David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Dressed in black flowing garments, and conspicuous with his noble brow and venerable aspect, he was always treated by our Queen with demonstrative affection as one of her intimate friends — so much so, that the Londoners declared that the ambassador from the Prince of Conde was a greater man than the veritable French Ambassador. As he was always styled the Cardinal de Chatillon, the English were not certain as to his creed, and cautiously designated him “a favourer, if not a member, of the Protestant Church.” ”

“ It must be remembered that this date is antecedent to the Protestant Reformation; and that all the brothers, being born during the undisturbed reign of Romanist superstition, were converted to Protestantism. The dignity of Cardinal, with which Odet was invested, was no better than a temporal honour — a decoration or compliment conferred on him on the 7th November 1533, that is to say, when he was only sixteen years of age, by Pope Clement VII. At the same date he was consecrated as Archbishop of Toulouse. ”

“ In 1535 he obtained the Bishopric of Beauvais, which, along with ample revenues, included the dignity and privileges of a Peer of France. In 1544, being so well endowed as an ecclesiastic, he resigned all his own heritage to his brothers. His tendencies towards Protestantism arose from aspirations after religious life. ”