page_title: Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)
section_title: Conclave of 1585
hierarchical_section_title: Alessandro Farnese (cardinal) / Conclave of 1585
caption_attribution_description: Medaglia di ferdinando de' medici duca e fortezza di livorno, 1588 (bronzo dorato)
context_page_description: Alessandro Farnese, an Italian cardinal and diplomat and a great collector and patron of the arts, was the grandson of Pope Paul III, and the son of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, who was murdered in 1547. He should not be confused with his nephew, Alessandro Farnese, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, grandson of Emperor Charles V and great-grandson of Pope Paul III.
context_section_description: In the Spring of 1585, an embassy from Japan was making its way to Rome.  They arrived by ship at Livorno on March 1, and proceeded by land through Tuscany. They were received in Florence by the Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici. They proceeded on to Rome, accompanied by Cardinal Francesco Gambara, and were received with a grand show of hospitality at Caprarola by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Accompanied by Gambara and Farnese, the embassy reached Rome on 22 March. 
  Pope Gregory XIII died after thirteen years on the Throne of Peter on 10 April 1585. There were sixty-two living cardinals, but only thirty-two managed to make it to Rome in time for the opening ceremonies of the Conclave on Easter Sunday, 21 April 1585. Cardinal Farnese, though he was only sixty-four years old, was the senior cardinal present. He was both Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia.  But he was no faction leader. Thirty-nine cardinals, many of them his friends and supporters, had died during the reign of Gregory XIII. There was only one other cardinal present who had been created by his grandfather, Paul III. The Imperial-Spanish faction was headed by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, brother of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and soon to become the Grand Duke himself. The actual Spanish leader was Cardinal Ludovico Madruzzo but he did not arrive in Rome until the evening of 23 April.  The French faction was headed by Ludovico d'Este, grandson of Louis XII and Protector of France before the Holy See.
  After the first vote, on 23 April, it was obvious that neither a strong Spanish candidate nor a strong French candidate could be elected. Medici and d'Este met, and Medici proposed two possible compromise candidates to d'Este: Cardinal Albani and Cardinal Felice Peretti Montalto. Madruzzo's chosen candidate was Cardinal Sirleto, but in a meeting with d'Este shortly after he entered the Conclave on the 24th, it was made clear to him that Sirleto was being excluded by the votes of the French. Madruzzo declared that he would not accept Albani. D'Este met with Cardinal Farnese, hoping to stop any effort that Farnese might begin to exclude Montalto. He had already been trying to organize some of Gregory XIII's cardinals into a faction of his own. Farnese already believed that Montalto had little real support, and d'Este encouraged that misapprehension. But, when all the likely votes were tallied, it seemed that the supporters of Montalto lacked four votes, which would have to come from Farnese. When the Cardinals assembled to begin the balloting, d'Este suddenly intervened and announced that it was not necessary to proceed to a ballot since they already had a pope—Cardinal Montalto. The cardinals immediately proceeded to 'adore' Montalto—which was a legitimate method for electing a pope. There had to be no opposition, and there was none. Farnese had been silenced and coerced into cooperation.
  In the Spring of 1586, Cardinal Farnese's young nephew Ranuccio, aged 17, came to Rome to swear allegiance for his domains of which the Church was the feudal souverain. He made the mistake of appearing before Pope Sixtus V in armor carrying weapons, and for that horrible crime he was imprisoned in the Castel S. Angelo. His uncle the Cardinal pleaded twice with the Pope to have him released, and finally contrived to have Ranuccio escape. The Spanish Ambassador, Olivares, invited the Castellan of the Castel S. Angelo to dinner, while the Cardinal tricked the guards into releasing Ranuccio into his custody. The Pope was livid at having been circumvented.
caption: Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
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