Capodiferro, Girolamo

CAPODIFERRO, GEROLAMO. - Cardinal, b. in 1502, of the Recanati family, Neapolitan nobles; he assumed the maternal surname of C. Having entered as a young man the court of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (later Pope Paolo III), he soon became part of the Roman Curia. In 1537 he was nuncio in Portugal, where there were serious disputes with King Giovanni III, especially concerning converted Jews; he then went to France, where he worked strenuously to induce Francesco I to accept the bull convoking the Council of Trent. In the same year, appointed treasurer of the Apostolic Camera, he was charged, together with Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, with collecting more money from churches and other places for the war against the Turks. Appointed cardinal, with the title of S. Giorgio in Velabro, on 9 Dec. 1544, he was datary and subsequently governor of Romagna. He returned to France as legate (1547) in order to interest Francesco I in the Catholic restoration of England, and again in Apr. 1553 to Enrico II, to negotiate peace between him and Emperor Carlo V, but without obtaining anything; at the beginning of Oct. he returned to Italy. In Rome he built the magnificent palace later acquired by the Spada. He d. in Rome on 1 Dec. 1559 and is buried in S. Maria della Pace.