
Execution of Anne du Bourg
'Anne du Bourg' (
1521,
Riom -
1559,
Paris) was a
French magistrat, nephiew of the chancellor
Antoine du Bourg.
Educated at the
university of Orléans, he became professor and had
Étienne de la Boétie as a student. He became counsellor of the
Parliament of Paris in
1557. In
1559, during a ''mercurial'' (session of parliament), Du Bourg attacked the royal policy of repression against "those called heretics". He didn't make a secret of his
Calvinist convictions.
Henry II arrested him; after his death, the
Guise monopolized power to the detriment of
François II. After a trial, during which Du Bourg utilized all recourses of law, he was convicted as a heretic, to be hanged on the place de Grève and his body burned.
The
Palatine of the Rhine pleaded mercy to the king, to name him professor of law at
Heidelberg, but in vain. He died on December 23rd, after having declared at the gallows "My friends, I am not here as a thief or a martyr, but for the
evangelium."