Jean de Monluc, 1508 to 12 April 1579, was a French nobleman, clergyman, diplomat and courtier. He was the second son of François de Lasseran de Massencome, a member of the Monluc family; and Françoise d' Estillac. His birthplace is unknown, but it has been observed that his parents spent a great deal of time at their favorite residence at Saint-Gemme in the commune of Saint-Puy near Condom.Tamizey, Notes et documents, p. 6. His elder brother Blaise de Montluc became a soldier and eventually Marshal of France (1574).
Early career Montluc began his religious career as a young Dominican novice, in either their Convent in Condom or the one in Agen. From the beginning he showed outstanding talent as a public speaker. He was introduced to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of King Francis I of France, who often stayed in her chateau at Nérac, just north of Condom, and quickly became part of her entourage, abandoning his life as a Dominican friar.Tamizey, Notes et documents, pp. 6-7.
French diplomat
In 1524 Jean de Monluc served as an attaché to the French Embassy in Rome. In 1536, now a Protonotary Apostolic, he was again assigned to the Embassy being sent to Rome headed by Bishop Charles Hémard of Mâcon.Reynaud, p. 18. In 1537 Monluc was sent with a personal viva voce message from King Francis I to Pasha Khizir Khayr ad-Dîn (Barberousse), the Captain General of the Ottoman fleet, who was beginning a campaign against the coasts of Italy. In July 1537, the Pasha landed at Otranto and captured the city, as well as the Fortress of Castro and the city of Ugento in Apulia. Monluc set off on 6 August, and a meeting took place with the Pasha on 1 September. On his return journey Monluc was received by Pope Paul IIIThe various authors copy one another in the error that Monluc appeared before Pope Paul IV, who did not become pope until 1555. in a public audience, where embarrassing questions were raised about the rumored poisoning of the Dauphin. Details of his embassy were submitted in a letter to Cardinal du Bellay in Paris.Charrière, pp. 327-329. He remained in Rome, attached to the French Embassy, under the Comte de Grignan and then Bishop Jean de Langeac of Limoges, at least until 1540.Tamizey, Notes et documents, pp. 10-12.
In ca. 1542 Monluc was sent on a mission to Venice. His assignment was to explain to the Venetians why it had been a good idea for Francis I to ally himself with the Ottoman Turks. It was a thankless task, and a hopeless mission, but one which used Monluc's great gifts of oratory in the service of the King.Reynaud, p. 24. The authorities are all vague on the chronology. Cf. Sir Henry Wotton's 1604 remark that an 'ambassador is a good man sent to lie abroad for the sake of his country'.
Monluc distinguished himself in several embassies. In 1545, Jean de Monluc went on an embassy for Francis I of France to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople, where he joined ambassador Gabriel de Luetz d'Aramon.Garnier, p.251. Dyer, p. 605.
In 1549 Montluc went to Ireland to investigate reports that Con O'Neill, O'Doherty, Manus O'Donnell and his son Calvagh might join with France against English rule. France would offer military support and obtain Papal funding. He then went to Scotland and met Mary of Guise at Stirling Castle in January 1550. His colleague Raymond de Beccarie de Pavie, sieur de Fourqueveaux was not impressed by the Irish chiefs.Lyons, Mary Ann, Franco-Irish Relations 1500–1610, Boydell and Brewer, (2003), 88–90, citing Melville's Memoirs.
Bishop
Montluc was appointed bishop of Valence-and-Die by King Henry II of France in 1553, and confirmed by Pope Julius III on 30 March 1554.Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica Tomus III editio altera (Monasterii 1923), p. 326. He did not visit his diocese, however, until 1558.Gallia christiana XVI, p. 333. He was sympathetic to the Protestants, attacked the cult of images, and made prayers in French, thereby earning him the opprobrium of Rome. He advocated a reunion of Protestantism and Catholicism through the establishment of a common council. The Dean of the Cathedral of Valence collected the evidence and lodged charges of heresy against Monluc in Rome. Sentence was pronounced against him on 14 October 1560. In the same year, on 25 May, a great slaughter of Protestants took place in Valence.Gallia christiana XVI, p. 333.
In August 1562 Monluc planned to stop in Valence during one of his trips, but the city was governed by Huguenots, and its captain pursued Monluc, intending to arrest and imprison him. Monluc got away, it seemed, to Annonay, but it too was in the hands of the Huguenots, who chased after and captured him; but he was able to escape again.
Mission to Scotland in 1560 In April 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots and her husband Francis II of France sent Montluc to Scotland to meet the former Regent of Scotland, the Earl of Arran.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 1 (London: Dolman, 1844), p. 72 Arran was the leader of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation who had risen against the Catholic rule of Mary of Guise during the Scottish Reformation. Montluc first went to London to meet Elizabeth I of England, then travelled with Henry Killigrew to Berwick upon Tweed on 6 April. They met the Duke of Norfolk who was directing English military operations in Scotland in support of the Protestants. Killigrew wrote a note to William Cecil which mentions that he had deliberately taken the journey north as slowly as possible, riding forty miles in a day rather than sixty. During the ride, Montluc told Killigrew that he was offended by Elizabeth's efforts to delay him in London, while her army, enabled by the treaty of Berwick had entered Scotland.
