(19) 1. ARCES, Jean d' (1370s-1454)

Webgraphy. Biography, in French; his arms, last one on the first row, no. 39, Araldica Vaticana; La famille d'Arces, in French; he is mentioned in "Des ecclésiastiques".

(20) 2. GONÇALVES DE AMARAL, Luis (?-1444)

Birth. (No date and place found), Portugal.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. Canon of the cathedral chapter of Viseu.

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Lamego, June 5, 1426. Consecration (no information found). Transferred to the see of Viseu, September 25, 1430. Ambassador of the king of Portugal at the Council of Basel from 1433. Pope Eugenius IV deposed him as bishop of Viseu on September 9, 1439 after declarations against him made in Ferrara and Florence. He was one of the bishops who elected Antipope Felix V on November 5, 1439.

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal priest in the consistory of April 6, 1444; his title is not known; his promotion did not take place because he had died three weeks earlier.

Death. February 10, 1444 (no place found). Buried (no information found).

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 4 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 945; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VII. Les cardinaux de la fin du XVe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1932. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1932, p. 146; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 291 and 532; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen II (1431-1503). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1914; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 10.

(21) 3. KOT Z DĘBNA, Wincenty (ca. 1395-1448)

Webgraphy. Brief biographical entry, in Polish; biographical data, in Polish; portrait and biography, in Polish, Wikipedia.

(1) This is according to the first two biographies in Polish, linked above; the third biography, also linked above; and Prokop, Polscy kardynałowie, say that he was born in 1395.

(22) 4. ESTAING, O.S.B., Guillaume-Hugues d' (?-1455)

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Sion, March 1, 1451; the cathedral chapter preferred its dean, Henri Asperlin; a confused situation ensued; and the cardinal resigned the government of the see on September 11, 1454. Consecrated (no information found). Named count of Valais. Attended the secret consistory of October 27, 1451. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, November 1452 to November 5, 1453. Named bishop of Fréjus, June 27, 1453; occupied the see until his death. Participated in the conclave of 1455 which elected Pope Callistus III.

Death. October 28, 1455, Rome. Buried in the chapel of the Rosary in the basilica of S. Sabina, Rome (1).

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, III, 122-123; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 4 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 946 and 977; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VII. Les cardinaux de la fin du XVe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1932. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1932, p. 150; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen II (1431-1503). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1914; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 11, 30, 31, 64, 155 and 233.

Webgraphy. Biography, in French; his tomb in the church of S. Sabina, Rome, Requiem Datenbank.

(1) This is the text of his epitaph taken from Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, 977:

(24) 5. VITELLESCHI, Bartolomeo (at the beginnin of the 15th century-1463)

Birth. At the beginning of the 15th century, Corneto (now Tarquinia). Son of Jacopo Vitelleschi; the name is his mother is not known. He had two brothers, Sante and Alessandro. Nephew of Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi (1437).

Education. He studied the law in Padua, where he obtained a doctorate in 1435. At the same time he started his ecclesiastical career.

Early life. Protonotary apostolic.

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Corneto e Montefiascone, March 17, 1438. Consecrated (no information found). His episcopal motto was Este duces. Governor of the Patrimony ca. 1439. Participated in the Council of Basel. Deposed as bishop of Corneto e Montefiascone by Pope Eugenius IV on March 23, 1442.

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal priest in the consistory of April 6, 1444; received the title of S. Marco. Resigned the pseudocardinalate and was absolved of all the censures and named bishop of Carpentras by Pope Nicholas V on July 14, 1449. Named bishop of Corneto e Montefiascone again on July 21, 1449.

Death. December 13, 1463, in Modon (or Methoni), Greece, while in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His body was taken to Corneto and buried in its cathedral (1).

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 4 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 946-947; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VII. Les cardinaux de la fin du XVe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1932. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1932, p. 146; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen II (1431-1503). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1914; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 10, 119, no. 1; 119, and 137-138.

Webgraphy. Biography by Guido De Blasi, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 99 (2020, Treccani; his tombstone (1463), diocese of Civitavecchia-Tarquinia, Beni Ecclesiastici in Web (BeWeb); his arms and motto, Araldica Vaticana.

(1) This is the text of his epitaph taken from Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 947:

(24) 6. COURCELLES, Thomas de (1400-1469)

Early life. Rector of the University of Paris in 1430; he went in this capacity to the papal court; he was sent to Arras, where he spoke for peace in 1435. Besides, he was successively sent either by the University of Paris or by the king of France to the councils or the assemblies of Basel, of Bourges, of Prague, and of Rome. He had a notable although secondary role in the trial of Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orléans, future saint (2). Canon of the cathedral chapters of Amiens, Laon, Térouane and of several collegiate churches.

