page_title: Olimpia Maidalchini
section_title: Cardinal-nephews
hierarchical_section_title: Olimpia Maidalchini / Cardinal-nephews
caption_attribution_description: English: Sculptures in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj (Rome)
context_page_description: Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X. She was perceived by her contemporaries as having influence regarding papal appointments.
  She is not to be confused with her daughter-in-law Olimpia Aldobrandini, who married her son Camillo.
context_section_description: After Pamphilio died in 1639, Olimpia and Cardinal Pamphilj deliberated the prospect of a marriage for her son, Camillo, to perpetuate the lineage, preferably a marriage that would also be politically advantageous. In September 1644 Cardinal Pamphilj was elected pope, taking the name Innocent X. As a pope generally found the curial bureaucracy occupied by entrenched appointees of his predecessor, it was common practice to appoint a trusted relative to oversee the administration. Soon after his election, Innocent elevated his late brother's son, Camillo to the office of Cardinal-nephew. At the same time he redistributed some of the responsibilities of the office to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli, with the military duties assigned to Andrea Giustiniani and Niccolò Ludovisi who had married Innocent's nieces, Maria Flaminia and Costanza.
  According to Theodoro Ameyden, by 1646 the pope was again thinking of arranging a marriage for his nephew, the only male heir of the Roman Pamphilj, and at this point there reappeared on the horizon the possibility of a marriage alliance with the influential Barberini family. However, on 21 January 1647, Camillo renounced the cardinalate to marry Olimpia Aldobrandini, the grand-niece of Pope Clement VIII and widow of Paolo Borghese, on 10 February.
caption: Her bust by Alessandro Algardi, 1646-1647
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