Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de

GRANVELLE, ANTOINE PERRENOT de. - Cardinal, b. at Ornans (Franche-Comté) on 20 Aug. 1517, d. at Madrid on 21 Sept. 1586. He was the son of Nicholas, minister of Charles V. He studied at Padua and Louvain. In 1538 he received the bishopric of Arras. He represented Charles V at the opening of the Council of Trent. From 1549 he was minister of Philip II, who sent him to the Netherlands as counsellor to Margaret of Parma. His policy, aimed at establishing an absolute government and destroying the Protestant heresy, brought him into sharp conflict with the native nobility and especially with William of Orange.

In 1560, when Paul IV reorganized the Church in the Netherlands and erected new bishoprics there, G. was made archbishop of Malines, and the following year he was named cardinal. But, regarded as the author of this Catholic resurgence, he became even more hated by the people and the nobility, who, after the revolt of the Gueux, managed to alienate from him the favour of the Regent and of Philip II. He therefore had to leave the country and withdraw to Besançon. In 1565 he was sent to Rome, and from there, in 1571, he went as viceroy to Naples, where he resolutely upheld the rights of the king of Spain, even against Gregory XIII. In 1575 he returned to Rome and remained there until 1579. He was then recalled to Madrid and was entrusted with the presidency of the Supreme Council of Italy. During the Portuguese war he governed Spain. Having renounced the archbishopric of Malines, he obtained that of Besançon (1584), of which, however, he never took possession. G., besides being a skilful politician, was a munificent patron of men of letters and artists and a passionate collector of paintings.

Roberto Palmarocchi