Antoine de Mouchy

Antoine de Mouchy (Antonius Monchiacenus Demochares) (1494 – 8 May 1574) was a French theologian and canonist, at Paris.

A traditional explanation of the French term mouchard, meaning police spy or informer, is that it derived from his use of intelligence-gathering networks, when working as an inquisitor.

He was one of a group of Sorbonne doctors who in the 1550s began detailed scholarship on lists of bishops, to support the apostolic succession.

[3] As inquisitor fidei he exerted his influence against the Calvinists, and was a judge at the heresy trial of Anne du Bourg.

[4] In a 1560 book he accused Calvinists of sexual libertinism, practiced after the end of religious services.