Gabriel de Gramont
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Gabriel de Gramont (1486–1534) was a French Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Biography
[edit]Gabriel de Gramont was born in Gascony in 1486, the son of Roger de Gramont, signeur of Bidache, and Eléonore de Béarn.[1] His brother, Charles de Gramont was the Archbishop of Bordeaux.[1]
Early in his life, he was ordained as a deacon.[1] On 25 June 1515 he was elected Bishop of Couserans.[1] He was transferred to the see of Tarbes on 19 September 1524.[1] He occupied that see until his death.[1]
He was maître des suppliques under Francis I of France.[1] He was promoted to the metropolitan see of Bordeaux.[1] In 1525, the queen regent, Louise of Savoy sent Bishop Gramont to Spain to secure the freedom of Francis I.[1] In 1526, he was imprisoned by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was angry at his role in founding the League of Cognac; when England and France arrested the imperial ambassadors, the emperor ordered Bishop Gramont released.[1] Returning to the Kingdom of France, he was despatched to the Kingdom of England in an attempt to encourage Henry VIII of England to divorce Catherine of Aragon and form a French alliance by marrying Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of King Francis and the widow of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon.[1] He was then sent as French ambassador to the Holy See.[1]
On 14 July 1529 he was elected Archbishop of Bordeaux by the cathedral chapter of Bordeaux Cathedral; Pope Clement VII confirmed his appointment on 24 September 1529.[1] He resigned the administration of the archdiocese to his brother Charles de Gramont on 9 March 1530.[1] In December 1529, the pope made him his nuncio extraordinary to the Kingdom of France.[1]
Pope Clement VII made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of 8 June 1530.[1] He received the red hat and the titular church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina on 22 June 1530.[1] He opted for the titular church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere on 9 January 1531.[1]
On 13 January 1532 Francis I of France named him Bishop of Poitiers.[1] He subsequently occupied that see until his death.[1]
In 1533 he negotiated the marriage between Henry, Duke of Orléans and Catherine de' Medici, the niece of Pope Clement VII.[1] As part of these negotiations, on 1 August 1533, the pope met the king of France at Marseille.[1]
On 17 October 1533 he was named Archbishop of Toulouse.[1] He subsequently occupied that see until his death.[1]
He died of typhoid fever in the château of Balma on 26 March 1534.[1] He was buried with his ancestors in the church of Bidache.[1]
