[7] In 1500 baby Jean succeeded Cardinal Raymond Peraudi as Coadjutor of his uncle Henri de Vaudemont-Lorraine, Bishop of Metz.

[10] It is conjectured that Jean was introduced to the French Court and met King Francis for the first time at the wedding of his brother Antoine to Renée de Bourbon on 26 June 1515.

[11] On 28 May 1518 Jean de Lorraine, Bishop of Metz, aged twenty, was created a Cardinal-Deacon by Pope Leo X in his seventh Consistory for the creation of cardinals.

[15] Cardinal Jean de Lorraine was appointed Bishop of Terouanne (Morinensis) on 29 October 1521, taking possession of his church on 7 January 1522.

[17] On 7 January 1524 Cardinal Jean was named Archbishop of Narbonne, in succession to Giulio de' Medici who had been elected Pope Clement VII.

Negotiations were conducted with Wolsey by royal commissioners, leading to the Treaty of Amiens, ratified by the King on 18 August.

The treaty addressed the joint English and French reaction to the Sack of Rome (1527) in May 1527 and the imprisonment of Pope Clement VII in the Castel S. Angelo.

He also witnessed the investing of the Chancellor, Antoine du Prat, with the symbols of the cardinalate which had been granted him by the Pope at the request of King Francis.

[22] In 1532, Jean de Lorraine was named Abbot Commendatory of the royal abbey of Fécamp by the patronage of King Francis I.

In 1534 Pope Paul III named Cardinal de Lorraine his Apostolic Legate in the dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun.

The Conclave of 1534 opened on 10 October 1534, and Cardinal de Lorraine was present as the leader of the French faction, which numbered between ten and twelve members.

The King retired to indulge his grief without witnesses, and left it to Cardinal de Lorraine to make the appropriate arrangements.

He took possession of the diocese by procurator on 13 August 1537, and was immediately sent along with the Constable, Anne de Montmorency, on a diplomatic mission to the Emperor to put the final touches on a treaty of peace between France and the Empire.

[34] On his return he resigned the administration of the diocese of Lyon in favor of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who was appointed by King Francis and whose bulls were dated 29 October 1539.

[37] On 22 March 1542, King Francis signed letters ratifying the nomination of the Cardinal de Lorraine as Abbot Commendatory of the Abbey of Blanche-Couronne in Brittany (1542–1548).

[38] A document of 11 April 1544 indicates that the Cardinal was possessed of the Abbeys of Fécamp, Saint-Ouen, Marmoutier, and the Priory of La-Charité, from which the King had ordered extraordinary cutting of old-stand trees in their forests for the purpose of building galleys.

[39] The Cardinal was also an open-handed patron of art and learning, as the protector and friend of the humanist scholar Erasmus,[40] the poet and translator Clément Marot, and the satirist Rabelais.

[42] In 1537 Benvenuto Cellini, the Florentine jeweler, sculptor, and medallist, was in Paris, and was commissioned to create several pieces for King Francis I.

[46] Cardinal Jean de Lorraine participated in the Conclave following the death of Pope Paul III, which began on 29 November 1549.

In the evening of 7/8 February 1550, Cardinal Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, aged sixty-three, was elected and chose the throne name Julius III.