ESTOUTEVILLE, Guillaume de. - A cardinal of noble Norman family, born c. 1403, died at Rome on 22 Jan. 1483. A Benedictine, after holding various abbacies and bishoprics in France, he was created cardinal on 18 Dec. 1439. In Aug. 1451 Nicholas V sent him as papal 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; tasks of great difficulty which he was unable to bring to completion (cf. J.-P. Ourliac, in Mélanges d'archéol. et d'hist., 1938). Instead, he reformed the University of Paris, removing many abuses, and began at Rouen the review of the trial of Joan of Arc (1452).
Highly cultured and esteemed, despite his worldly life, he stood as a candidate in the conclaves of 1458 and 1464. Extremely wealthy through his many offices and benefices, he devoted much care 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, especially at Rome, for the churches of S. Maria Maggiore and S. Agostino. The jewels with which his corpse was adorned gave rise to unsightly disturbances. From a son, Girolamo, there sprang the house of Tutavilla.