DELLA ROVERE, FAMIGLIA. - A noble house of very humble origin in Savona, whose fortunes began with the elevation to the papacy in 1471 of FRANCESCO D. R. under the name of Sixtus IV.
The Pope's brothers were RAFAELLO and BARTOLOMEO; his sisters: BIANCA, who married Paolo Riario (v.) and LUCHINA, who married Gian Guglielmo Basso.
A son of Bartolomeo was LEONARDO, who by his uncle
The children of Raffaello were: GIULIANO, cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli, later Pope Julius II; GIOVANNI, made lord of the vicariates of Sinigallia and Mondavio, prefect of Rome in 1475 and in Dec. 1484 captain general of the Church, who married Giovanna, daughter of Federico di Montefeltro, lord of Urbino; BARTOLOMEO, bishop of Massa (Jan. 8, 1472), then of Ferrara (July 11, 1474), castellan of Castel S. Angelo from 1487 (d. 1494); LUCHINETTA, wife of Gabriele Gara, and later, in 1480, of the Lucchese Gian Francesco Franciotti. By him Luchinetta had GALEOTTO, who was created cardinal by Julius II on Nov. 29, 1503, vice-chancellor in 1505, d. Sept. 11, 1507; and SISTO, created cardinal on Sept. 11, 1507, d. March 8, 1517, also vice-chancellor and moreover penitentiary. Both held bishoprics in commendam. The children of Luchina, who married Basso, were GIROLAMO, bishop of Recanati (Oct. 5, 1476), cardinal on Dec. 10, 1477, d. Sept. 1, 1507; and ANTONIO, who married Caterina Marzana, niece of the king of Naples, d. Aug. 12, 1480 (cf. Pastor, II, p. 454 sqq.).
On the other hand, the two brothers from Turin did not belong to the relatives of Sixtus IV: CRISTOFORO D. R., archbishop of Tarentaise (1472), created cardinal on Sept. 10, 1477, d. Feb. 1, 1478, and DOMENICO, created cardinal on Feb. 10, 1478, d. April 22, 1501.
When Giuliano D. R. was created Pope Julius II, he appointed as cardinal of SS. Apostoli, on Nov. 29, 1503, CLEMENTE Grosso D. R., his relative, who had been bishop of Mende since Oct. 27, 1483. Upon the latter's death in the Curia on Aug. 18, 1504, he created his brother LEONARDO cardinal on Dec. 1, 1505; Leonardo had been bishop of Agen since Dec. 9, 1487, and in 1511 he also appointed him penitentiary. Leonardo, who had resigned from Agen in 1519, died in the Curia on Sept. 17, 1520.
Upon the death of Guidubaldo, son of Federico duke of Urbino, without heirs in 1508, Julius II invested FRANCESCO MARIA, son of Giovanni D. R. of Sinigallia, with that duchy. In August 1508 he married Eleonora, daughter
His brother was GIULIO, whom Paolo III created cardinal at 16 years of age on 27 July 1547 and published on 9 Jan. following. Giulio received the bishopric of Urbino on 24 Sept. 1547 in commendam, then that of Vicenza on 13 Sept. 1560 and finally the archbishopric of Ravenna on 6 March 1566; d. at 46 years of age in Urbino on 3 Sept. 1578. The line of these D. R. became extinct with FRANCESCO MARIA II, son of Guidubaldo, d. 28 Apr. 1631; and the duchy returned under the direct rule of the Apostolic See. The celebrated Urbinate library as well, through the efforts of the popes, left Urbino to enter the Vaticana, of which it forms a special collection; the prefecture of Roma, hereditary in the D. R., passed to Taddeo Barberini (Pastor, XIII, p. 272). - Vedi tav. LXXXVII.