Everything about Clement Vii totally explained
Pope Clement VII (
May 26,
1478 –
September 25,
1534), born
Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a
cardinal from
1513 to
1523 and was
Pope from
1523 to
1534.
Early life
He was born in
Florence one month after his father,
Giuliano de' Medici, was assassinated in the
Pazzi Conspiracy. Although his parents hadn't had a formal marriage, a canon law loophole allowing for the parents to have been betrothed
per sponsalia de presenti meant that Giulio was considered legitimate. He was thus the nephew of
Lorenzo the Magnificent, who educated him in his youth.
Giulio was made a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua, and, upon the election of his cousin Giovanni de' Medici to the pontificate as
Pope Leo X (1513–21), he soon became a powerful figure in Rome. Upon his cousin's accession to the
papacy, Giulio became his principal minister and confidant, especially in the maintenance of the
Medici interest at
Florence as archbishop of that city. On
23 September 1513, he was made
cardinal and he was consecrated on
29 September. He had the credit of being the main director of papal policy during the whole of Leo X's pontificate.
Election
At Leo X's death in
1521, Cardinal Medici was considered especially
papabile in the protracted conclave. Although unable to gain the Papacy for himself or his ally
Alessandro Farnese (both preferred candidates of Emperor
Charles V (1519–58)), he took a leading part in determining the unexpected election of the short-lived
Pope Adrian VI (1522–23), with whom he also wielded formidable influence. Following Adrian VI's death on
14 September 1523, Medici finally succeeded in being elected Pope Clement VII in the next
conclave (
November 19,
1523).
He brought to the Papal throne a high reputation for political ability, and possessed in fact all the accomplishments of a wily diplomat. However, he was considered and indifferent to what went on around him, including the ongoing
Protestant reformation.
Papacy
At his accession, Clement VII sent the
Archbishop of Capua,
Nikolaus Cardinal von Schönberg, to the Kings of
France,
Spain and
England, in order to bring the war then raging in Europe to a peace. But his attempt failed.
Continental and Medici politics
Francis I of France's conquest of
Milan in 1524 prompted the Pope to quit the
Imperial-Spanish side and to ally himself with other Italian princes, including the
Republic of Venice, and France in the January of 1525. This treaty granted the definitive acquisition of
Parma and
Piacenza for the
Papal States, the rule of Medici over Florence and the free passage of the French troops to Naples. This policy in itself was sound and patriotic, but Clement VII's zeal soon cooled; by his want of foresight and unseasonable economy he laid himself open to an attack from the turbulent Roman barons, which obliged him to invoke the mediation of the Emperor. One month later, however, Francis I was crushed and imprisoned in the
Battle of Pavia, and Clement VII veered back to his former engagements with Charles V, signing an alliance with the viceroy of Naples.
But he was to change sides again when Francis I was freed after the
Peace of Madrid (January 1526): the Pope entered in the
League of Cognac together with France,
Venice and
Francesco Sforza of
Milan. Clement VII issued an invective against Charles V, who in reply defined him a "wolf" instead of a "shepherd", menacing the summoning of a council about the
Lutheran question.
Sack of Rome
The Pope's wavering politics also caused the rise of the Imperial party inside the Curia:
Pompeo Cardinal Colonna's soldiers pillaged the
Vatican City and gained control of the whole of Rome in his name. The humiliated Pope promised therefore to bring the Papal States to the Imperial side again. But soon after, Colonna left the siege and went to Naples, not keeping his promises and dismissing the Cardinal from his charge. From this point on, Clement VII could do nothing but follow the fate of the French party to end.
Soon he found himself alone in Italy too, as the duke of
Ferrara had sided with the Imperial army, permitting to the horde of
Landsknechts led by
Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, and
Georg von Frundsberg, to reach
Rome without harm.
Charles of Bourbon died during the long siege, and his troops, unpaid and left without a guide, felt free to
ravage Rome from
May 6,
1527. The innumerable series of murders, rapes and vandalism that followed ended forever the splendours of the Renaissance Rome. Clement VII, who had displayed no more resolution in his military than in his political conduct, was shortly afterwards (
June 6) obliged to surrender himself together with the castle of
Sant'Angelo, where he'd taken refuge. He agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000
ducati in exchange for his life; conditions included the cession of
Parma,
Piacenza,
Civitavecchia and
Modena to the Holy Roman Empire. (Only the last could be occupied in fact.) At the same time, Venice took advantage of his situation to capture
Cervia and
Ravenna while
Sigismondo Malatesta returned in
Rimini.
Clement was kept as a prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo for six months. After having bought some Imperial officers, he escaped disguised as a peddler, and took shelter in
Orvieto, and then in
Viterbo. He came back to a depopulated and devastated Rome only in October 1528.
Meanwhile, in
Florence, Republican enemies of the Medici took advantage of the chaos to again expel the Pope's family from the city.
In June of the following year the warring parts signed the
Peace of Barcelona. The Papal States regained some cities and Charles V agreed to restore the Medici to power in Florence. In 1530, after an eleven-month
siege, the
Tuscan city capitulated, and Clement VII installed his illegitimate son
Alessandro as Duke. Subsequently the Pope followed a policy of subservience to the Emperor, endeavouring on the one hand to induce him to act with severity against the
Lutherans in
Germany, and on the other to elude his demands for a general council.
English Reformation
One momentous consequence of this dependence on Charles V was the break with the
Kingdom of England occasioned by Clement VII's refusal in 1533 to sanction the annulment of
Henry VIII of England's (1509–47) marriage to
Catherine of Aragon. Clement VII used various stalling tactics and delays. He paid spies to steal Henry VIII's love letters to his fiancée,
Anne Boleyn, to prove that they were lovers. However, no evidence could be uncovered and even Clement VII had to grudgingly admit that all impartial evidence from England suggested that
Anne Boleyn was strong-willed but morally upright. Clement VII's procrastination on the issue ultimately resulted in the English Parliament passing the
Act of Supremacy (1534) that established the independent
Church of England.
Appearance
During his half-year imprisonment in 1527, Clement VII grew a full beard as a sign of mourning for the
sack of Rome. This was a violation of Catholic
canon law, which required priests to be clean-shaven; however, it had the precedent of the beard which
Pope Julius II had worn for nine months in 1511-1512 as a similar sign of mourning for the loss of the Papal city of Bologna.
Unlike Julius II, however, Clement VII kept his beard until his death in 1534. His example in wearing a beard was followed by his successor,
Pope Paul III, and indeed by twenty-four popes who followed him, down to
Pope Innocent XII, who died in 1700. Clement VII was thus the unintentional originator of a fashion that lasted well over a century.
Death and character
Towards the end of his life Clement VII once more gave indications of a leaning towards a French alliance, which was prevented by his death in September 1534. He was buried in
Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
As for the arts, Pope Clement VII is remembered for having ordered, just a few days before his death,
Michelangelo's painting of
The Last Judgment in the
Sistine Chapel.
Further Information
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