Du Perron, Jacques-Davy

(1556-1618)

   prelate, statesman, writer

   Born in Val-de-Joux, Switzerland, Jacques-Davy Du Perron, a convert from Calvinism, became the bishop of Évreux and, as an emissary of King henry IV to Pope Clement VIII, obtained from Rome a reconciliation (1595) with that monarch. Jacques Du Perron, who upheld the Catholic theses at the meeting in Fontainebleau (see philippe duplessis-mornay), became, in turn, a cardinal (1604), archbishop of Sens (1606), and, in 1610, a member of the Regency Council. His writings comprise works of religious polemics, sermons, and poetry.