Baluze, Etienne

BALUZE, bɑ̄l´´lüz´, ÉTIENNE: Roman Catholic canonist and historian; b. at Tuile (Tutela Lemovicum, 45 m. s.s.e. of Limoges), in Limousin, France, Nov. 23, 1630; d. at Paris June 28, 1718. He belonged to a family of famous jurists and studied first with the Jesuits at Tulle. In 1646 he was sent to Toulouse, where he remained till 1654, attending the philosophical lectures at St. Martial, the Jesuit college there. While still in school he showed an inclination for old parchments and historical documents. As his father made him study civil law, he could only devote himself in secret to his favorite studies in the library of Charles of Montchal, bishop of Toulouse. Exceptional acumen and persevering application made his critical method a safe one and he soon became known among the scholars of his time. His studies made it necessary for him to become either a monk or a priest, or to enter the service of some ecclesiastical dignitary. He received the tonsure and looked for a patron, whom he found in the successor of Montchal, Peter of Marca, afterward archbishop of Paris, who also showed him how to utilize his extensive historical studies for the canon and civil law. After Marca’s death (1652) different bishops and archbishops tried to attach him to themselves. For a short time he remained with the Archbishop of Auch, and Le Tellier, the chancellor, who appointed him canon of Reims. In 1667 the minister J. B. Colbert made him his librarian, and Baluze occupied this position until compelled to resign by advanced age after thirty-three years’ service. He collected hundreds of documents from abbeys and monasteries and copied433 a large number. In 1707 Louis XIV appointed him inspector of the Collège royal, where he had been professor of canon law since 1689. In this position he corresponded and had personal intercourse with scholars of different countries. A history of the house of Auvergne, which he edited during this time with the help of Cardinal Bouillon, obliged him to leave Paris after the flight of his ambitious protector (1710). Though eighty years of age, Baluze was obliged to go from place to place and finally settled at Orléans, where he remained till 1713. The family of Bouillon being received again by the king after the Peace of Utrecht, Baluze was able to return to Paris. Deprived of all means, he was obliged to devote himself entirely to literary activity, and he died without completing his history of Tulle. He wrote: Regum Francorum capitularia (1677; new edition by de Chiniac, 3 vols., fol., 1780); Epistolæ Innocentii papæ III (1682); Conciliorum nova collectio (1683, fol.); Vitæ paparum Avenionensium (1693); Historia Tutelensis (1717); Cypriani opera (1726); Bibliotheca Baluziana (1719); Miscellanea (7 vols., 1677-1713).

G. Bonet-Maury.

Bibliography: His autobiography is in the Bibliotheca Baluziana, Paris, 1719. Consult L. E. Du Pin, Bibliothèque des auteurs ecclésiastiques, xix, 1-6, 47 vols., Paris 1686-95; Niceron, Mémoires, i, 459-471; Vitrac, Éloge de Baluze, ib. 1777; M. Deloche, É. Baluze, sa vie et ses œuvres, ib.1856; L. Delisle, Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale, i, 364-367, 445-475, ib. 1868; Bulletin de la société des lettres de la Corrèze, iii (1881), 93 and 457, iv (1882), 513, v (1883), 160, vi (1884), 645, ix (1887), 100-163, x (1888); A. Lefranc, Histoire du Collège de France, Paris, 1893; E. Fage, É. Baluze, sa vie, ses ouvrages, son exile, sa défense, ib. 1899.