known at first as the Cardinal of Guise, and then as the second Cardinal of Lorraine, after the death of his uncle, John, Cardinal of Lorraine . He was the protector of Rabelais and...
(1588), he returned after the death of Henry III the following year, as the private agent of the widowed queen, Louise de Vaudemont.
He used his unofficial position to support the cause of Henry IV, whose conversion to Catholicism he prepared Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
to accept. As agent for Henry, cooperating with Jacques Davy du Perron, he negotiated the reconciliation with the pope, which took place on 19 September 1595. This was the greatest act of d'Ossat's diplomatic career, assuring as it did the definitive triumph of Henry IV over the House of 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...
and the Catholic League
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...
, and the restoration of peace to France after more than thirty years of civil war (see French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
).
Episcopate
Though Ossat was appointed Bishop of Rennes (on 9 September 1596) he remained at Rome, without any well-defined office, though he was charged with occasional missions to Venice and Florence (1598), and managed the French embassy in the absence of a noble ambassador, as professional diplomats traditionally do, and was always the enlightened and devoted representative of French interests. All the ambassadors of Henry IV had orders to make known to him the business with which they were charged and to be guided by his advice. VilleroyNicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy
Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy was a secretary of state under four kings of France: Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, and Louis XIII. The most distinguished of all sixteenth-century French secretaries, Villeroy rose to prominence during the French Wars of Religion, a period of almost...
, Henry's minister of foreign affairs, himself consulted him on all matters in any way connected with Rome.
Cardinalate
He was created cardinal priest in the consistory of 3 March 1599, and transferred to the Diocese of Bayeux, but he never went there.A measure of Ossat's skill and tact may be gained by the French measures he was able to present successfully to the Holy See: the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, the non-publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
, the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
, and French alliances with England, and even with the Sultan of Turkey, the annulment of Henry IV's marriage with Margaret of Valois, and the marriage of the Duc de Bar with Catherine of Navarre, the king's sister and an unrepentant Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
.
At the same time d'Ossat used his influence at Rome for the benefit of French humanists: the historian Jacques-Auguste de Thou, witness to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
s, the philosopher Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
, and the savant Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc.
Death
He died on 13 March 1604 after brief illness in Rome. Ossat is buried in the church of San Luigi dei FrancesiSan Luigi dei Francesi
The Church of St. Louis of the French is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in Rome, not far from Piazza Navona. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to St. Denis the Areopagite and St. Louis IX, king of France...
, above the Piazza di Spagna; his tomb is still to be seen. Cardinal Bentivoglio said of him that never was a man more worthy of the cardinal's hat, because of his religious zeal, the integrity of his morals, and the eminence of his learning.
In the course of his diplomatic career Ossat wrote many letters and memoranda, a selection of which, printed in 1614, long served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which Ossat displays in them. The Académie Française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
inscribed Ossat among the "dead authors who have written our French language most purely", and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the "simplicity and clearness of Cardinal d'Ossat's letters show how business letters should be written".
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Arnaud d'Ossat
- The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church: (includes bibliography)