RIDOLFI, ROBERTO. – Born in Florence on 18 November 1531, to Pagnozzo and Maddalena Gondi; died there in 1612. Having moved to London around 1562, he became head of a prosperous banking firm; but his intelligence, connections, and notable diplomatic qualities soon turned him toward greater enterprises.
Through the bank’s commercial dealings, R. had the convenient opportunity of corresponding with foreign countries without arousing suspicion. Those English nobles who wished to restore their homeland to the Catholic faith turned to him and chose him as their intermediary with the Pontiff; who, having ascertained his abilities (Adriani, Istoria dei suoi tempi, XXI, 4), appointed him secret nuncio: a dangerous assignment in those troubled times. As early as 1569, accused of complicity in the rebellion of the Northern Earls because he had paid them large sums, he was
imprisoned and subjected to close examination; but, through his steadfastness and the help of powerful friendships among Queen Elizabeth’s councillors, he was able to persuade the judges of his innocence and justify the payments made as ordinary commercial transactions. Cleared of the accusations, he formed even closer ties with Cecil and Walsingham, convinced that he was deeply devoted to Elizabeth. This encouraged him to undertake still greater risks.
Beginning in 1570, in fact, R. was the moving spirit behind the conspiracy that bears his name (“the R. plot”), whose aim was the deposition of Elizabeth and the accession to the throne of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, who was to marry the Duke of Norfolk. It was R. who received from Pius V the dangerous assignment of publishing in England the famous bull of 25 February 1570, by which the Pope declared Elizabeth deposed and released her subjects from their obligations of loyalty. Having received from Rome as many as eighty copies, printed and manuscript, he arranged for their dissemination in London and various places throughout the kingdom. As the English Catholics’ spirits were inflamed by this publication, those at their head urged R. to conclude the negotiations, since he acted as intermediary between them, the Pope, Philip II, and the Duke of Alba. On 24 March 1571, commissioned by the Duke of Norfolk and the Queen of Scotland, he left
England to finalize the agreements with the Pope and the King of Spain. At Brussels, with the Duke of Alba, who was to be the military arm of the conspiracy, he encountered nothing but great coldness. R. then proceeded to Rome, where he received a great and joyful welcome from Pius V. Having easily obtained from the Pope everything his principals had requested, R. went to Spain carrying new and fervent papal commissions. He was then ordered to return to Flanders, to the ever-hostile and dilatory Duke of Alba; but there he received news that the principal conspirators had been arrested, including the Duke of Norfolk. The latter paid for his ill-fated boldness with his life, R. with the confiscation of all his considerable possessions. Having returned once more to Rome to report on his activities, he received ample recognition from Pius V. papal court, before sending him, in 1574, as his extraordinary ambassador to Spain and Portugal. Finally returning to his homeland, he held a number of public offices there and was appointed senator in 1600.
The English Protestant historians called him “the arch-conspirator”; Froude described him as “the most blazing firebrand in Europe”; others branded him outright as a traitor. But to devote one’s life and possessions to the triumph of one’s faith, for R., a Catholic—and, moreover, not an Englishman—does not seem to have been treason, if words have any meaning; and it is pleasing to note that, as is shown by several corroborating pieces of evidence, he was devoted to the memory of fra’ Girolamo Savonarola. He was also accused of possessing a genius for intrigue and of conducting himself duplicitously, but Pollen called him “substantially honest”; nor should one forget the difficulties and the continual mortal dangers amid which he had to operate.