SIMONE di CRAMAUD. - Bishop and cardinal, born before 1360 in the diocese of Limoges, died 15 Dec. 1422. He studied law at Orléans; a doctor of law in Paris, he held offices at court.
As early as 1379 he adhered to Clemente VII and the Avignonese party. He was successively bishop of Agen (1382), of Béziers (1383), of Poitiers (1385), archbishop of Sens (1390), though unable to take possession of this see; on 13 March 1391 Clemente VII appointed him patriarch of Alessandria and administrator of Avignone, and subsequently of Carcassona (1392). He was, however, a determined opponent of Benedetto XIII, always upholding the authority of the University of Paris; favouring the withdrawal of obedience in order to end the schism, he took part in and at times presided over the national Councils of Paris (1395-1406). Appointed archbishop of Reims on 2 July 1409, he had supported and participated in the Council of Pisa and in the deposition of the two rival Popes. He sided with Giovanni XXIII, who created him cardinal on 13 Apr. 1413; he took part in the Council of Rome (1413), then in that of Costanza, and was among the electors of Martino V. After 1413 he was administrator of Poitiers, where he was buried. His pamphlets and addresses are found in the conciliar acts. More a jurist than a theologian, he was an uncompromising Gallican and royalist, to the detriment of papal authority.