Neufchatel, Jean De

Neufchatel, Jean de a French prelate of note, was born in Neufchatel, Switzerland, about 1335. Belonging to one of the most important houses of the county of Bourgogne, and son of Thibaut, baron de Neufchatel, and of Jeanne de Chalons, he became at fifteen canon of Autun, then prior of St. Peter of Abbeville and of Notre-Dame of Bar-le-Duc. Ordained priest in Besan9on, he appeared as a candidate for archbishop of that city, but failed to secure support, and was content to be consecrated in 1371 bishop of Nevers, whence he passed in October 1372, to the see of Toul. The emperor Charles IV gave him, in 1377, letters-patent which invested him with temporal power and recognized him as a prince of the empire. Robert de Geneve, his relative, having become pope under the name of Clement VII, made him, in 1378, one of his chamberlains, and on October 23, 1383, created him cardinal. Jean in the following year resigned his bishopric, the administration of which he resumed May 29, 1385. He became, in December 1392, bishop of Ostia and of Velletri, and two years after concurred in the election of Pierre de Lune, otherwise known as Benedict XIII, whom he crowned at Avignon in October 1394. Jean was long obedient to him but, afflicted by the schism which rent the Church, he used all means to bring it to an end, and ceased not' to solicit Benedict XIII to resign; yet Neufchatel died without having been able to triumph over the obstinacy of Pierre de Llne. On the day of his death, which occurred in Avignon, October 4, 1398, a fire, consumed his palace, and his ashes, collected by his friends, were deposited in tile Carthusian Monastery of Villeneuve-les-Avignon. See Gallia Cahristiana, volumes 12 and 13; Aubery, Histoire des cardinaux.