BALUZE, ETIENNE. — French scholar, born in Tulle on 24 November 1630, died in Paris on 28 June 1718. He initially studied civil law without passion or success, in order to please his father; but he later discovered his vocation as a canonist and ecclesiastical historian when, in 1656, he became secretary and collaborator of the archbishop of Paris, Pietro di Marca (d. 1662). In 1667 Colbert entrusted him with the direction of his library, and in 1689 Louis XIV appointed him professor of canon law at the Collège de France. In 1710, because he had published a Histoire généalogique de la Maison d'Auvergne (Paris 1708), which offended the sovereign’s pride, he was obliged to leave Paris and was authorized to return only in 1713. From a young age he received the tonsure, which enabled him to hold several ecclesiastical benefices. B. was a tireless worker, an incomparable scholar, passionately devoted to the truth to the point of compromising his personal interests in defending it, a good-natured man with a humorous character, and a faithful and considerate friend. His contact with Pietro di Marca had imbued him with Gallican prejudices, which too often showed through in his writings and more than once brought upon him Roman censures. He would have liked to bring the Roman Curia back to observance of the ancient canons, without taking account of historical development and the exercise of the primacy.
In addition to the works of S. Cipriano, Mario Mercatore, Salviano of Marseille, Servato Lupo, and the bishops of Lio-
