Pope Julius III

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Pope Julius III : biography

10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555

Shortly before his death, Julius dispatched Cardinal Giovanni Morone to represent the interests of the Holy See at the Peace of Augsburg.Kenneth Meyer Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571, Vol. IV, (The American Philosophical Society, 1984), 603.

The Innocenzo scandal

Julius’s papacy was marked by scandals. The most notable surrounded his adoptive nephew, Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, a 14 year old beggar Julius had discovered in the streets of Parma.‘’Who’s who in gay and lesbian history’’ By Robert Aldrich, Garry Wotherspoon; p.278 On his elevation to the papacy, Julius persuaded his brother to adopt Innocenzo and himself made the boy cardinal-nephew. Julius showered his favourite with benefices, including the commendatario of the abbeys of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and S. Zeno in Verona, and, later, of the abbeys of S. Saba, Miramondo, Grottaferrata and Frascati, among others. Cardinals Reginald Pole and Giovanni Carafa reminded Julius that this was a shameful abuse of Papal patonage, and made him aware of the "evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise".Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, Germany

The perception that unworthy figures were advancing because of sodomitical affairs prompted contemporary denunciations. Joachim du Bellay, who lived in Rome through this period in the retinue of his relative, Cardinal Jean du Bellay, expressed his scandalized opinion of Julius in two sonnets in his series Les regrets (1558), hating to see, he wrote, "a Ganymede with the red hat on his head".Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16E. Joe Johnson, Idealized male friendship in French narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, p69. USA, 2003 The Venetian ambassador reported that Innocenzo shared the pope’s bed "as if he [Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte] were his [Julius’s] own son or grandson". Girolamo Muzio wrote in a letter of 1550 to Ferrante Gonzaga, governor of Milan: "They write many bad things about this new pope; that he is vicious, proud, and odd in the head".Hor di questo nuovo papa universalmente se ne dice molto male; che egli è vitioso, superbo, rotto et di sua testa", Lettere di Girolamo Muzio Giustinopolitano conservate nell’archivio governativo di Parma, Deputazione di Storia Patria, Parma 1864, p. 152

Calvinists and Lutherans made capital of the scandal. Thomas Beard, in the Theatre of God’s judgement (1597) said it was Julius’s "custome … to promote none to ecclesisatical livings, save only his buggerers”, that Julius showed the impatience of a "lover awaiting a mistress" while awaiting Innocenzo’s arrival in Rome, and boasted of the boy’s prowess.

Not all historians agree about homosexual relations between Julius III and his adoptive nephew. Ludwig von Pastor states that although the enemies of Julius III accused him that he was natural father of Innocenzo del Monte, no accusastions of sodomy has been proved against him either in the time of his pontificate or afterwards."Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 13, London 1924, p. 71. Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer also concluded that Julius III and Innocenzo were not lovers.The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1997, chapter "Zeus and Ganymede?", p. 185-194.

Despite the damage which the scandal was inflicting on the church, it was not until after Julius’ death in 1555 that anything could be done to curb Innocenzo’s visibility. He underwent temporary banishment following the murder of two men who had insulted him, and then again following the rape of two women. He tried to use his connections in the College of Cardinals to plead his cause but his influence waned and he died in obscurity. He was buried in Rome in the Del Monte family chapel. One outcome of the cardinal-nephew scandal, however, was the upgrading of the position of Papal Secretary of State, as the incumbent had to take over the duties Innocenzo was unfit to perform: the Secretary of State eventually replaced the cardinal-nephew as the most important official of the Holy See.See The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church – Biographical Dictionary – Pope Julius III (1550–1555) – Consistory of 30 May 1550 (I) for a summary of Innocenzo Del Monte’s life based on Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer’s authoritative biography, "The life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte"

Artistic legacy

Julius spent the bulk of his time, and a great deal of papal money, on entertainments at the Villa Giulia, created for him by Vignola. Julius extended his patronage to the great Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whom he brought to Rome as his maestro di cappella, Giorgio Vasari, who supervised the design of the Villa Giulia, and to Michelangelo, who worked there. But the pope’s lack of interest in political or ecclesiastical affairs caused dismay among his contemporaries.