BRIÇONNET, GUILLAUME. – Known by the name of Cardinal of St-Malo, born at Mours on an unspecified date and died at Narbonne on 14 December 1514. He was superintendent-general of the finances of Languedoc under Louis XI, who, on his deathbed, recommended him to his son Charles VIII; the latter appointed him superintendent of finances and chose him as his privy counsellor. Having become a widower, he entered the ecclesiastical order and shortly thereafter obtained the bishopric of St-Malo. His influence is credited with the decision to wage Charles VIII’s war against the kingdom of Naples in 1494. On this occasion the king sought the cardinal’s hat for him (January 1495). Under Louis XII he lent himself to that king’s schismatic intrigues against Julius II on the occasion of the Holy League of 1510, and was among the rebellious cardinals who attempted to organize the schismatic Council of Pisa in 1511. He was absolved by Leo X and ended his career as archbishop of Narbonne.
Son of the preceding was the latter’s namesake B. GUILLAUME, born in 1472 (?) and died on 24 January 1534. Without accepting heresy or schism, he was favourable to the anti-scholasticism of his time and a friend of the French pre-Reformers: from 1505, already bishop of Lodève, he was in contact with Lefèvre d’Etaples; from 1516 he was bishop of Meaux. His noteworthy work was directed towards obtaining the residence of parish priests in their benefices. He sought to oppose the penetration of Lutheran ideas, but despite this the Parlement accused him of having favoured heresy
and he had to clear himself. He was never condemned, although he was obliged to leave his bishopric.