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal priest in the consistory of April 6, 1444; he declined the promotion (3). In August 1447, he was in Lyon as one of the ambassadors who were negotiating for the resignation of Antipope Felix V; Gérard Machet, confessor of Charles VII, future cardinal, wrote on April 8, 1448, that Canon Courcelles had been entrusted with the pope's verbal commissions; he went to Rome to be near Pope Nicholas V and was named papal archdeacon. In 1447, and following years, he formed part of the embassy for ending the papal schism. In 1450, was named curate of Saint-André-des-Arts; then canon and penitentiary of the cathedral chapter of Paris; and finally, its dean in 1458. The following year, 1459, Charles VIl delegated him, with Jean Bernard, archbishop of Tours, to represent him at the Congress of Mantua. Provisor of La Sorbonne University, Paris. In 1461, he delivered the funeral oration in the obsequies of King Charles VII in the church of Saint-Denis. Also in 1461, Pope Pius II delegated him, together with Guillaum Chartier, bishop of Paris, to proceed to the reform the Order of Fontevrault.

Death. Monday October 23, 1469, Paris. Buried in the chapel of Saint-Martin et Sainte-Anne in the cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris (4). His brother, Jean de Courcelles, funded an anniversary for the repose of his own soul and that of his brother, Master Thomas, and the chapter committed itself to accept this foundation by deliberation of September 16, 1469, one month before the death of Thomas de Courcelles.

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 4 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 947-948; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VII. Les cardinaux de la fin du XVe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1932. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1932, p. 146; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van.Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen II (1431-1503). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1914; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, p. 10.

Webgraphy. Biography, in French, Wikipédia; biography, in English, McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia; his arms, Araldica Vaticana.

(1) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VII. Les cardinaux de la fin du XVe siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1932, p. 146; McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia, linked above, says that he was born in 1400.
(2) He was one of the men on whom Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, who dominated the university by his influence, placed his eyes to serve as assessor to him and to be instrumental in the process against Jeanne d'Arc. According to Eneas Silvio Piccolomini, future Pope Pius II, he had an ardent and inexorable passion concerning the case. The English government paid the judges wages of 20 pennies or a frank per day. Thomas de Courcelles and Nicolas Midi were the two doctors who distinguished themselves by their assiduity to earn this remuneration, and to absorbe the largest share of it. Thomas involved himself in all the acts of the procedure, from the first to the last. It was he who brought to Jeanne d'Arc the bill of indictment, who translated from French into Latin the substance of the procedure, who was, finally, the hand and the voice of Bishop Cauchon. More important than all of this, he voted, on May 12, 1431, that Jeanne be put to torture. At the time of the deliberation of the final sentence, the abbot of Fécamp, called to give his vote, expressed himself as follows: "We are of the opinion to declare Jeanne heretic, and to give up her to the secular justice, and to request it to treat Jeanne with kindness." Thomas de Courcelles declared to opine "like Monseigneur de Fécamp; and added that Jeanne be again charitably admonished about the health of her soul and that she be informed that she does not have anything more to hope for her temporal life." Thomas attended the reading of the sentence which took place in the Vieux-Marché, and stated later, to have withdrawn at the time when the Maid started to be burned. After her death, Thomas gave, on June 8, 1431, his testimony with the additional instruction consigned following the process of condemnation, which the notaries of the cause refused to validate of their certificate. In 1456, cited to depose in the process of rehabilitation, he did not testify to any repentance and did not try any honest excuse of his conduct. But he used a system of defense consisting in denying certain proven facts, declaring that he had forgotten things that remained written, asserting interpretations and mental reservations, and finally, charging his colleagues or accomplices; later, during the final editing of that document, he suppressed his name wherever it had figured in the French minutes; he tried to give the impression that he had taken little part in the trial, which was false; but he was certainly less of a fanatic than Bishop Cauchon and Guillaume Erart, one of the most passionate judges in the process against Jeanne d'Arc. McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia, linked above, says that he played a secondary part in the trial of Jeanne 'dArc
(3) Some sources say that he declined the promotion in 1440 because of his humility.
(4) This is the inscription on his tomb: Ici-gît un homme d'une haute science et d'une grande éloquence, maître Thomas de Courcelles, professeur d'Écriture-Sainte, doyen et chanoine de cette Église insigne, qui mourut l'an du Seigneur 1469, à l'âge de 69 ans.

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