Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas
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Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas (died 1499) (called the Cardinal of Saint-Denis) was a French Roman Catholic abbot, bishop and cardinal.
Biography
Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas was born in Gascony in 1435 or 1439, the son of a noble family.[1] His father was the seigneur of Lagraulas, Camicas and, probably, Billère.[1]
Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas entered the Order of Saint Benedict at a young age.[1] In 1473, he became Abbot of Pessan Abbey in Pessan.[1]
He served as a royal counselor to Louis XI of France.[1] Following the 1473 death of John V, Count of Armagnac, John II of Aragon claimed control of the Quatre-Vallées, which were also claimed by John V's sister.[1] Louis XI sent Abbot Bilhères to the region, and he successfully convinced the Quatre-Vallées to repudiate John II.[1]
In gratitutde for his service, Louis XI of France had him elected Bishop of Lombez on July 5, 1473.[1] He occupied this see until two days before his death.[1] The king also named him temporary administrator of the Abbey of Saint-Denis.[1] He was later unanimously elected as Abbot on May 12, 1474.[1] This displeased Pope Sixtus IV, who had wanted Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville to become the abbot, so the pope initially withheld his approval, but eventually relented in summer 1475.[1]
In 1477, Bilhères was Louis XI's ambassador to the Catholic Monarchs.[1] After the death of Louis XI, the regent, Anne of France, appointed Bilhères to the Council of State.[1] She named him president of the Court of Aids in 1483.[1] In 1485, he was president of the Estates General held at Tours.[1] He served as interim Keeper of the Seals of France on several occasions.[1]
In 1485, Charles VIII of France named him president of the Exchequer of Normandy.[1] In 1489, he attended the parlement at which the king had the Duke of Orléans explain his conduct.[1] He then served as Charles VIII's ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire.[1] In 1491, he became French ambassador to the Holy See in Rome.[1] He was coadjutor bishop of Santes from December 2, 1491 until August 1492.[1]
Charles VIII recommended that the pope make Bilhères a cardinal, and, before his death, Pope Innocent VIII named him governor of Rome.[1] Pope Alexander VI then made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of September 20, 1493.[1] He received the red hat and the titular church of Santa Sabina on September 23, 1493.[1]
He accompanied King Charles VIII in his entrance in Rome on December 31, 1494 at the start of the Italian War of 1494–1498.[1] On May 19, 1495, the king sent him to negotiate with the pope, but these negotiations were unsuccessful.[1] He then accompanied the king on his crossing to Rome on June 1, 1495.[1]
On October 26, 1496, he was named Bishop of Condom in commendam and on February 14, 1498, Bishop of Viviers in commendam; he occupied both of these sees until his death.[1]
In 1498, he commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt La Pietà for the Chapel of St. Petronilla, the chapel of the King of France in St. Peter's Basilica.[1]
He died in Rome on August 6, 1499.[1] He is buried in the Chapel of St. Petronilla in St. Peter's Basilica.[1]
