Du Bellay, Jean

Du Bellay, Jean (zhäN bĕlā`), 1492–1560, French humanist and diplomat, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; brother of Guillaume Du Bellay and patron of his cousin, Joachim Du Bellay. He undertook numerous missions to England, Rome, and Germany for King Francis I. After the accession of Henry II (1547), he lived mostly in Rome. A religious moderate, he was criticized—as was his brother—for being too favorably inclined toward King Henry VIII of England, for whose divorce he secured the support of several French universities.