Postel, Guillaume (ca. 1510-1581)
Postel, Guillaume (ca. 1510-1581)
A sixteenth-century visionary born around 1510 in the diocese of Avranches, France. At fourteen years of age, Postel was made master of a school. Postel believed he had been called by God to reunite all men under one law, either by reason or the sword. The pope and the king of France were to be the civil and religious heads of his new republic.
Postel was made almoner to a hospital at Venice, where he met Mére Jeanne, a woman who had visions. Because of his heterodox preachings, Postel was denounced as a heretic, but later was regarded as merely mad.
A follower of Kabbalah he spoke internationally about his belief in astrology wrote several works on the visions of his coadjutor. Postel retired to the priory of St. Martin-des-Champs at Paris, where he died penitent.