Simon of Cramaud

SIMON OF CRAMAUD. - Bishop and cardinal, b. before 1360 in the diocese of Limoges, d. 15 Dec. 1422. He studied law at Orléans; a doctor of law in Paris, he held offices at court.

From as early as 1379 he adhered to Clement VII and the Avignon party. He was successively bishop of Agen (1382), of Béziers (1383), of Poitiers (1385), archbishop of Sens (1390) but without being able to hold that see; on 13 March 1391 Clement VII named him patriarch of Alexandria and administrator of Avignon and then of Carcassonne (1392). He was, by contrast, a resolute opponent of Benedict XIII, always upholding the authority of the University of Paris; favorable to the withdrawal of obedience in order to put an end to the schism, he took part in and sometimes presided over the National Councils of Paris (1395-1406). Archbishop of Reims on 2 July 1409, he had adhered to and taken part in the Council of Pisa and in the deposition of the two rival Popes. He sided with John XXIII, by whom he was created cardinal on 13 Apr. 1413, took part in the Council of Rome (1413) and then in that of Constance, and was among the electors of Martin V. After 1413 he was administrator of Poitiers, where he was buried. There survive from him short treatises and speeches in the conciliar acts. More jurist than theologian, he was a Gallican and a royalist to the utmost, to the detriment of papal authority.

Pio Paschini