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- For the antipope (1378–1394) see antipope Clement VII and other Popes named Clement see Pope Clement.
Early life
He was born in Florence several months after his father, Giuliano de' Medici, was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy. Although his parents had not had a formal marriage, a canon law loophole allowing for the parents to have been betrothed per sponsalia de presenti meant that Giulio was considered legitimate. He was thus the nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who educated him in his youth.
Giulio was made a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua, and, upon the election of his cousin Giovanni de' Medici to the pontificate as Pope Leo X (1513–21), he soon became a powerful figure in Rome. Upon his cousin's accession to the papacy, Giulio became his principal minister and confidant, especially in the maintenance of the Medici interest at Florence. On 28 September 1513, he was made cardinal, and he had the credit of being the main director of papal policy during the whole of Leo X's pontificate.
Election
At Leo X's death in 1521, Cardinal Medici was considered especially papabile in the protracted conclave. Although unable to gain the Papacy for himself or his ally Alessandro Farnese (both preferred candidates of Emperor Charles V (1519–58), he took a leading part in determining the unexpected election of the short-lived Pope Adrian VI (1522–23), with whom he also wielded formidable influence. Following Adrian VI's death in 14 September 1523, Medici finally succeeded in being elected Pope Clement VII in the next conclave (November 19, 1523).
He brought to the Papal throne a high reputation for political ability, and possessed in fact all the accomplishments of a wily diplomatist. However, he was considered worldly and indifferent to what went on around him, including the ongoing Protestant reformation.
Papacy
At his accession, Clement VII sent the Archbishop of Capua, Nikolaus Cardinal von Schönberg, to the Kings of France, Spain and England, in order to bring the war then raging in Europe to a peace. But his attempt failed.
Francis I of France's (1515–47) conquest of Milan in 1524 prompted the Pope to quit the Imperial-Spanish side and to ally himself with other Italian princes and France in the January of 1525. This treaty granted the definitive acquisition of Parma and Piacenza for the Papal States, the rule of Medici over Florence and the free passage of the French troops to Naples. This policy in itself was sound and patriotic, but Clement VII's zeal soon cooled; by his want of foresight and unseasonable economy he laid himself open to an attack from the turbulent Roman barons, which obliged him to invoke the mediation of the Emperor. One month later, however, Francis I was crushed and imprisoned in the Battle of Pavia, and Clement VII veered back to his former engagements with Charles V, signing an alliance with the viceroy of Naples.
But he was to change side again when Francis I was freed after the Peace of Madrid (January 1526): the Pope entered in the League of Cognac together with France, Venice and Francesco Sforza of Milan. Clement VII issued an invective against Charles V, who in reply defined him a "wolf" instead of a "shepherd", menacing the summoning of a council about the Lutheran question. The Pope's wavering politics caused also the rise of the Imperial party inside the Curia: Cardinal Pompeo Colonna's soldiers pillaged the Vatican City and gained control of the whole Rome in his name. The humiliated Pope promised therefore to bring again the Papal States on the Imperial side. But soon after Colonna left the siege and went to Naples he didn't maintain his promises, dismissing the Cardinal from his charge. From this point on Clement VII could only follow the fate of the French party to end.
Soon he found himself alone in Italy too, as the duke of Ferrara had sided with the Imperial army, permitting to the hoard of Landsknechts led by Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Georg von Frundsberg, to reach Rome without harm.
Charles of Bourbon died during the long siege, and his troops, unpaid and left without a guide, felt free to ravage Rome from May 6, 1527. The innumerable series of murders, rapes and vandalism that followed ended forever the splendours of the Renaissance Rome. Clement VII, who had displayed no more resolution in his military than in his political conduct, was shortly afterwards (June 5) obliged to surrender himself together with the castle of Sant'Angelo, where he had taken refuge. Here he was kept as a prisoner for six months. After having bought some Imperial officers, he could escape disguised as a peddler and took shelter in Orvieto, and then in Viterbo. He came back to Rome, depopulated and devastated, only in October of 1528.
Meanwhile, in Florence, Republican enemies of the Medici took advantage of the chaos to again expel the Pope's family from the city.
In June of the following year the warring parts signed the Peace of Barcelona. The Papal States regained some cities and Charles V agreed to restore the Medici to power in Florence. In 1530, after an eleven-month siege, the Tuscan city capitulated, and Clement VII installed his illegitimate son Alessandro as Duke. Subsequently the Pope followed a policy of subservience to the Emperor, endeavouring on the one hand to induce him to act with severity against the Lutherans in Germany, and on the other to elude his demands for a general council.
One momentous consequence of this dependence on Charles V was the breach with the Kingdom of England occasioned by Clement VII's refusal in 1533, justifiable in point of principle, but dictated by no higher motive than his fear of offending the Emperor, to sanction Henry VIII of England's (1509–47) divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Clement VII used various stalling tactics and delays. He paid spies to steal Henry VIII's love letters to his fiancé, Anne Boleyn, to prove that they were lovers. However, no evidence could be uncovered and even Clement VII had to grudgingly admit that all impartial evidence from England suggested that Anne Boleyn was strong-willed but morally upright. It was only when rumours began to suggest that Anne had secret Lutheran sympathies that the Pope turned totally against her. Clement VII's procrastination on the issue ultimately resulted in the establishment of the independent Church of England.
Death and character
Towards the end of his reign Clement VII once more gave indications of a leaning towards a French alliance, which was prevented by his death in September 1534. He died in Rome after eating the death cap mushroom, the most poisonous mushroom known. He was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
As for the arts, Pope Clement VII is remembered for having ordered, just some days before his death, Michelangelo's painting of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.
References
- More information is available from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia article on Clement VII.
See also
1478 births | 1534 deaths | Popes | Italian popes | Natives of Florence | Medici
Clemens VII. (Papst) | Clemens VII | Clemente VII (Papa) | Clément VII | 교황 클레멘스 7세 | Paus Clemens VII | Papa Clemente VII | קלמנס השביעי | Paus Clemens VII | Paus Clemens VII | クレメンス7世 (ローマ教皇) | Klemens VII | Pave Klemens VII | Klemens VII | Papa Clemente VII | Климент VII (папа римский) | Klemens VII | Clemens VII | สมเด็จพระสันตะปาปาคลีเมนต์ที่ 7 | Климент VII | 克勉七世
"Pope Clement VII"