Everything about Ren De Birague totally explained
René de Birague (
Renato Biragro), (
Milan,
February 2,
1506 –
November 24,
1583 in
Paris) was a Milanese patrician who became a French
cardinal and
chancellor.
He was the son of Giangiacomo Galeazzo Birago, ambassador of the
duke of Milan in France, and Anna Trivulzio. Sent to papal
Avignon, he cut his studies short to take up family duties at the unexpected death of his father. As a doctor of law he was admitted to the
Collegio d'avvocati of Milan in 1536. After the
battle of Pavia (1525), when the French and their sympathizers were expelled from Milan, he and his three brothers, Louis, Pierre and Charles, escaped to France to avoid the vengeance of
Francesco II Sforza, duke of Milan. Declared a traitor by the Spanish government in Milan, his properties were confiscated in 1536 (they were partially restored in 1556).
François I of France named him counselor of the
parlement de Paris. Later, during French control of
Piedmont, he was
Maestro delle Richieste of the Parliament of
Turin, (1539) and its president in 1543.
He married Valentina Balbiano (1518–1572), with whom he'd two children, but after her death he took minor orders in Milan. Made president of the Superior Council of
Pinerolo, January 9, 1563, then French ambassador to the
Council of Trent in April, he was appointed Francis's ambassador to Emperor
Ferdinand I in June and then to
Maximilian, king of the Romans.
He obtained a
brevet of naturalization, September 1565, taking the name René de Birague, and his political career at the court of
Charles IX advanced rapidly. He accompanied the king in his trip to
Guyenne and served as procurator and lieutenant general in Lyon and other places September 1565 until 1568. Lyon, the scene of violence Protestant and Catholic clashes, was largely controlled by a deeply resented Italian economic elite.
Closer to the court, he became
Superintendent of Finances, 1568–1570.
Knight of the Order of Saint-Michel, and eventually
Commander of the Order of Saint-Esprit, (1579).
In 1570, Charles IX named him
keeper of the seals, a post that gave him a seat in the
secret council. Thus, by virtue of his post, he attended the secret meeting of the council that decided upon the
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Huguenots, August 24, 1572; he was in the King's chamber with the dukes of
Guise and
Nevers, Tavannes and Retz, when Queen
Catherine de' Medici arrived to determine the king, who was undecided. Birague was named
chancellor of France as a reward for his participation, March 17, 1573; he was also promoted to the cardinalate February 21, 1578
(External Link
) under the insistence of
Henri III, though he never went to Rome to receive the red hat. He is alleged to have said that he was he said that he was a cardinal without a title, a priest without benefices and a chancellor without the seal (Berton,
Dictionnaire des cardinaux, quoted
(External Link)).
His tomb included his portrait as a kneeling figure by
Germain Pilon, who also executed the funeral cadaver portrait of his wife (both now in the
Louvre Museum)
(External Link).
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