Cesarini, Giuliano

CESARINI, GIULIANO. - Cardinal, b. in 1398, he did his studies in Perugia, taught canon law in Padua (where he had as pupils Nicholas of Cusa and Domenico Capranica). He was presented by Card. Branda to Pope Martin V, who, having appreciated his high gifts of feeling and of doctrine, created him cardinal on May 24, 1426 (the appointment, however, was published only in 1430). The same Martin V appointed him on Jan. 1, 1431 legate of the Apostolic See for the direction of the Crusade against the Hussites, and after a month designated him to preside over the Council of Basel.

It is known how the Council was convoked for July 1431 and how Pope Eugene IV ordered its dissolution in Dec. of the same year, suspecting among other things that at Basel the pro-conciliar and anti-papal tracks of that of Constance were being followed: the Pope's measure was in fact too hasty and unjustified; C. himself, on Jan. 13, 1432, in a sincere and fervent letter begged the Pope to withdraw the bull: would not the Pope's act have outlined the idea of an always incorrigible clergy? said C. among other things; and the Pope withdrew the bull. Five years later, the political situation (the emperor Sigismund supported the Council against the Pope) and the machinations of the Basilians made the situation extremely delicate for C., who, after a useless attempt of conciliation and the Pope's order to transfer the Council to Ferrara, he left Basel. In the new seat of Ferrara and the subsequent one of Florence, C. worked with extreme energy and great authority for the act of union with the Greeks. C.'s eventful life came to an end with the leadership of the Crusade against the Turks, which he won on 3 Nov. 1443 at Niš; because of the separate peace of the Hungarians with the Turks at Szeged (July 1444), C. found himself in a difficult situation, so much so that the Turks succeeded in defeating the Christians at Varna (10 Nov. 1444); C. was killed in the flight after the military disaster. A man of action and a keen diplomat, he is among the finest figures of his time, just as Vespasiano da Bisticci describes him to us.

Massimo Petrocchi