JOUFFROY, Jean. - French cardinal and statesman, b. at Luxeuil c. 1412, d. at Rully 24 Nov. 1473. He studied law at Cologne and Pavia, where he embraced the ecclesiastical career. He became professor of theology and canon law.
He took part in the Council of Basel and then in that of Ferrara. Returning in 1441 to Luxeuil, he became a close counsellor of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, who employed him in Spain, Portugal, and Italy and rewarded him with the bishopric of Arras (1453); he formed a bond with Louis XI, even from the time when the latter, still Dauphin, was a fugitive in Burgundy. In 1461, as legate of Pius II with the mission of obtaining the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, he received the cardinalate and then, in 1462, the bishopric of Albi. From then on J. was the trusted man of Louis XI, who made him his almoner: he sought, though in vain, to advance at Rome the French claims to Naples, and in 1472 he commanded the troops that besieged and killed John V, Count of Armagnac, at Lectoure.