ARMELLINI DE' MEDICI, FRANCESCO

ARMELLINI de' MEDICI, FRANCESCO. — Cardinal, b. at Perugia or Fossato (diocese of Nocera) in 1469, d. at Rome in 1527. Son of merchants, he changed his surname from Pantalassi to that of a maternal uncle, who had educated him and left him heir to his estate. Entering the clergy, he rose through the various ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Leo X admitted him to his household, allowing him to add the name de' Medici to his own. In 1517 he was created cardinal with the title of S. Callisto and later of S. Maria in Trastevere. He was entrusted with the administration of the sees of Oppido and Gerace and was named legate of Umbria, the Marches, and later of France. In 1521 he was invested with the office of Camerlengo, which had already been entrusted to him in 1517 to replace Cardinal Raffaele Riario, who had been suspended from II. Under Clement VII he was appointed pro-vicar in place of Cardinal Pompeo Colonna. In 1525 he became archbishop of Taranto. He lost all his possessions during the sack of Rome, during which he was forced to take refuge in Castel S. Angelo, in the Pope’s company. He was buried in S. Maria in Trastevere, where he had himself prepared his tomb. He did not enjoy a good reputation because of his greed and his unchaste conduct.