Arnaud d'Ossat (July 20, 1537 — March 13, 1604) was a French diplomat and writer, and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy with the Papacy in the reign of Henri IV of France. July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... Events January 6 - Alessandro de Medici assassinated August 25 - The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, was formed. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Events January 14 – Hampton Court conference with James I of England, the Anglican bishops and representatives of Puritans September 20 - Capture of Ostend by Spanish forces under Ambrosio Spinola after a three year siege. ... The Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious denomination of Christianity with over one billion members. ... By Frans Pourbus the younger. ...

He was born at Larroque-Magnoac in Gascony, perhaps the natural son of the the seigneur de Ramefort, and many of the important connections in his life were with other southerners, not excluding Henri IV himself. He was sent first to the nearby College of Auch as tutor to the sons of the local seigneur, then to the Collège de France, Paris, where he studied rhetoric and philosophy with the famous humanist logician and mathematician Petrus Ramus, who became his friend; he studied law briefly at Bourges under the famous legist Jacques de Cujas and became an advocate before the Parlement of Paris, while acting as tutor to Jean de la Barrière, the future reforming abbot of the Feuillants. Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced  ; Gascon: Gasconha, pronounced ) is an area in southwest France, and an old province of France. ... Auch is a town and commune in southwestern France. ... The Collège de France is a higher education teaching and research establishment located in Paris, France. ... Petrus Ramus. ... Parlements in ancien régime France — contrary to what their name would suggest to the modern reader — were not democratic or political institutions, but law courts . ... Feuillant, a French word derived from the Latin for leaf, has been used as a tag by two different groups. ...

In 1572 he joined the household of Paul de Foix, Archbishop-elect of Toulouse, whom he accompanied on various embassies and finally to Rome. De Foix dying in 1584, d'Ossat remained at Rome, supervising the French embassy for a year, and then becoming secretary successively to Louis Cardinal d'Este and François de Joyeuse, two cardinals successively in charge of French affairs at Rome. In 1588 he refused the post of minister of foreign affairs to Henri III, then, driven from Rome by the rupture of diplomatic relations after the murder of Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine (1588), he returned after the death of Henry III the following year, as the private agent of the widowed queen, Louise de Vaudemont. Foix is a small town and commune, the préfecture (capital) of the Ariège département in France. ... The Capitole, the 18th century city hall of Toulouse and best known landmark in the city; in the foreground is the Place du Capitole, a hub of urban life at the very center of the city Toulouse (pronounced in standard French, in local Toulouse accent) ( Occitan: Tolosa, pronounced ) is a... Henry III (French: Henri III; Polish: Henryk III Walezy; September 19, 1551 – August 2, 1589) was King of Poland (1573-1574) and subsequently King of France (1574-1589). ...

He used his unofficial position to support the cause of Henri IV, whose conversion to Catholicism he prepared Pope Clement VIII to accept. As agent for Henri, cooperating with Jacques Davy du Perron, he negotiated the reconciliation with the pope, which took place September 19, 1595. This was the greatest act of d'Ossat's diplomatic career, assuring as it did the definitive triumph of Henri IV over the House of Guise and the Catholic League, and the restoration of peace to France after more than thirty years of civil war (see French Wars of Religion). Clement, in the monument in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, erected by his Borghese heirs Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini (March 1536 - March 5, 1605) was pope from 1592 to 1605. ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... The House of Guise was a French ducal family, primarily responsible for the French Wars of Religion. ... Throughout history there have been many alliances and organizations known as the Catholic League, including: Catholic League (USA) - Civil rights group in the United States. ... The French Wars of Religion were a series of conflicts fought between the Catholic League and the Huguenots from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598. ...

Though d'Ossat was appointed Bishop of Rennes (1596), cardinal (1589), and finally Bishop of Bayeux, he remained at Rome, without any well-defined office, though he was charged with occasional missions to Venice and Florence (1598), and managed the French embassy in the absence of a noble ambassador, as professional diplomats traditionally do, and was always the enlightened and devoted representative of French interests. All the ambassadors of Henri IV had orders to make known to him the business with which they were charged and to be guided by his advice. Villeroy, the minister of foreign affairs, himself consulted him on all matters in any way connected with Rome.

A measure of Ossat's skill and tact may be gained by the French measures he was able to present successfully to the the Holy See: the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, the non-publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Edict of Nantes, and French alliances with Enland, and even with the Sultan of Turkey, the annulment of Henry IV's marriage with Margaret of Valois, and the marriage of the Duc de Bar with Catherine de Bourbon, the king's sister and an unrepentant Calvinist. The Council of Trent (Italian: Trento) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in discontinuous sessions between 1545 and 1563 in response to the Protestant Reformation. ... The Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598 by Henry IV of France to grant French Protestants (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a Catholic nation. ...

At the same time d'Ossat used his influence at Rome for the benefit of French humanists: the historian Jacques-Auguste de Thou, witness to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacres, the philosopher Michel de Montaigne, and the savant Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peirese. The St. ... Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592) was an influential French Renaissance writer, generally considered to be the inventor of the personal essay. ...

D'Ossat is buried in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, above the Piazza di Spagna; his tomb is still to be seen. Cardinal Bentivoglio said of him that never was a man more worthy of the cardinal's hat because of his religious zeal, the integrity of his morals, and the eminence of his learning (Mémoires). The Spanish Steps in Rome The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Spagna) in Rome ramp a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and the church Trinità dei Monti above. ...

In the course of his diplomatic career d'Ossat wrote many letters and memoranda, a selection of which, printed in 1614, long served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which d'Ossat displays in them. The Académie Française inscribed Ossat among the "dead authors who have written our French language most purely" and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the "simplicity and clearness of Cardinal d'Ossat's letters show how business letters should be written". The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ...

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11342a.htm) Arnaud d'Ossat
• The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1599.htm): (includes bibliography)