L'Hôpital

L'Hôpital, MICHEL DE, French statesman, was born at Aiguèperse in Auvergne in 1504, studied law at Toulouse and Padua, and settled as an advocate in Paris when about thirty years of age. In 1547-48 he represented Henry II. at the Council of Trent; then for some years he held high office in the household of Margaret of Valois, Duchess of Berri. His appointment in 1554 as superintendent of finances was but the preliminary to his nomination as chancellor of France six years later. His policy was one of moderation; especially did he endeavour to assuage the fierce rancour of the religious quarrel by staying the hand of the Catholic persecutors, by resisting the introduction of the Inquisition, and by promoting such conferences, &c. as that of Poissy. But after the peace of Amboise (1563) he lost ground with Catharine de' Medici, and in 1568 he resigned the chancellorship. He spent the rest of his life in retirement on his estate of Vignay near Etampes, and died there (or at Bèlesbat) on 13th March 1573. His Latin poems, speeches, memoirs, &c. were published in 5 vols. in 1824-25. See Life by Villemain (new ed. 1874) and monographs by Taillandier (1861) and Dupré-Lasale (1875).