FENELON

fenelon, bertrand de salignac, seigneur de la mothe (1523-1589), french diplomatist, came of an old family of perigord. after serving in the army he was sent ambassador to england in 1568. at the request of charles ix. he endeavoured to excuse to elizabeth the massacre of st. bartholomew as a necessity caused by a plot which had been laid against the life of the king of france. for some time after the death of charles ix. fenelon was continued in his office, but he was recalled in 1575 when catherine de' medici wished to bring about a marriage between elizabeth and the duke of alencon, and thought that another ambassador would have a better chance of success in the negotiation. in 1582 fenelon was charged with a new mission to england, then to scotland, and returned to france in 1583. he opposed the protestants until the end of the reign of henry iii., but espoused the cause of henry iv. he died in 1589. his nephew in the sixth degree was the celebrated archbishop of cambrai. fenelon is the author of a number of writings, among which those of general importance are _memoires touchant l'angleterre et la suisse, ou sommaire de la negociation faite en angleterre, l'an 1571_ (containing a number of the letters of charles and his mother, relating to queen elizabeth, queen mary and the bartholomew massacre), published in the _memoires_ of castelnau (paris, 1659); _negociations de la mothe fenelon et de michel, sieur de mauvissiere, en angleterre_; and _depeches de m. de la mothe fenelon, instructions au sieur de la mauvissiere_, both contained in the edition of castelnau's _memoires_, published at brussels in 1731. the correspondence of fenelon was published at paris in 1838-1841, in 7 vols. 8vo. see "lettres de catherine de' medicis," edited by hector de la ferriere (1880 seq.) in the _collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de france_.