BORSANO (BROSSANO), SIMONE DI

SIMONE DI BORSANO (BROSSANO). — Cardinal. Of a Milanese family, he became a doctor of both civil and canon law, of which he was later a distinguished teacher. He was archdeacon of Bologna when, on 18 July 1371, he was appointed archbishop of Milan, though he remained in the service of the Avignonese Curia. He left this see when Gregory XI created him cardinal of SS. Giovanni e Paolo on 20 December 1375. He took part in the conclave that elected Urban VI in April 1378. When the ultramontane cardinals began their intrigues against Urban, Borsano, together with Cardinals Orsini and Corsini—the only Italians—was entrusted by Urban with negotiations to avert an open rebellion; but he joined in the rebels’ scheme and concurred in the election of the antipope Clement VII. Having lost all hope of reconciliation, he went to Nice, where he died on 27 August 1381 and was buried there. Commentaries by him on the Digest and the Clementines are recorded.