Montluc gave Norfolk a letter from Elizabeth with instructions to give him safe conduct to Mary of Guise. Norfolk wrote that this would be difficult, because Arran was in the field, the Dowager was in Edinburgh Castle and the French were in Leith. On the same day Norfolk got news of the battle at Restalrig that commenced the siege of Leith. By 12 April, still in Berwick, Montluc told Killigrew that he thought Elizabeth would drive the French from Scotland, and this was the worst of his "imbassagis" and would be his undoing. Eventually, Montluc boasted to Killigrew that no man could end the difference by treaty better than he could, and privately told him that he was prepared to make concessions including a French withdrawal from Scotland, excepting the garrisons of Inchkeith and Dunbar Castle. Killigrew went into Scotland alone, and spoke to Mary of Guise and the Scottish Lords, securing a hearing for Jean, so "that the world shall not say but that he was heard."
The Lords of the Congregation allowed Montluc to enter Scotland on 20 April. Norfolk gave him an eight-day pass to Haddington and the English camp at Leith (Restalrig Deanery). Grey of Wilton let him see Mary of Guise, but prevented him going into Leith and conferring with the French commanders, Henri Cleutin, de Martiques and Jacques de la Brosse.Amongst the Protestant leaders, he spoke to the Earl of Morton and Mary's half-brother Lord James. Amongst his proposals, he asked that the Lords of the Congregation dissolve their league with England, meaning February's treaty of Berwick. Their response was to renew their alliance in a "bande amongst the nobilitie of Scotland" on 27 April 1560, which declared their religious aims and intent to "take plain part with the Queen of England's army."
Montluc was in Newcastle on 10 June and with another French diplomat, de Randan, had a conference with Cecil, and Dr Nicolas Wotton. With a second commission from Mary and Francis he returned to Scotland in June 1560, and took part in the peace talks which culminated in the Treaty of Edinburgh, which he signed "J. Monlucius episcopus Valentinus" on behalf of France, and resulted in the evacuation of French troops from Scotland. The English diplomat Thomas Randolph reported to Killigrew that his bishop had great honour by English and Scots, and was "royally banqueted and entertained."
Inquisition At the assembly of Fontainebleau in 1560, Monluc was one of the leaders speaking in favor of Condé's demand for full liberty for Protestants.Degert (1904a), p. 416. He also participated in the Colloquy of Poissy in September 1561.
On 13 April 1563, Jean de Monluc and seven other French bishops were summoned to Rome by decree of Pope Pius IV to be examined on charges of heresy by the Roman and Universal Inquisition. Failure to appear would incur excommunication and deprivation of all of their benefices. The principal charge against Monluc was adoption of doctrines of Calvinism.Degert (1904b), p. 411. Théodore de Bèze had said of Monluc that, preaching in his own diocese, he had made a mixture of the two doctrines and cast blame overtly on several abuses of the Papacy. Degert (1904a), p. 416. Three of his publications had incurred the censure of the Faculty of Theology of the Sorbonne, his Instructions chrestiennes (1561), the Sermons de l'evesque de Valence (editions of 1557 and 1559), and the Sermons servants a decouvrir... les fautes... de la loy (1559). He had been the one to convince the Cardinal de Lorraine to have the Protestants invited to the Colloquy of Poissy in 1561, and he had been one of the bishops who had refused to attend the Mass presided over by the Cardinal d'Armagnac and to receive Holy Communion.
Monluc's most prominent defender and protector, however, was the Queen Mother, Catherine de Médicis, who desired above all peace and stability for the sake of her fragile dynasty. She espoused the notion that Catholics and Huguenots could reason together on their doctrinal differences, and live together in loyalty and service to the Crown. Monluc was her most eager agent. She informed the Papal Nuntius, Prospero de Santacroce, that she was intervening as the natural guardian of the Liberties of the Gallican Church, and that such disputes should be adjudicated and settled in France, not sent to Rome.Degert (1904b), pp. 429-430. A dispute over jurisdiction arose between France and the Papacy, but ultimately Pius IV (1559-1565) did nothing to press the issue.
The bishop was declared a heretic and deprived of his benefices, including the Bishopric of Valence-and-Die, on 11 October 1566 by Pope Pius V (Michele Ghislieri, O.P.).Eubel, III, p. 326, note 11. To make certain of his safety, Monluc procured a mandate signed by King Charles IX, granting him relief from appeal, and forbidding any judges, royal agents, or any members of the Chapter of the Diocese of Valence-et-Die to receive or obey any instructions from the new pope, Pius V, or the Roman Inquisition without first having submitted them to the King for his judgment and consent.Tamizey, Notes et documents, pp. 24, 56-59 (2 July 1567).
Diplomat again