ERSKINE, CARLO. - Cardinal, b. in Rome on 13 February 1743, of a most noble family originating from Scotland, d. in Paris on 11 March 1811. Having devoted himself to the practice of law, he became renowned for the legal acumen with which he conducted cases and was hailed as a restorer of fine forensic writing because of his perfect command of the Latin language. Admitted to the prelature, he was subsequently appointed by Pio VI consistorial advocate and auditor of His Holiness.
On 6 June 1793 Cardinal Secretary of State Francesco Saverio De Zelada designated him representative of the Holy See at a congress which was to be held by the power at war with France. Pio VI sent him to London as his representative at the court of England, and upon the Pope’s death he celebrated solemn obsequies in his memory in the church of S. Patrizio, delivering a funeral address in English, which he had printed; this was the first time after the Reformation that funeral honours were rendered to a pontiff in the city of London.
He also acquired particular merits in regard to the Congregation of Propaganda Fide and the Catholic missions. Created cardinal and reserved in pectore by Pio VII in the Consistory of 3 February 1801, his appointment was published on 17 January 1803, and he was assigned the deaconry of S. Maria in Portico. For some time he held the Secretariat of Briefs, and during the Napoleonic occupation, having gone to Paris, E. was among the cardinals who took part in the marriage of Napoleone and Maria Luisa.