ALBORNOZ, GIL (Egidio) ÁLVAREZ CARRILLO de. – Spanish cardinal, politician, and warrior, born at Cuenca in 1310 of a most noble family, descended on his father’s side from the kings of Castile and on his mother’s side from those of Aragon; died at Viterbo on 23 August 1367. Having entered the ecclesiastical state at an early age, he studied for some time at the University of Toulouse, but shortly afterward his sovereign Alfonso XI summoned him to the court as chaplain and counsellor, having him appointed in 1338 archbishop primate of Toledo. In his see he distinguished himself through virtue and pastoral zeal, as shown by the councils held at Toledo in 1339 and at Alcalá in 1347. Since at that time the war against the Saracens, who still possessed part of the Iberian Peninsula and continually threatened the Christian monarchies, was regarded as being of vital interest to the homeland and to religion, A., as primate of Spain, had to take part in the various battles that King Alfonso undertook against them. He distinguished himself particularly at Tarifa, where a splendid victory was won over the armies of the sultan of Morocco and the king of Granada.
With the death of Alfonso XI in 1350 and the immediate accession to the throne of his son Peter I, called the Cruel, A.’s situation changed completely. Having fallen from favour with the despotic and furious Castilian monarch, he had to leave his homeland forever and take refuge at the papal court of Avignon. Well acquainted with the merits of the persecuted Spanish archbishop, Clement VI, on 17 December of that same year, 1350, created him cardinal of the title of S. Clemente. Six years later he exchanged it for the suburbicarian see of Sabina, having previously resigned that of Toledo.
When Pope Innocent VI was elected at Avignon in 1352, thought was immediately given to the reconquest of the Papal States, which were dominated by a series of petty tyrants who had in practice become independent. In Rome, the rule of the popular tribune Cola di Rienzo had been overthrown (v.), but in 1353 a new tyrant, Francesco Baroncelli, had seized control of the city. The undertaking of restoring papal authority in the States of the Church appeared exceedingly difficult, since the rebels had considerable support in other Italian states. Innocent VI entrusted it to A. in 1353. Appointed papal legate and commander of the small army assembled by the Holy See in Italy, he began, through negotiations, to win over the powerful governments of Milan and Tuscany, so as to have his rear secure on the march toward the Papal States. Skillfully exploiting the mutual jealousies of the lords, he succeeded in bringing all Umbria and Latium to obedience. Knowing the sympathy that a large part of the Roman people still felt for the fugitive Cola di Rienzo, he recalled him from imprisonment in Avignon, appointing him senator of Rome; but the tribune’s second government soon ended in the most tragic manner.
By 1357 A. had fully restored papal authority in the Marches and in a large part of Romagna, following the defeat of Malatesta of Rimini, Gentile da Mogliano at Fermo, and Francesco Ordelaffi at Cesena, and was about to bring his undertaking to a victorious conclusion when he was relieved of his mandate and ordered to hand over his powers to Androin de la Roche, abbot of Cluny, a pious and just man but inexperienced in the art of war. A. returned to Avignon, where he was received by the Pontiff and the Curia with the greatest honours; but in the following year he had to return to Italy, because under the government of the Cluniac abbot several powerful men whom A. had already defeated raised their rebellious heads again. Thus the Ordelaffi had regained power at Forlì; Spoleto and Perugia had followed their example, and in Latium itself Giovanni di Vico was exercising despotic rule. A. succeeded in a short time in crushing the rebellion and also in retaking Bologna, which was protected by the powerful Bernabò Visconti. He was already on the point of defeating the lord of Milan when, in 1363, the new pope Urban V, very submissive to the promptings of the French cardinals, appointed the well-known abbot of Cluny legate for Upper Italy; he arrived with orders to conclude peace with Visconti. This in fact took place in 1364, to A.’s profound displeasure, because, although Bologna had been restored to the Holy See, the terms were not very honourable for papal authority. It is certain, in any case, that without A.’s victories Visconti would not have yielded. With papal sovereignty restored throughout the Papal States through the work of the Spanish cardinal, Urban V was able in 1366 to announce the return of the papal See to Rome and to reach it the following year, after being greeted at Tarquinia by the meritorious cardinal, who died a few months later. A.’s body, first buried at Assisi, was later transferred to the cathedral of Toledo, where it still rests in a sumptuous mausoleum.
Cardinal A., besides possessing eminent virtues and political and military genius, had a great love of the sciences; this is demonstrated by his library at Toledo and by the distinguished College of S. Clemente, founded and endowed by him at Bologna for Spanish students of law, which still exists. His qualities as an excellent governor are manifested chiefly in the Liber Constitutionnum Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae, named after him the Egidian Constitutions (v. below).
Giuseppe M. Pou y Marti
THE EGIDIAN CONSTITUTIONS. - They were promulgated at the general Parliament of Fano on April 29–30 and May 1, 1357. Ten additional constitutions were issued by A. himself in 1363, as a supplement to book VI; and various additions were made to the legislative text in subsequent times, until Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, in 1542, produced a new, updated, and revised edition or compilation. Nevertheless, the Constitutiones of Egidio, also known as the Constitutiones Marchiae Anconitanae, remained substantially in force—albeit with the inevitable changes brought by the passage of centuries—until nearly the dissolution of the Papal States, to which they imparted that juridical-administrative character that distinguished it from the other Italian states (Ed. by P. Sella, Rome 1912).
The text of the Constitutions is divided into six books. The first reproduces the letters of commission granted to A. by the Pontiff, concerning the powers of the vicariate and legation; the second contains the constitutions regarding the powers and jurisdiction of the rector, officials, and magistrates of the provinces; the third addresses the specific attributions of the rector and the spiritual judge, as well as the preservation and legal protection of the rights of the Church; the fourth collects the norms of penal law; the fifth and sixth deal with procedure. In total, there are 193 chapters, many of which summarize different constitutions.
A.'s primary intent was to create a central government that would guarantee the minimum essential for the unity and life of the State, while respecting and tolerating broad autonomies of cities or powerful families, to whom viceregal power was left in some places. Another aim of the constitutions was to strengthen and unify the judicial power, to save the State from the grave disorder and unbridled individualism that threatened its fate. The territory was divided into provinces, each headed by a rector, assisted by judges of the general curia and judges of the presidato. Each province also had a treasurer, who collected what was due to the Apostolic Chamber, a marshal with his armed men for executive measures, and a certain number of advocates, notaries, and curial officials.
On the whole, A.'s code combines the qualities of strength and moderation that were characteristic of its author. Without decisively breaking with the past and maintaining a just mean, the Egidian constitutions ensured for the State of the Church a life that was generally orderly and prosperous.
ALBRECHT, VON: EYB: V. EYB, ALBRECHT VON.