SIMON OF CRAMAUD. – Bishop and cardinal, born before 1360 in the diocese of Limoges, died on 15 Dec. 1422. He studied law at Orléans; doctor of law at Paris, he held offices at court.
From as early as 1379 he adhered to Clement VII and the Avignonese party. He was successively bishop of Agen (1382), of Béziers (1383), of Poitiers (1385), archbishop of Sens (1390) but without being able to take possession of that see; Clement VII on 13 March 1391 appointed him patriarch of Alexandria and administrator of Avignon and later of Carcassonne (1392). He was instead a resolute opponent of Benedict XIII, always upholding the authority of the University of Paris; favourable to the withdrawal of obedience in order to end the schism, he took part 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 remained 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. He left various pamphlets and speeches in the conciliar acts. More a jurist than a theologian, he was a staunch Gallican and regalist at the expense of papal authority.