POITIERS
179
POITIERS
Church of Notrl-D.
Among his successors were St. Pientius (c. 544-60);
St. Fortunatus (c. 599); St. Peter (1087-1115), exiled
by William IX, Count of Poitiers, whose divorce he
refused to sanction; Gilbert de la Porree (1142-54);
Blessed William Tempier (1184-97), who, as Mgr
Barbier de Montault has shown, was irregularly ven-
erated as a saint in
certain parts of the
diocese since he died
subsequent to the
declaration of Alex-
ander III which re-
served canonizations
to the Holy See;
Blessed Gauthier de
Bruges (1278-1306);
Arnauld d'Aux (1306
-12), made cardinal
in 1312; Guy de
Malsec (1371-5), wh. I
became cardinal in
1375; Simon lU-
Cramaud^ (1385-91'.
indefatigable fip-
ponent of the anti-
pope, Benedict XIII,
and who again ad-
ministered the dio-
cese (1413-23) and
became cardinal in
1413; Louis de Bar (1394-5), cardinal in 1397; Jean
de la Tremouille (150.5-7), cardinal in 1507; Gabriel
de Gramont (1532-4), cardinal in 1507; Claude de
Longwy, Cardinal de Gi%Ty (1538-52), became car-
dinal in 1533; Antonio Barberini (1652-7), cardinal
in 1627; Abbe de Pradt (1805-9), afterwards Arch-
bishop of Mechlin,
Pie (1849-80), car-
dinal in 1879. St.
Emmeram (q. v.)
was a native of
Poitiers, but accord-
ing to the Bollandists
and Mgr Duchesne
the documents which
make him Bishop of
of Poitiers (c. 650)
are not trustworthy;
on the other hand
Bernard Sepp (Ana-
lec. Boll., VIII) and
Dom Chamard claim
that he did hold the
see, and succeeded
Didon, bishop about
666 or 668 according
to Dom Chamard.
As early as 312 the Bishop of Poitiers established a school near his cathedral; among its scholars were St. Hilary, St. Maxen- tius, Bishop Maximus of Trier, and his two brothers St. Maximinus of Chinon and St. Jouin of Marne, St. Paulinus, Bishop of Trier, and the poet Ausonius. In the sixth century Fortunatus taught there, and in the twelfth century intellectual Europe flocked to Poitiers to sit at the feet of Gilbert de la Porree. Charles VII erected a university at Poitiers, in op- position to Paris, where the majority of the faculty had hailed Henry VI of England, and by Bull of 28 May, 1431, Eugene IV approved the new university. In the reign of Louis XII there were in Poitiers no less than four thousand students — French, Italians, Flemings, Scots, and Germans. There were ten
(Facade, XII Century)
colleges attached to the university. In 1540, at the
College Ste. Marthe, the famous Marc Antoine Muret,
whom Gregory XIII called in later years the torch
and the pillar of the Roman School, had a chair.
The famous Jesuit Maldonatus and five of his con-
freres went in 1570 to Poitiers to establish a Jesuit
college at the request
of some of the in-
habitants. After two
unsuccessful at-
tempts, they were
gi\ en the College Ste.
M art he in 1605.
Pere Garasse, well
known for his vio-
lent polemics and
who died of the
plague at Poitiers in
1637, was professor
there (1607-8), and
had as a pupil the
grc at French prose
vniter, Guez de Bal-
zac Among other
-itudents at Poitiers
were Achille de Har-
la^ , President de
Thou, the poet
Joachim du Bellay,
the chronicler, Bran-
Baptistlr\ of 6\
(Merovingian
tome Descartes, Viete the mathematician, and Bacon,
afterwards Chancellor of England. In the seven-
teenth century the Jesuits sought affiliation with the
university and in spite of the lively opposition of the
faculties of theology and arts their request was
granted. Jesuit ascendancy grew; they united to
Ste. Marthe the Col-
lege du Puygareau.
Friction between
them and the uni-
versity was continu-
ous, and in 1762 the
general laws against
them throughout
France led to the
Society leaving Poi-
tiers. Moreover,
from 1674 the Jesuits
had conducted at
Poitiers a college for
clerical students from
Ireland. In 1806 the
State reopened the
school of law at Poi-
tiers and later the
faculties of litera-
ture and science.
These faculties were
raised to the rank
of a university in
ISOb From 1872 to
1S75 Cardinal Pie
was engaged in re-
establishing the fac-
ulty of theology. As a provisional effort he called to
teach in his Grand Seminaire three professors from the
CoUegio Romano, among them Pere Schrader, the com-
mentator of the Syllabus, who died at Poitiers in 1875.
At Ligug(5 in the diocese, St. Martin founded the
first monastery in Gaul, to which were attached a
catechetical school and a baptistery. This monastery,
afterwards eclipsed by that of Marmoutiers founded
by St. Martin near Tours, was destroyed by the Nor-
mans in 865, and was later a simple priory depending
on the Abbey of Maillezais, and still later belonged to
the Jesuits. In 1853 the Benedictines settled in
Liguge and in 1856 it became an abbey. The Bene-
