DU PRAT, ANTOINE. - French statesman, b. at Issoire on 17 Jan. 1463, d. at Nantoulllet on 9 July 1535. Having completed his studies with the Benedictines, he entered the magistracy and pursued a brilliant career; in 1507 he was in fact appointed president of the Parlement of Paris. Chosen by Francesco I as chancellor (1515), he was one of his principal advisers. He was entrusted with the negotiations with Leone X for the conclusion of a concordat.
In 1520 he played an important part in the negotiations at the Field of the Cloth of Gold with the English. Widowed in 1517, he entered holy orders and was named cardinal in 1527. In 1530 he became legate a latere for France. In domestic policy he was a steadfast supporter of monarchical absolutism, fighting against the parlements; during the imprisonment of Francesco I, he was an influential adviser to Luisa di Savoia, whom he had supported against the constable of Borbone. An active defender of orthodoxy, he obtained severe measures from the king against the Lutherans. His fiscal policy, culminating in the introduction of the venality of offices, earned him great unpopularity.