RIARIO, FAMILY. - It began its fortunes from the fact that Paolo R. married Bianca, sister of Francesco della Rovere, the future Sixtus IV.
Of their two sons Pietro and Girolamo, the first, PIETRO, having become a Friar Minor, taught in Venice, was appointed by his uncle, as soon as he was elected pontiff, bishop of Treviso, on 4 Sept. 1471, and then created cardinal of St. Sixtus on 16 Dec. 1471, although he was only 26 years old. He led a lavish life as a great lord and patron, thanks to the benefices with which he was enriched, and he did not leave Rome except for a journey to Florence, Milan, and Venice. At his early death, on 5 Jan. 1473, he held in administration the patriarchate of Constantinople (from 23 Nov. 1472, after the death of Bessarion), the bishopric of Valencia-Die (from 25 Sept. 1472) and of Split (from 28 Apr. 1473), the archbishoprics of Seville (from 25 June 1473) and of Florence (from 20 July 1473), the bishopric of Mende (from 3 Nov. 1473): he had given up that of Treviso in this year; numerous too were the rich minor benefices that the Pope had granted him (cfr. P. Paschini, Leonello Chieregato, Rome 1935, p. 23 ff.).
GIROLAMO, with the financial help of his brother, aimed to make himself powerful in the lay state. Created count of Bosco by Galeazzo Maria Sforza, he married Caterina, his natural daughter; the Pope invested him with the lordship of Imola, which for 40,000 scudi he had redeemed from Galeazzo himself, and obtained for him from Louis XI the county of Valence.
The Roman people granted him Roman citizenship on 15 Dec. 1477, and Girolamo conducted himself in the city as « Ecclesiae imperator », governing it in his own way. To bring down the power of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence he had a part in the Pazzi conspiracy and in the killing of Giuliano (26 Apr. 1478), and therefore in the war that followed, as in the other Italian political contests of those years. Lord of Forlì on 4 Sept. 1480 and captain general of the Church on 8 Sept., he sided with the Orsini against the Colonna, of whom he had the protonotary Lorenzo, head of the house, sent to execution (30 June 1484). He ended up killed at Forlì on 14 Apr. 1488. The widow Caterina managed for a moment to save the lordship for her son Ottaviano, until she was overwhelmed by Cesare Borgia.
RAFAELE, son of Valentina R., sister of card. Pietro and wife of Antonio Sansoni; more than by his paternal surname he is known by that of the R. By his great-uncle he was created cardinal deacon of St. George at the age of 17, on 10 Dec. 1477.
He was a guest of the Pazzi when the conspiracy against Lorenzo de' Medici broke out in Apr. 1478, and he ran the risk of losing his life in the reaction that followed. He held in commendam the bishopric of Cuneo (from 13 Aug. 1479 to 1482) and the archbishopric of Pisa on 17 Sept. 1479, which he held until 1499, when he ceded it to his brother Cesare; the bishopric of Salamanca (1482-83), that of Tréguier (1480-83), that of Osma (1483-93); from 1483 he was also camerlengo of Holy Church. He was in the meantime legate to Perugia (1478) and in the Marches (1480-81).
Alexander VI gave him in commendam the bishopric of Viterbo on 24 Aug. 1498 (which R. held until 1506); but Rafaele on 21 Nov. 1499 left Rome and did not return there until the death of the Pope. From Julius II, his uncle, he held in commendam Arezzo (7 July 1508-11) and then Savona (5 Dec. 1511-16). Under Leo X, for having in some way compromised himself in the conspiracy of card. Petrucci, he was shut up in Castel Sant'Angelo (3 June 1517) and subjected to trial; he came out of it free only by paying a large sum and renouncing some benefices (24 June). He had been bishop of Ostia from 20 Jan. 1511 when he died in Rome on 9 July 1521 and was buried near his own at the SS. Apostoli. Through his work arose the great Palace in which he incorporated the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso and which was later destined for the Apostolic Chancery.
ALESSANDRO R., of the Bolognese stock, auditor of the Apostolic Chamber, was appointed patriarch of Alexandria on 8 Nov. 1570 and then created cardinal on 21 Febr. 1578 by Gregory XIII; on 23 March 1580 he was sent as legate to Philip II king of Spain; in 1581 he was legate to Perugia and in Umbria; he was prefect of the Segnatura di giustizia; d. in Rome on 18 July 1585.
Last of the Bologna branch was a FERDINANDO who in 1662 named as his heirs the R.-Sforza of Naples; from this branch came TOMMASO, b. in Naples on 8 Jan. 1782; he held the government of Forlì and then of Pesaro-Urbino, was master of the Chamber of Pius VII who created him cardinal deacon on 10 March 1823; as first of the deacons he announced to the people the election of Pius IX; he was cardinal camerlengo and d. in Rome on 17 March 1857. - See pl. XLIV.
