Anne du Bourg (1521, Riom – 23 December 1559, Paris) was a French magistrate, nephew of the chancellor Antoine du Bourg, and a Protestant martyr.

Early life

Educated at the university of Orléans, he became a professor and had

Étienne de la Boétie Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (; oc, Esteve de La Boetiá; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his intense and intimate friendship with essayist ...

as a student. He became counsellor of the Parliament of Paris in 1557 by which time he had converted to Protestantism.

Trial and execution

In 1559, after receiving a tip off, King Henry II attended a session of Parlement, during which he interjected to express his dissatisfaction at the progress against heresy. One of those who rose to object was du Bourg, who obliquely critiqued Henri's infidelity in comparison to the purity of the Protestant community, arousing Henri's fury. Several days later a special commission was established to try Anne and 5 colleagues in the Parlement. The commission was keen to avoid executing their Parlement colleagues, but while the other accused Protestants were willing to recant and were let off with suspensions from Parlement, Anne refused to follow this route out. He maintained his Protestant conviction, refusing to affirm the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Eventually on December 13 he signed an ambiguous confession of faith, avoiding execution, before renouncing it several days later, sealing his fate. He would be executed at the Place de Greve on December 23, by strangulation and then burning.

References

1521 births 1559 deaths People from Riom Huguenots 16th-century French lawyers French politicians People executed for heresy People executed by France by hanging Executed French people 16th-century executions by France 16th-century Protestant martyrs Executed people from Auvergne Prisoners of the Bastille {{Calvinism-stub