GOUFFIER, the name of a great French family, which owned the estate of Bonnivet in Poitou from the 14th century. _Guillaume Gouffier_, chamberlain to Charles VII., was an inveterate enemy of Jacques Coeur, obtaining his condemnation and afterwards receiving his property (1491). He had a great number of children, several of whom played a part in history. Artus, seigneur de Boisy (c. 1475-1520) was entrusted with the education of the young count of Angoulême (Francis I.), and on the accession of this prince to the throne as Francis I. became grand master of the royal household, playing an important part in the government; to him was given the task of negotiating the treaty of Noyon in 1516; and shortly before his death the king raised the estates of Roanne and Boisy to the rank of a duchy, that of Roannais, in his favour. ADRIEN GOUFFIER (d. 1523) was bishop of Coutances and Albi, and grand almoner of France. GUILLAUME GOUFFIER, seigneur de Bonnivet, became admiral. of France (see BONNIVET). CLAUDE GOUFFIER, son of Artus, was created comte de Maulevrier (1542) and marquis de Boisy (1564).
There were many branches of this family, the chief of them being the dukes of Roannais, the counts of Caravas, the lords of Crèvecoeur and of Bonnivet, the marquises of Thois, of Brazeux, and of Espagny. The name of Gouffier was adopted in the 18th century by a branch of the house of Choiseul. (M. P.*)
GOUGE, MARTIN (c. 1360-1444), surnamed DE CHARPAIGNE, French chancellor, was born at Bourges about 1360. A canon of Bourges, in 1402 he became treasurer to John, duke of Berri, and in 1406 bishop of Chartres. He was arrested by John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, with the hapless Jean de Montaigu (1349-1409) in 1409, but was soon released and then banished. Attaching himself to the dauphin Louis, duke of Guienne, he became his chancellor, the king's ambassador in Brittany, and a member of the grand council; and on the 13th of May 1415, he was transferred from the see of Chartres to that of Clermont-Ferrand. In May 1418, when the Burgundians re-entered Paris, he only escaped death at their hands by taking refuge in the Bastille. He then left Paris, but only to fall into the hands of his enemy, the duke de la Trémoille, who imprisoned him in the castle of Sully. Rescued by the dauphin Charles, he was appointed chancellor of France on the 3rd of February 1422. He endeavoured to reconcile Burgundy and France, was a party to the selection of Arthur, earl of Richmond, as constable, but had to resign his chancellorship in favour of Regnault of Chartres; first from March 25th to August 6th 1425, and again when La Trémoille had supplanted Richmond. After the fall of La Trémoille in 1433 he returned to court, and exercised a powerful influence over affairs of state almost till his death, which took place at the castle of Beaulieu (Puy-de-Dôme) on the 25th or 26th of November 1444.