SANSEVERINO, FEDERICO. - Cardinal, born in Naples around 1450 to the condottiere Roberto S., died in Rome in 1516.
Created cardinal by Innocent VIII on 3 July 1489, through the influence of Ludovico il Moro, he retained worldly inclinations and continued to lead a secular life. He took part in the Conclave of 1492, in which he voted for the future Alessandro VI, having received promises of rich benefices from him. A follower, through the changing fortunes, of the powerful card. Ascanio Sforza, he was, together with the latter, a supporter of pro-French policy, even in opposition to the work of the Pontiff. In 1512, having openly rebelled against Giulio II, he was one of the four cardinals who signed the summons to the Conciliabolo of Pisa; he did not, however, personally take part in it, participating instead actively in the military action that Luigi XII of France had simultaneously undertaken against the Papal States. Stripped of his cardinalitial dignity and excommunicated, he fell prisoner to the Florentines. Leone X restored him to his former status after he, together with the other three, had abjured their errors and retracted
the canons of the Pisan Conciliabolo and received a suitable penance.
Under the same Pontiff he was officially the protector of France, whose interests he attended to. Living lavishly, he accumulated the prebends of various bishoprics and canonries, and was considered one of the wealthiest cardinals of the curia.