Ferry Carondelet (1473 – June 27, 1528) was a Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

 diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, advisor to Margaret of Austria and abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

  at Montbenoît

Montbenoît

Montbenoît is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Geography:The commune lies north of Pontarlier in the Jura mountains.-History:...

. He was the younger brother of Jean Carondelet

Jean Carondelet

Jean II Carondelet , was a Burgundian cleric, politician, jurist and one of the most important advisors to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. He was a patron of Erasmus and a brother of Ferry Carondelet.-Life:...

.

Biography

Ferry Carondelet was born in Mechelen

Mechelen

Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...

, Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, to a rich, bourgeois and influential family originally from Dole

Dole, Jura

Dole is a commune in the Jura department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France, of which it is a subprefecture ....

. He grew up in Burgundy, at the time a Habsburg province under Emperor Maximilian I

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...

, and matriculated

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

 at the University of Franche-Comté

University of Franche-Comté

The University of Franche-Comté is a French university in the Academy of Besançon with five campuses: Besançon , Belfort , Montbéliard , Vesoul , and Lons-le-Saunier ....

, where he took clerical orders

Major orders

The term major orders or sacred orders was a part of the clerical terminology of the Roman Catholic Church until shortly after the Second Vatican Council, when the use widely disappeared due to reform of the clerical structure. During the Counter-reformation, the Council of Trent issued a decree...

. In 1504 he was named Archdeacon of the Besançon

Besançon

Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

 church.

In 1508 Ferry Carondelet became confessor (church advisor) to Margaret of Austria, the regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of the Spanish Netherlands

Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

, and incidentally to her ward, the future Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 . In 1510 he was made Papal Legate

Papal legate

A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

 to the court of Emperor Maximilian

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...

. In 1515 he returned to Burgundy and became the abbot of the Saint Columbanus abbey in Montbenoît.

Ferry Carondelet is known as a major benefactor of the Montbenoît abbey and the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 in Besançon

Besançon

Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

. He commissioned the Italian painter Fra Bartolomeo to create the Carondelet Altar for Besançon, and he completely rebuilt the church for the Montbenoît abbey. He died June 27, 1528 and is buried in a marble tomb in the Cathedrale Saint Jean in Besançon.