ESTOUTEVILLE, GUILLAUME de. – Cardinal of a noble Norman family, b. ca. 1403, d. in Rome on 22 January 1483. A Benedictine, after having governed various abbeys and bishoprics in France, he was created cardinal on 18 December 1439.
(from M. Mollier, Le card. G. E., Paris 1861)
ESTOUTEVILLE, GUILLAUME de – Cardinal E. appears at the court of Charles VII as papal legate, miniature by Jean Chartier for the Chronique de Charles VII (15th century).
In August 1451 Nicholas V sent him as legate to France, to mediate peace between that kingdom and England and to seek the abolition, or at least the mitigation, of the «Pragmatic Sanction»: extremely difficult assignments which he was unable to bring to completion (cf. J.-P. Ourliac, in Mélanges d’archéol. et d’hist., 1938). He did, however, reform the University of Paris, eliminating its many abuses, and began in Rouen the review of the trial of Joan of Arc (1452).
Highly learned and esteemed, despite his worldly life, he put forward his candidacy in the Conclaves of 1458 and 1464. Extremely wealthy because of his many offices and numerous benefices, he devoted much attention and expenditure to crusading enterprises and public works: in France, especially at Rouen, of which he was bishop from 1433 until his death, and in Italy, particularly in Rome, for the churches of S. Maria Maggiore and S. Agostino. The jewels with which his corpse was covered gave rise to repulsive brawls. His son Girolamo gave rise to the house of Tuttavilla.