Castellesi, Adriano - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 596

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

CASTELLESI, ADRIANO. — Cardinal, also known as A. da Corneto after the place where he was born, ca. 1458–59. D. in December 1521.

He went to Rome, where he succeeded in making his abilities appreciated; he entered the court of Innocent VIII, first as squire and apostolic notary, then as an ecclesiastic. Entrusted with a mission to Scotland, he had to remain in England, where he enjoyed the favor of Henry VII (1488). In 1490 he returned to that kingdom as collector; in 1493 Alexander VI confirmed him there as nuncio, and C. was able to amass great wealth there. In 1494 he was again in Rome as a cleric of the Apostolic Camera; in 1497 he was secret secretary and protonotary; in 1498 he was sent to France; on 27 September 1500 he was appointed treasurer general; on 14 February 1502 he received the bishopric of Hereford; finally, Alexander VI created him cardinal of S. Crisogono on 31 May 1503.

Under Julius II, C.’s fortunes were quite different. Nevertheless, on 2 August 1504 he transferred from Hereford to the much wealthier bishopric of Bath and Wells. In 1506 he accompanied the Pope on his journey toward Bologna. But in 1507, after falling out with Julius II, he fled Rome, taking refuge in Venice and from there in Trentino (1509).

He was among the adherents of the conspiracy of Cardinal Petrucci (1517) against Pope Leo X, driven by the ambition to obtain the tiara that a prophecy had foretold for him. The Pope punished him with a fine of 25,000 ducats; yet he did not feel safe and took refuge once again in Venice (July 1517), nor did he wish to return despite the broadest guarantees offered to him.

In England, Cardinal Wolsey, archbishop of York and chancellor, had long been plotting against him and urging the Pope to issue an exemplary condemnation. Leo X, after unsuccessfully inviting him to return, deposed him from all ecclesiastical dignities on 5 July 1518 and confiscated all his possessions.

Upon the death of Leo X, C. set out for Rome to participate in the Conclave, but during this journey he disappeared without leaving any trace.

BIBL.: Episodes and biographical references concerning C. in J. S. Brewer, Letters and Papers Henry VIII, I, Londra 1862; II, there 1864; III, there 1867 (cf. indexes s. V. Corneto Hadrian de); R. Brown, Calendar of State papers: Venice, II, Londra 1867; III, there 1869 (cf. indexes). Literature: Joh. Burckard, Lib. Notarum, in Rev. Ital. Script., XXXII, 1. Città di Castello 1907 and II, there 1911; G. Ferri, Epistolae adversus Alambertium. Praecedit commentarius de rebus gestis et scriptis Hadriani C. card., Faenza 1771; B. Gebhardt, Adrian von Corneto, Breslavia 1886; Pastor, III, IV, 1 and II (v. indexes); A. Ferrajoli, Il matrimonio di A. C.,

in Archiv. Soc. romana di storia patria, 42 (1919), p. 295 ff.; id., La congiura dei cardinali contro Leone X, Roma 1919, especially chapters 5 and 10. Renata Orazi Avacada