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AYCELIN DE MONTAIGU
. An important noble family from Auvergne that held lands near Billom (Puy-de-Dôme),
the Aycelin produced a series of influential prelates and royal councilors in the 14th
century. Pierre Aycelin, who was a contemporary of Philip III (r. 1270–85), left the
family lordships to his eldest son, Guillaume, while several younger sons pursued
ecclesiastical careers. Hugues, a Dominican, became a cardinal in 1288; Jean became
bishop of Clermont; and Gilles, an accomplished lawyer, became archbishop of
Narbonne in 1290 and archbishop of Rouen in 1311.
Gilles Aycelin, an important adviser of Philip IV the Fair (r. 1285–1314), had to act
with circumspection during Philip’s conflicts with the papacy. As archbishop of
Narbonne, he favored an ecclesiastical rather than a secular trial when Philip arrested his
suffragan, Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, on charges of treasonable conduct in 1301.
In Philip’s final conflict with Boniface VIII in 1303, Gilles supported the plan to bring
the pope to trial for heresy before a church council. During the pontificate of Clement V
(r. 1305–14), when Philip IV moved to have the Templars condemned for heresy,
Clement made Aycelin president of the papal commission to investigate the order. Before
his death in 1318, the archbishop established the Collège de Montaigu, later one of the
most prominent colleges in the University of Paris.
Guillaume Aycelin had two sons, Gilles, lord of Montaigu, and Albert, bishop of
Clermont (r. 1307–28). Two generations later, the family produced two additional
prelates. The elder of these, another Gilles (d. 1378), served briefly as royal chancellor in
1357 and was bishop of Thérouanne. A younger brother, Pierre, served as chancellor to
John, the young duke of Berry (1357–60), and then entered the service of Charles V. He
became bishop of Laon, and therefore a peer of France, in 1370 and subsequently a
cardinal.
Pierre Aycelin de Montaigu became associated with those advisers of Charles V
known as the Marmousets, a loose alliance of financial officers and military commanders.
The faction, and its leader, Olivier de Clisson, constable of France, competed for power
with the dukes of Berry and Burgundy in the early years of Charles VI’s reign (r. 1380–
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