CAMPEGGI, FAMIGLIA. — LORENZO, cardinal, b. at Bologna in 1474, d. at Rome on 19 July 1539. He taught law at Bologna, where he married and had children. After becoming a widower in 1510, he entered the Roman Curia as auditor of the Rota in 1511. Already on 12 Nov. 1512 he was named bishop of Feltre, a see he held until 1520. In 1514 Leo X sent him to Germany; then on 1 July 1517 he created him cardinal. In 1518 he sent him for the first time as legate to England, from which he returned the following year. On 2 Dec. he received the see of Bologna, which he held until 1525. Meanwhile, as the religious revolution spread in Germany, Clement VII sent him there as legate on 8 Jan. 1524 to attend the Diet of Nuremberg, where he met with stubborn resistance from the princes favourable to Luther, gathered the Catholic princes at Regensburg, succeeded in forming a Catholic league in July, and worked hard during the autumn and winter to improve the fortunes of Catholicism. He returned to Rome in Oct. 1525. Meanwhile he had been given in commendam the see of Salisbury in England (2 Dec. 1524), and when Henry VIII manifested his intention to divorce Catherine of Aragon, Clement VII on 8 June 1528 appointed him his legate, so that together with Cardinal Tommaso Wolsey, archbishop of York, he might examine this difficult case and judge it according to justice. It then seemed advisable to prolong the proceedings in the hope that the king might change his mind; the legate, having arrived in London on 8 Oct., began a regular trial in the following May. But the queen produced the legal dispensation of Julius II for her marriage to the king and appealed directly to the Pope; Clement VII then took the case to himself, and the trial was suspended on 23 July; in September Campeggio left England; he subsequently lost his see of Salisbury.
When Charles V convened a new diet at Augsburg to deal with the religious disturbances in Germany, Clement VII on 9 March 1530 designated Campeggio as his legate at the emperor’s side, entrusting him with special instructions. At that diet the Confessio Augustana was proposed, which became the profession of faith of the Lutherans; Charles V saw his efforts for religious union frustrated and was persuaded that only a council could put an end to the doctrinal strife.
Campeggio successively held in commendam the sees of Huesca in Spain (Sept. 1530–32) and of Parenzo in Istria (June 1533–37) and the archbishopric of Crete (June 1534–Jan. 1536). On 20 March 1538 Paul III appointed him legate together with Cardinals Simonetta and
Alandro to the council that was to meet at Vicenza, and with them he made his entry into that city on 12 May; but the council did not then take place, and Campeggio returned to Rome, where he died, leaving a reputation as a shrewd and faithful diplomat, though not always fortunate.
The Campeggi were truly a family of prelates. TOMMASO, brother of Cardinal Lorenzo, b. at Pavia in 1481, was archdeacon of Bologna, then bishop of Feltre, which he resigned on 6 Apr. 1546. He was the first prelate present at Trent for the Council of 1545, and drew up opinions and consultations during the Council, some of which were printed. He served as nuncio to Venice and to Charles V. He died at Rome on 21 Jan. 1564 (cf. Fantuzzi, op. cit., p. 65). A son of Cardinal Lorenzo was GIOVANNI BATTISTA, named bishop of Majorca in a designation by Charles V on 25 Sept. 1531. He resigned in Sept. 1561 and died at Bologna on 7 Apr. 1583, where he had generously provided for the city’s religious institutions (Fantuzzi, op. cit., p. 36). ALESSANDRO, another son of Cardinal Lorenzo, b. in 1504, d. at Rome on 21 Sept. 1554, was bishop of Bologna from 19 March 1526 to 1553. Pro-legate at Avignon in 1541, he combated the Waldensian heresy there. In 1544 he was named clerk of the Apostolic Chamber, and on 20 Nov. 1551 was created cardinal by Julius III (Fantuzzi, op. cit., p. 28).
Omitting other figures, we may recall: CAMILLO, a Dominican theologian, b. at Bologna early in the 16th century, d. in 1569. He taught theology in various convents of his Order. He was inquisitor at Faenza (1562), at Ferrara, and at Mantua, at a moment (1567) when relations between the Duke and Pius V were very strained. With his energy he restored the authority of the tribunal of the faith. He took part in the Council of Trent (third period) as theologian to Pius IV. On 14 May 1568 he was named bishop of Nepi and Sutri.
Besides his discourses at the Council of Trent, published in 1562, he wrote: De primatu Romani Pontificis contra M. Flacium Illyr. (ed. in Bibl. Max. Pont., VII, Rome 1697). He published with his own commentary the treatise De Haereticis by Ugolino Zanchini (Mantua 1567).