Name Rene Prie | ||
René de Prie (1451–1519) was a French Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Biography
René de Prie was born in Touraine in 1451, the son of Antoine de Prie, baron of Buzançais, and Madeleine d'Amboise. He was a cousin of Cardinal Georges d'Amboise.
Through the influence of his cousin the cardinal, Prie became grand-archdeacon of Bourges; archdeacon of Blois; and dean of the Église Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand. He was also a protonotary apostolic.
On August 3, 1498, he was elected Bishop of Bayeux. He entered his see on March 25, 1499 and occupied it until November 24, 1516.
On January 8, 1499, in Nantes, he signed the marriage contract of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany. Louis XII then sent him to Étaples to conclude a treaty with Henry VII of England. He became prior of Layrac. During the Italian War of 1499–1504, he accompanied Louis XII to Genoa. On May 20, 1506, the king gave him the title of baron of Précigné and the abbey of Déols.
Pope Julius II made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of May 17, 1507. He received the titular church of Santa Lucia in Septisolio on May 17, 1507. Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, who was then the papal legate to France, presented him with the red hat on August 5, 1507 in the church of the Dominicans in Lyon.
In 1509, the king of France sent him to Rome as his ambassador to the Holy See. He opted for the titular church of San Vitale on November 7, 1509. Following the arrest of Cardinal François Guillaume de Castelnau-Clermont-Ludève on June 29, 1510, Cardinal de Prie left Rome along with other prelates loyal to Louis XII. During the War of the League of Cambrai, he accompanied Louis XII in his expedition against Milan in October 1510, in direct violation of the pope's orders. On March 17, 1511, he opted for the titular church of Santa Sabina. Pope Julius II deposed him as a cardinal on October 24, 1511 and excommunicated him for his role in organizing a schismatic council at Pisa that opened on November 1, 1511. On January 10, 1512, he wrote to the University of Paris in opposition to writings by Thomas Cajetan attacking Jean Gerson.
Because of his deposition as a cardinal, he was unable to participate in the papal conclave of 1513 that elected Pope Leo X. On January 20, 1514, he presided at the funeral of Anne of Brittany in the Basilica of St Denis. He soon reconciled with the new pope, being pardoned and reinstated on April 24, 1514.
On August 21, 1514, he became prior of the Benedictine monastery at Malpas. From August 18, 1514 to December 5, 1516, he was the Bishop of Limoges. On September 14, 1514, he presided at the marriage of Louis XII of France to Mary Tudor.
He died at Lyre Abbey near Évreux on September 9, 1519. He is buried in the Cistercian abbey of Notre-Dame de la Prée, Bourges.