Hugues Doneau

Hugues Doneau (Hugo Donellus)
Hugues Doneau
Born	1527 Chalon-sur-Saône
Died	1591 Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Residence	France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Bavaria
Nationality	French
Fields	Civil law
Institutions	University of Bourges, Heidelberg University, University of Leiden, Altdorf Academy
Known for	Systematic analysis of the Corpus Juris Civilis

Hugues Doneau, commonly referred also by the Latin form Hugo Donellus (23 December 1527, Chalon-sur-Saône – 4 May 1591, Altdorf bei Nürnberg), was a French law professor and one of the leading representatives of French legal humanism (mos Gallicus).

Doneau, who was born into a well-respected family, studied law in Toulouse and Bourges. Bourges was then a center of legal humanism and François Douaren (Franciscus Duarenus), one of the most famous members of this movement was among Doneau's teachers at Bourges. In 1551, Doneau received a doctorate from the University of Bourges and began teaching there. However, because of his Calvinist confession, Doneau had to flee to Geneva after the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572. Doneau accepted a call from the Reformed Elector Palatine Frederick III to a professorship at Heidelberg and assumed the post in early 1573. Doneau, however, would have to relocate again in 1579 because Heidelberg and the surrounding Electoral Palatinate were converted to the Lutheran confession by Frederick's successor Louis VI (r. 1576-83), and the elector required subscription to the Formula of Concord. Doneau then moved to the newly founded Leiden, but in 1587, the political circumstances forced him into exile for the third time: Doneau had to leave Leiden in 1588, because of his sympathies for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Doneau returned to Germany and became professor of law at the Altdorf Academy (the university of the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg). He died in Altdorf in 1591.