BALUE, GIOVANNI

BALUE, Giovanni. — Angevin cardinal. Born at Angle-Luçon in Poitou in 1421, died at Ripatransone in the Marches on 5 Dec. 1491. Of very humble origin, he took a doctorate in law at Angers in 1457; upon entering the court he was entrusted by Louis XI with important missions. Named bishop of Évreux on 20 May 1465, he was transferred to Angers on 5 June 1467 and received the cardinal’s hat from Paul II on 18 Sept. 1467 with the title of S. Susanna, in recognition of his role in the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. Although he had openly supported Louis XI during the “War of the Public Weal” (1465–69), after the meeting at Péronne he was accused of secretly conspiring with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and was imprisoned (cf. *Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire*, 29 [1899], pp. 259 ff.); he obtained his release only at the beginning of 1481 through the intervention of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, with whom he entered Rome on 3 Feb. 1482. He became bishop of Albano on 31 Jan. 1483. In those years he lived the life of the Curia, except for a brief period from Oct. 1483 to Feb. 1485, when he was legate in France for the coronation of Charles VIII; he took an active part in the intrigues and affairs of those years and became so powerful as to intimidate even Innocent VIII. Having declined the legation to Germany, in 1490 he was sent as legate to the Marches, where he succeeded in quelling the continual outbreaks of discord.