Emmanuel-Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne, Cardinal de Bouillon

Emmanuel-Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne, cardinal de Bouillon (24 August 1643 – 2 March 1715, Rome) was a French prelate and diplomat.

Biography Originally known as the Duc d'Albret,

His brother Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne was the next Duke of Bouillon. His oldest sister Élisabeth, married Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf, son of Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf and Catherine Henriette de Bourbon.

Louvois, the powerful minister of Louis XIV, inspired by enmity to the house of Turenne, successfully opposed certain of his demands on the king for the benefit of members of his family, and the cardinal's disappointment vented itself in a bitter satire on his royal master. This was used to effect Bouillon's downfall at court.

He was recalled to France, but he hesitated to obey the Royal order since he was next in line for the office of Dean of the Sacred College and consequently Bishop of Ostia (his presence at the time of the imminent death of the current dean was required to secure his succession). The death of the pope and the subsequent conclave further delayed departure and Bouillon's property in France was then seized. When he eventually submitted and returned to France, he was first exiled to his Abbey of Tournus, soon given a little more freedom of movement, but forbidden to enter Paris. This prevented him from defending himself against the monks of Cluny who sought a parliament ruling against Bouillon's rule over them.

With similar motives in mind as for his tomb project in Cluny, i.e. as contributing factors to a grander scheme of establishing his family as sovereign princes, the cardinal employed Étienne Baluze to compose an Histoire généalogique de la maison d'Auvergne (1708, 2 vols. in fol.), partly based on falsifications. After losing his appeal to uphold his rule over the Cluniac monks in 1710, Bouillon wrote a deeply insulting letter to the king and fled to Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Low Countries.

Bouillon soon went to take up his residence at Rome, where he spent his last days as a guest of the Jesuits in the Jesuit novitiate at Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, where he was eventually buried.

While bishop, he was the principal consecrator of: Uldericus Nardi, Bishop of Bagnoregio (1698); Giulio Dalla Rosa, Bishop of Borgo San Donnino (1698); and Giovanni Francesco Albani, Pope of Rome (1700).