Claude de La Baume was born in
Franche-Comté in 1534, the son of Claude de
La Baume,
baron of
Saint-Sorlin, and his second wife, Guillemette d'
Igny. He was the nephew of Cardinal
Pierre de La Baume. On 27 June 1543 he was elected
Archbishop of Besançon. Because he was not yet of age,
Pope Paul III on 11 May 1544 agreed to appoint an administrator for the
diocese until La Baume reached the
canonical age of 27. He was educated at the
University of Dole and
ordained as a
priest on 10 August 1566. He became
Abbot of
Montigny-lès-Cherlieu and of
Saint-Claude. He then traveled to
Rome together with Antoine Lullo, his
vicar general to pay the
visit ad limina Apostolorum. On 4 June 1570, he was
consecrated as a bishop in the
Sistine Chapel by Cardinal
Otto Truchsess von Waldburg assisted by
Antonio Elio, Titular Patriarch of Jerusalem, and
Galeazzo Gegald,
Bishop Emeritus of Bagnoregio. In 1571, he promulgated the decrees of the
Council of Trent in
Besançon. He was opposed to the spread of
Calvinism in his diocese, defeating a Calvinist force in 1575, preventing the fall of
Burgundy to the
Huguenots.
Pope Gregory XIII made him a
cardinal priest in the
consistory of 21 February 1578. He received the
titular church of
Santa Pudenziana on 24 August 1580; the
red hat was sent to him.
Philip II of Spain named him secretary of memorials, counselor of the ecclesiastical department and
viceroy of the
Kingdom of Naples, but he died before taking up the post. He died in
Arbois on 14 June 1584. He was buried in Arbois in the Saint Just church. ==References==