Laubespine, Sebastien De

L'Aubespine, Sebastien de a French prelate and diplomatist, was born in Beauce in 1518. His high ability won for him from Francis I the gift of many ecclesiastical benefices, especially that of the abbey of Basse Fontaine, in the diocese of Troyes. Being sent to Switzerland, he there combated the influence of the emperor, in 1543. At the Diet of Worms, he prepared the work of the honorary ambassador, the count of Grignan, a man more distinguished by his ancestry than by his own merit (1545). Henry II afterwards sent him to negotiate with the people of Strasburg in 1548, and to modify the treaty of alliance with the Helvetian cantons. On his return to France he was charged with an embassy to Flanders, but he soon resumed his former functions in Switzerland, and still negotiated with ability and honor. Then he was appointed ambassador to Philip II of Spain. From 1558 he held the bishopric of Limoges, in which city he already held the rich abbey of St. Martial. After rendering various services to the king, and being driven from the court, he withdrew to Limoges, and devoted all his attention to works of piety connected with the episcopacy. Here he died in 1582, and was interred in his cathedral. For mention of his works see Hoefer, Nouv, Biog. Generale, s.v.