ODESCALCHI, Family. - Originally from Como. Their supposed progenitor is a GIORGIO, who lived in 1290. Many of its members held important political offices in Milan; then, from the time XI (v.), the family settled in Rome. However, LIVIO, son of CARLO, brother of the Pope, took no part in government, and the Pope was content to elevate to a duchy the possession of Ceri, which he had acquired.
In gratitude for the victory at Vienna (1683), to which the Pope contributed greatly, after the death of his uncle, Livio was created by Emperor Leopold I Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Sirmium, concessions that constituted an entail in favor of his heirs. In 1689, upon the death of Innocent XI, he was appointed General of the Church, and in turn purchased from the Orsini the Duchy of Bracciano and the lordship of Palo on the Tyrrhenian Sea. He died unmarried on 7 September 1713, leaving as his universal heir BALDASSARRE ERBA, son of his sister Lucrezia, with the obligation to assume the name and arms of the Odescalchi. The latter obtained from Charles VI confirmation of the entail, married Flaminia Borghese, thus perpetuating the line of the Odescalchi, and in 1745 purchased from the Chigi the Palazzo ai Santi Apostoli, which he completed.
Cardinals were BENEDETTO ERBA, archbishop of Milan (1712), highly deserving, created on 30 January 1713, d. 1740; ANTONIO ERBA created on 24 September 1759, and a few days later (28 September) appointed Vicar of Rome. More deservedly remembered is CARLO, b. in Rome on 5 March 1786, priest in 1808, who devoted himself zealously to popular preaching; on 10 March 1823 he was created cardinal and archbishop of Ferrara; from 1826 he returned to Rome, where
ODESCALCHI FAMILY - ODILIA
b. 10 July 1517, d. in London on 14 February 1571. Created cardinal at the age of sixteen on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin Henry to Catherine de’ Medici (1533), he participated in the conclaves that elected Paul III (1534) and Julius III (1550). As early as 1544 he was bishop-count of Beauvais, peer of France, endowed with rich abbeys and priories. In 1544 he transferred his patrimonial goods to his brothers, Coligny and d’Andelot. A member of the Royal Council, he played a part in the development of French policy under Francis I and Henry II. He took part in the suppression of the Amboise conspiracy (1560) and shortly afterward went over to Protestantism (1561). A revolt broke out against him at Beauvais; stripping himself of his ecclesiastical titles, he assumed the title of Count of Beauvais. He refused to present himself before Pope Pius IV (who on 31 March 1563 declared him deprived), and in spite took up the cardinal’s habit again, marrying on 1 December 1564 Isabella d’Hauteville, lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Savoy, and continuing to sign documents as a cardinal. Threatened during the religious wars, he fled to England, where he was treated with every consideration by Elizabeth. He died poisoned by his valet.