Amboise, GEORGE OF

Amboise, GEORGE OF, cardinal and prime minister under Louis XII. of France, was born in 1460 near Amboise. In his 14th year he was made Bishop of Montauban, and in 1493 Archbishop of Rouen. Initiated in early years into the intrigues of court, by his zealous services he soon secured the confidence of Louis of Orleans, who, on his accession to the throne as Louis XII. in 1498, made him his chief-minister. Thenceforward Amboise, who in the same year received a cardinal's hat, became the prime mover in all the affairs of the realm; and it was by his advice that Louis undertook that spirited Italian policy which had such great influence on the fortunes of France. After the death of Pope Alexander VI. (1503), Amboise endeavoured to raise himself to the papal see, and having failed, became the dangerous enemy of the succeeding popes, Pius III.—who occupied the papal chair only four weeks—and Julius II. To secure his own election, Amboise encouraged a schism between the French Church and the see of Rome, and convened a separate council, first at Pisa, afterwards at Milan and Lyons; but his plans were frustrated by the failures of the French arms in Italy. He died at Lyons, May 25, 1510. It was said that his vast fortune of 11,000,000 livres had been accumulated by not over-scrupulous means.