Ridolfi, Niccolò

RIDOLFI, NICCOLÒ. - Cardinal, b. in Florence on 16 July 1501, to Piero and to Contessina de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent; he was set on the ecclesiastical career as soon as Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, his uncle, was raised to the papacy under the name Leo X.

In 1517, at only 16 years of age, he received the cardinal's purple with the title of Sts. Vitus and Modestus, which he later changed to the deaconry of St. Mary in Cosmedin and finally to that of St. Mary in Via Lata. In 1518 he received the provostship of Prato, and the bishopric of Orvieto in 1520; but it was under the pontificate of his other kinsman, Clement VII, that the shower of benefices began for him: to the bishopric of Orvieto were added those of Vicenza in '24, of Forlì in '26, of Viterbo in '32, of Imola in '33; and the archbishoprics of Florence in '24 and of Salerno in '33. These benefices, and other lesser ones, assured enormous revenues to R., a large part of which he gave to the men of letters with whom he loved to surround himself. Elected legate of the Patrimony (1524), he was then sent to keep the Florentines steadfast in their loyalty (1527); but his going produced an effect contrary to the Pope's wishes, because R., through family ties, friendships, and an inclination toward the ancient liberties, showed rather favor than severity toward those who worked against the Medicean principate and the hated government of Cardinal Passerini. When the city rose against the Medici, after the sack of Rome, R. was among the small number of cardinals who, at Parma, while the Pope was besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo, attended to the affairs of the Church. As a cardinal and as a kinsman, during the siege of Florence by the papal and imperial armies, he was on the Pope's side, being also indignant against the unbridled faction that held the city in its grip. But when the city came under the tyranny of Alessandro, he ranged himself against the duke together with the exiled patriots, tacitly while the Pope lived, openly after his death. When Alessandro was killed and suc-

and when Cosimo succeeded him, together with Cardinals Salviati and Gaddi he moved with an army toward Florence to oppose that election, asserting, with the Salviati and the Strozzi, his rights as the last legitimate descendant of that branch of the Medici which had ruled his homeland. But while he, by family traditions and by the republican ideas that came to him from his humanistic studies, sincerely wished to restore to Florence its liberty and the Grand Council, Salviati was thinking of the advantages that could derive to him from his kinship with Cosimo. Thus, the cardinals being disunited, the expedition failed. Not for this did R. give up, and from Rome, under the benevolent eyes of Paul III, he continued to plot against Cosimo's principate. After the death of Paul III, R. was among the papabili, notwithstanding imperial opposition. Favored by the cardinals of the French party, he would easily have been elected had the Farnese, arbiters of the conclave, followed the recommendations of the deceased Pontiff. Instead they seemed to turn to R. only after he had left the conclave because of an indisposition. Recalled with certain promises, he was preparing to re-enter when a sudden death overtook him on 31 Jan. 1550 "at the moment closest to his elevation" (Galluzzi, Storia, I, 7). There was naturally talk of poison, given him by Cosimo or "by whoever had no other way to prevent his papacy" (B. Segni, Storia, XII). But this is at least doubtful, even though the famous physician Realdo asserted publicly, having dissected the body, that if he himself had given him the poison he would no longer have been so certain of it.

R. was of great spirit and good nature; as for liberality, the most worthy heir of Lorenzo the Magnificent and of Leo X. A disciple of Lascaris, he was most learned, especially in Greek letters; of ancient Greek and Latin codices he gathered a library, the most copious and famous that was assembled in his times. His house, full of artists and men of letters, whom he provided for, among them Donato Giannotti who dedicated to him the treatise Della Repubblica fiorentina, was called the house of wisdom. Molza, Flaminio, Bonfadio, Tolomei, Berni sang his praises. To him Trissino addressed the volume of his Rime, who was his friend as was the poetess Gambara and as was Michelangelo, who for him sculpted, not without meaning, his bust of Brutus. From his library came Machiavelli's autographs for the famous first editions of Blado. For him Valerio Belli engraved gems and Cellini chased silver, who recalled him in the Vita. In a court certainly not chaste he was of the purest morals. So much splendor of virtue appears to us stained by certain concessions, not all disinterested, that he made of some among his innumerable and rich benefices; but it seems that he, who yet knew how to show himself immune from so many vices and abuses of the time, did not know how to free himself entirely from this one.

Roberto Ridolfi