Étienne Tristan de Salazar was born in
Saint-Maurice-Thizouaille ca. 1431, the son of
Jean Salazar (a leader of the
Écorcheurs) and his wife Marguerite, who was the daughter of
Georges de la Trémoille. Tristan de Salazar was himself an illegitimate child, and in his youth he was hidden in
Thorailles. After Jean Salazar's service to
Louis XI of France at the
Battle of Montlhéry (1465), Louis XI was determined to promote Salazar within the
Catholic Church in France. Salazar joined the
Grandmontines, rising to become
commendatory abbot of the Priory of Macheret near
Saint-Just-Sauvage. He was appointed
Bishop of Meaux on June 25, 1473. He became
Archbishop of Sens on September 26, 1474. As archbishop, Salazar presided over an
Assembly of the French clergy held in 1475, calling for a
crusade against
the Turks and calling for a restoration of the
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges and the convening of an
ecumenical council. He called a
synod in Sens in August 1485 to confirm regulations passed by his predecessor,
Louis de Melun. In July 1490, he was sent as an
ambassador to
England. A conflict with the
cathedral chapter of
Notre Dame de Paris in 1492 saw Salazar lose his right to preside at that cathedral. Also in 1492, he oversaw the fortification of
Saint-Julien-du-Sault. In 1498, he oversaw a commission that ordered the
annulment of the
marriage of
Louis XII of France and
Jeanne de France. In February 1499, he served as an ambassador to the
Swiss Confederacy to seek an alliance in Louis XII's war against
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Louis XII appointed him to the
Grand Conseil on May 13, 1502. During the
Italian Wars, in 1507 he accompanied Louis XII to fight against the
Republic of Genoa. During the
War of the League of Cambrai, he presided over a council at
Pisa in May 1511 that purported to depose
Pope Julius II. In 1514, he presided over the funeral of
Anne of Brittany at the
Basilica of St Denis; he presided over Louis XII's funeral there in 1515. He died in
Paris on February 11, 1518. He is buried in the
nave of
Sens Cathedral. ==Patronage==