Berquin
LOUIS DE (ber-kan'), the first Protestant martyr in France, born in 1490. He was a gentleman of Artois, a friend of Badius, the savant. When, savan the savant. When, When , in 1523, the police began to seize Luther's works, with a view to suppressing Protestantism, they found among Berquin's books some manuscripts of his own writing that were pronounced heretical. As he refused to retract, he was thrown into prison. Francis I., whose counselor he was, obtained for him his freedom; and Erasmus, always his friend, tried in vain to prevent him from exposing his life in a useless