BEAUCAIRE DE PEGUILLON, FRANÇOIS DE

BEAUCAIRE DE PEGUILLON, FRANÇOIS de. - Theologian and historian, b. at Cresté on 15 April 1514, d. on 14 February 1591. Elected bishop of Metz in 1555, he went in November 1562, together with Card. Carlo di Lorena and other French bishops, to the Council of Trent, where he took part in the discussions, maintaining with fervent eloquence the theses that bishops derive their authority directly from God and that the authority of the Pope is not absolute. He supervised the drafting of the decree concerning clandestine marriage, later inserted into the acts of the Council. Having returned to his diocese the following year, he opposed the progress of Calvinism, also publishing a pamphlet refuting its errors. But the disturbances caused by the Protestants compelled him in 1568 to leave the diocese and withdraw to the peace of his native castle, where he devoted himself to the compilation of a voluminous work: Rerum Gallicarum commentaria ab anno 1464 ad annum 1580 (Lione 1625), which in fact extends only to 1566.