DUMOULIN, CHARLES (Molinaeus). - French jurist, b. in Paris in 1500, d. there in 1566. A lawyer in Orléans, persecuted by the Calvinists and the “ultramontanes,” he later went to Strasbourg and subsequently to Dôle and Besançon. At first he followed Calvin, then adhered to the Lutherans, defended Gallican claims against Rome, and finally became an unbeliever: he converted before his death.
He prepared one of the editions of Gratian’s Decretum, to which he added the so-called “apostillae” (Lyons 1554), which, because they were often irreverent toward the Holy See, were condemned by Clement VIII. He also wrote: Conseil sur le fait du Concile de Trente (ibid. 1564); In regulas Cancellariae Romanae hactenus in regno Franciae usu receptus Commentarius analyticus (ibid. 1560). He challenged the truth of St. Peter’s coming to Rome, opposed the Council of Trent, and sought to nullify ecclesiastical jurisdictions. All his works are on the Index (decrees of 21 Aug. 1602 and 9 July 1658).