Georges de Selve

George de Selve (right) in Hans Holbein the Younger's The Ambassadors.

Georges de Selve (1508 – 12 April 1541) was a French scholar, diplomat and ecclesiastic.

Biography

He was the son of Jean de Selve, a jurist and Parlement president, and brother of Odet de Selve. Three other brothers served as diplomats.^[1]

Georges de Selve was Bishop of Lavaur from 1526 (at age 18) to 1540. He was sent by King Francis I of France as ambassador to the Republic of Venice, Austria (in April 1540), to the Pope in Rome, to England, Germany and Spain.

He is one of two figures in a picture by Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, which hangs in the National Gallery, London.^[2] De Selve is on the right, with Jean de Dinteville.

He wrote on theology, studied with and was a patron of Eli Levita from 1534,^[3] and was commissioned by the king to make translations.

Robert J. Kalas, The Selve Family of Limousin: Members of a New Elite in Early Modern France, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 18 (1987), 147-172