MARCA, PIERRE DE (1594-1662), French prelate and historian, was born at Gan, near Pau, on the 24th of January 1594. His family was known among judicial circles in the 16th century, and maintained the Roman Catholic faith after the official introduction of the Reformed religion into Navarre. After having studied law at the university of Toulouse he practised successfully at Pau. But he was ambitious, and turned to a larger sphere. He ardently called for the armed intervention of King Louis XIII. in Béarn, and on this occasion published his first writing, _Discours d'un Béarnais, très fidèle sujet du roi, sur l'édit du rétablissement de l'exercice de la religion catholique dans tout le Béarn_ (1618). After the easy campaign of 1620, the possessions which had been taken by the Protestants were given back to the Roman Catholic church; this task was performed, under his supervision, with judgment and moderation. During the siege of La Rochelle he performed a mission which brought him in touch with Richelieu, who shortly afterwards nominated him _intendant de justice_ in Béarn (1631), and in 1639 summoned him to Paris with the title of counsellor of state. The following year, the question of the intervention of kings in the election of bishops having been raised in a pamphlet by Charles Hersent (_Optalus Gallus de cavendo schismate_, 1640), Marca defended what were then called the liberties of the Gallican Church, in his celebrated treatise _De concordia sacerdotii et imperii, seu de libertalibus ecclesiae gallicanae_ (1641). He was soon rewarded for this service. Although he had not yet taken even the minor holy orders, he was nominated bishop of Couserans by the king on the 28th of December 1641, but the pope refused to give his sanction. It was only after Marca had formally denied those propositions contained in _De concordia_ which were displeasing to Rome that he was proclaimed in the consistory (Jan. 13, 1648). During this time, and until 1651, he was governor of the province of Catalonia, then occupied by the French. After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, he was sent to direct the conference which had been formed to fix the limits of Roussillon, which had just been ceded to France (1660). Marca now interested himself in the fortunes of Mazarin, and remained faithful to him even during the Fronde. As a recompense, he was nominated archbishop of Toulouse (May 28, 1652), but had to wait for the bulls of investiture till the 23rd of March 1654. It was difficult for him to please both pope and king. In the struggle against the Jansenists he used all the influence he had with the clergy to secure the passage of the apostolic constitution of the 31st of March 1653 (_Relation de ce qui s'est fait depuis 1653 dans les assemblées des évêques au sujet des cinq propositions_, 1657); but in the rebellion raised by Retz, archbishop of Paris, against the king, he took the part of the king against the pope. Michel Le Tellier having ordered him to