GHERARDI, JACOPO. - Apostolic secretary. Born at Volterra on 25 July 1434. He went to Rome in 1458, and from '63 he assisted Cardinal Ammannati. On the latter's death (1479) he was appointed apostolic secretary and, shortly afterwards, chamberlain of honor to Sixtus IV. Having retired to Volterra in 1484, he was to be recalled from there three years later.
In fact, when war broke out between Innocent VIII and Ferrante I of Aragon following the famous "conspiracy of the barons," the Pope felt the need to send a diplomat to Naples who would contest in his name the King's right to punish the rebels, and would claim the feudal census of the Kingdom. The choice fell on Pietro Menzi of Vicenza, bishop of Cesena, and it was precisely the G. who was placed at his side. But the mission failed to overcome Ferrante's unyielding attitude (July-Aug. 1487). Then, as the Pope wished to draw a net of hostilities around the Aragonese, in Sept. of the same year the G. was sent first to Florence, and then (Oct. 1487) to Milan. Despite the diplomatic skill of the man chosen for this task, the papal aims failed once again, and instead the balancing policy of Lorenzo de' Medici triumphed. In 1491, at the invitation of Lorenzo de' Medici, the G. began to educate the Magnificent's son, Giovanni, already a cardinal and destined to ascend the papal throne under the name of Leo X. On the death of Innocent VIII the G. returned to Volterra, and there he devoted himself to writing a diary of the events that occurred from 1479 onward, a most important source for the history of this period (it stops at 1434: ed. edited by E. Carusi in the new reprint of the RIS, XXIII, III). In 1512 he was appointed bishop of Segni. When Cardinal de' Medici was created pope, his episcopal see was changed to the more important one of Aquino (1513) and three years later, in Sept. 1516, the G. died.
Bibliography4 worksBesides Carusi's introduction to the op. cit., cf.: id., Dispacci e lettere di Giacomo G. (Studi e testi, 21), Rome 1909. For an orientation
BIBL.: Besides Carusi's introduction to the op. cit., cf.: id., Dispacci e lettere di Giacomo G. (Studi e testi, 21), Rome 1909. For an orientation on the period of the G.'s diplomatic activity cf.: P. Fedele, La pace del 1486 tra Ferdinando d'Aragona ed Innocenzo VIII, in Arch. stor. nap., 30 (1905); L. Volpicella, Regis Ferdinandi I Instructionum liber, Naples 1916; G. B. Picotti, La giovinezza di Leone X, Milan 1927; R. Palmarocchi, La politica italiana di Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence 1933.
De, Frede Carlo. “Gherardi, jacopo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, col. 296. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/gherardi-jacopo.
MLA
De, Frede Carlo. “Gherardi, jacopo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 296. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/gherardi-jacopo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_gherardi_jacopo,
author = {De, Frede Carlo},
title = {Gherardi, jacopo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {296},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gherardi-jacopo}
}
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