Pierre Bertrand (1280 at Annonay in Vivarais – 1348 or 1349 at the Priory of Montaud, near Avignon) was a French Cardinal, theologian, and canonist.[1]
His noble parentage is known to us through the manuscript memoir of Grasset, a Celestine monk of the seventeenth century (Discours généalogique de la noble maison de Bertrand et de leur alliance aven celle de Colombier). The legal profession seems to have been the first aim of his education He successively studied and taught law in the Universities of Avignon, Montpellier, Orléans, and Paris.
Prized as one of the best law-regents of his day, he soon reached high positions in the Parliament of Paris, the King's Council, and the Queen's Chancery. His definite calling lay, however, in another direction, and he became a priest.
His priestly career was no less brilliant than his legal success. We find him in rapid succession Dean of Puy-en-Valais, Bishop of Nevers, Bishop of Autun. In 1331 Pope John XXII made him a cardinal for his many services rendered to the Church. Among these services are to be reckoned several charitable institutions founded at Annonay, and the Collège d'Autun, or Collège Cardinal, established in Paris on behalf of fifteen poor students, five for theology, five for law, and five for the fine arts.
Bertrand's best title to recognition is, however, his defence of the rights of the Church both by word of mouth and also with his pen. Fournier, in his "Officialitiés du moyen-âge" (Paris, 1880), points out, at the beginning of the Valois dynasty, a strong tendency of the State towards curtailing the Church's traditional rights. In 1329 took place the famous Conférence de Vincennes, where Pierre de Cugnieres, speaking for Philippe de Valois, bitterly complained of undue extension of ecclesiastical privileges (e.g., ordaining clerics for the sole purpose of enjoying the privilegium fori; causes des veuves, or widow's causes drawn to ecclesiastical courts; the free use of censures to enforce the Church's privileges; appeals to the Church form the decision of civil courts, etc.).
Pierre Bertrand, then Bishop of Autun, was the principal spokesman of the clergy. He replied in a spirit of conciliation to all charges bearing on minor points, but strongly upheld what he considered the essential rights of the Church. Following on the lines of the Bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII, he summed up his plea in four statements:
His views are to be found in Libellus adversus Petrum de Cugneriis and De origine et usu jurisdictionum published in Paris in 1495 and 1584 respectively, and later inserted in volume XIV of the Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum (Cologne, 1618).
Many other writings of Cardinal Bertrand (apologetical, canonical, pastoral) have not been published and are reported to be in the Vatican Library.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.