Amboise, Georges d'

Amboise, Georges d' (zhôrzh däNbwäz') [key], 1460–1510, French statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He became archbishop of Rouen in 1493. In 1498, as an intimate friend of the new king, Louis XII, he became chief minister. Subsequently he was appointed cardinal and papal legate in France. He devoted himself primarily to the furtherance of Louis's ambitions in Italy and was lieutenant general in Italy at the conquest of Milan (1500). His ambitions for the papal crown were disappointed by the election of Pope Pius III (1503), but Pius's successor, Pope Julius II, designated him (1503) papal legate in France for life. He negotiated the treaties of Blois (1504) and helped form the League of Cambrai (1508; see Cambrai, League of). His domestic administration was beneficent. By his patronage of artists and writers, he contributed to the promotion of the Renaissance in France.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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