Guy de Boulogne

Cardinal Guy de Boulogne
Cardinal-Bishop
The crowning of Pope Gregory XI (1371), a miniature from Froissart's Chroniques.
Church	Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1342-1350)
Archdiocese	Lyon (1340-1342)
Diocese	Porto (1350-1373)
Orders
Created Cardinal	20 September 1342 by Pope Clement VI
Personal details
Born	1313
Died	25 November 1373 Lleida, Catalonia
Buried	Abbaye du Bouschet-Vauluisant Diocese of Clermont
Nationality	French
Parents	Robert VII of Auvergne and Boulogne Marie de Flandre
Occupation	diplomat
Education	Theology
Alma mater	University of Paris

Guy of Boulogne (1313 – 25 November 1373) was a statesman and cardinal who served the Avignon Papacy for 33 years. He participated in the papal conclaves of 1352, 1362 and 1370, and was the Subdean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. His diplomatic postings were extensive, including Hungary, Italy, and Spain. He headed an effort to end the Hundred Years' War. The historian Kenneth Setton called him "one of the commanding figures of his day, and the letters of Petrarch abound with references to him".

Guy was the third son of Count Robert VII of Auvergne and Boulogne (1317–1325), and Marie, niece of Robert III, Count of Flanders. Guy's family was well-connected to the greatest houses in France and the Empire. His sister Matilda married Count Amadeus III of Geneva, making Guy uncle of four successive counts of Geneva and of antipope Clement VII. The daughter of Guy's eldest brother, Count William XII of Auvergne, Joan Countess of Auvergne, married John Duke of Normandy, later King of France, who thus called Guy by the courtesy title "uncle".

Being a younger son, and therefore destined for the Church, Guy was sent to Paris, where he devoted himself to theology. He was especially close to the Dominicans of Paris. In his youth he was made Canon of Amiens. Guy held the post of Archdeacon of Flanders in the Church of Therouanne. He was also, at some point made Canon and Prebend of Liège, which he resigned by 27 January 1344. On 11 October 1340, Pope Benedict XII approved Guy's election as Archbishop of Lyon, and he was duly consecrated, but he held the Archbishopric for less than two years, surrendering it when he became a cardinal and moved to Avignon.