Chambre Ardente (Fr. "burning chamber"), the term for an extraordinary court of justice in France, mainly held for the trials of heretics. French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ... Heretic, meaning literally a person guilty or accused of heresy, is also often used as a title. ...

The name is perhaps an allusion to the fact that the proceedings took place in a room from which all daylight was excluded, the only illumination being from torches, or there may be a reference to the severity of the sentences in ardente, suggesting the burning of the prisoners at the stake. These courts were originated by the Cardinal of Lorraine, the first of them meeting in 1535 under Francis I. Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga (now Montreal) June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... Francis I (French: François Ier) (September 12, 1494 – July 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (French: le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. ...

The Chambre Ardente co-operated with an inquisitorial tribunal also established by Francis I, the duty of which was to discover cases of heresy and hand them over for final judgment to the Chambre Ardente. Pedro Berruguete. ...

The reign of Henry II of France was particularly infamous for the cruelties perpetrated by this court on the Huguenots. The marquise de Brinvilliers and her associates were tried in the Chambre Ardente in 1680. The court was abolished in 1682. Henry II (French: Henri II) (March 31, 1519 – July 10, 1559), a member of the Valois Dynasty, was King of France from July 31, 1547 until his death. ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. ... Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite dAubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (1630-1676) was a French poisoner. ...

See N Weiss, La Chambre Ardente (Paris, 1889), and François Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille (Paris, 1866-1884, 16 vols).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...