Guillaume Briçonnet

Who was Guillaume Briçonnet?

Guillaume Briçonnet was the Bishop of Meaux from 1516 until his death in 1534.

Briçonnet was born into a wealthy aristocratic family about the year 1472. His father was Guillaume Briçonnet who had already enjoyed a successful career in the Catholic Church. The influence that the elder Guillaume Briçonnet exercised certainly did not hinder his son and namesake from advancing up through the Church hierarchy. The younger Briçonnet was made Bishop of Lodève in 1489 and was later installed as the abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1507. Briçonnet also had political connections to the royal court. In 1516 he was commissioned by King Francis I of France to negotiate with Pope Leo X on the terms of the Concordat of Bologna. In the same year Briçonnet was chosen as the new Bishop of Meaux where he would begin the most significant part of his career.

As Bishop, Briçonnet began to implement a program of reform in his diocese. He worked to improve the training of his clergy as well as improving monastic discipline. In the course of these efforts however he made some enemies particularly among the Franciscan friars within his diocese. Additionally, Briçonnet invited a number of evangelical humanist to work in the bishopric to help implement his reform program. This group of humansists became known as the Circle of Meaux and included Josse van Clichtove, Guillaume Farel, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, Martial Mazurier, Gérard Roussel, and François Vatable. The members of the Meaux circle were of different talents but they generally emphasized the study of the Bible and a return to the theology of the early Church.