From Paul IV “The Evil” to Pius IV “The Merciful”
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Chapter 6 From Paul IV “the Evil” to Pius IV “the Merciful” 6.1 Sickness and Death of Paul IV Several sources inform us about Paul IV’s health and the sickness that caused him to die in August 1559. Antonio Foresti, a seventeenth-century Jesuit and the author of a universal world history entitled Mappamondo istorico (first edition Parma, 1690), refers that when the seventy-nine-year-old Gian Pietro Carafa was elected in 1555, he was “vigorous, in good health and had never needed either physicians or medicines during his life; in their stead, he pre- ferred a sober and moderate lifestyle […] he was happy with some food and a little wine, only when he was hungry.”1 His health conditions during the final years of his life are described in a medical dispatch – a Latin report which survives in a Vatican manuscript – by the archiatra (“papal physician”) Agostino Ricchi.2 Pope Carafa’s fatal illness is recounted in some other archival documents, such as the above-mentioned Avvisi di Roma, which, despite their brevity, can be considered a kind of medi- cal bulletin, and we know that at the beginning of March 1558, “the pope suffered from a great catarrh” and in August of the same year, erysipelas (an inflammatory skin disease) affected one of his legs so that he was compelled to use a walking stick.3 His health badly deteriorated in late August and September: the physicians examined him and declared that he had had a fever for some time; moreover, he was suffering from bleeding (caused by the erysipelas) which took away his appetite. Fainting and general weakness forced him to stay in bed, but the same evening, His Beatitude had dinner in the company of two car- dinals, and on Tuesday, he gave the usual public consultation, albeit briefly. On Thursday, he only attended the meeting of the Inquisition for half an hour, and it was known that he had suffered greatly and that 1 Antonio Foresti, Mappamondo istorico, cioè ordinata narrazione dei quatro sommi imperii del mondo, t. 3, pt. 2 (Parma, 1691), 327. The translation is mine. 2 Agostino Ricchi’s account is preserved in BAV, Barb. Lat. 2567, Ad Ill.mus atque R.mus D.D. Alphonsum Carafam Car.i Neap.m Augustini Ricchi in Hystoriam Egrotationis Pauli Quarti Pont.is Max.i Prefatio, fols. 26r–27v. 3 See BAV, Urb. Lat. 1038, pt. A, Avvisi di Roma, Rome, March 12, 1558, fol. 292v; Rome, August 13, 1558, fol. 330v. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004415157_008 From Paul IV “the Evil” to Pius IV “the Merciful” 161 he had not yet recovered his strength and appetite. However, he went to the Belvedere, partly carried, partly walking, and now he shows him- self to be pleased with the company of some cardinals of his household at table […], in any case, his old age and the season […] leads to doubts that the pope will recover.4 The situation appeared so critical that rumours of the pope’s death were wide- spread in Rome, and the cavalry was summoned to protect the buildings from a possible uprising of the Roman populace. The pope “received Communion from the cardinal of Pisa very devoutly and said that he did not want to die […] but that he had decided to take something for the health of his body, as they wished, which he had not wanted to do before.”5 After some days, he recovered a little, and in the city, conflicting news was circulating as to whether the pope was still alive or not. The portrait that emerges from the narrative emphasises the strong nature of the pope, who is remembered in his biographies for his moral integrity, intransigence, and doctrine.6 On September 10, Pasquino (pl. 14)7 – one of the so-called Roman talking statues – spoke once more, voicing a satirical commentary, a pasquinata (in English, “pasquinade”), on Pope Carafa’s health and the alleged prophecy of his death: the pope was not close to death, but – as had been prophesied in previ- ous years – he was supposed to live for seven more years in order to reform his Church, “to remove the Turks and the Lutherans from their errors and to lead the herd into the fold because he is the shepherd” (doc. 6).8 The same is con- firmed in the avviso dated September 24: 4 Ibid., Rome, September 3, 1558, fol. 337v. The translation from Italian is mine. 5 Ibid., Rome, September 10, 1558, fol. 333v. 6 Carlo Bromato, Storia di Paolo IV pontefice massimo, vol. 2 (Ravenna, 1753), 575. 7 Like the other talking statues in Rome (known as Marforio, il Babuino, il Facchino, l’Abate Luigi, and Madama Lucrezia), from the sixteenth century onwards, Pasquino was the repository of anonymous satirical compositions, commenting on events and prominent per- sonalities in Rome. Behind the satirical activity of the statue, which was located between the Piazza Navona and the Via dell’Anima (today the Piazza di Pasquino), were authors such as Pietro Aretino and Niccolò Franco (the latter was executed in 1566 during Pius V’s reign for writing a libel against Paul IV entitled Commento sopra la vita et costume di Gio. Pietro Carafa). On Pasquino and the pasquinades, see Massimo Firpo, “Pasquinate romane del Cinquecento,” Rivista storica italiana 2 (1984): 600–21; Chrysa Damianaki, Paolo Procaccioli, Angelo Romano (eds.), Ex marmore. Pasquini, pasquinisti, pasquinate nell’Europa moderna. Atti del colloquio internazionale, Lecce-Otranto, 17–19 novembre 2005 (Rome, 2006); Julia Haig Gaisser, “Pasquino,” in The Classical Tradition, eds. Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, Salvatore Settis (Cambridge-London, 2010), 693–94. 8 BAV, Urb. Lat. 1038, pt. A, Avvisi di Roma, Rome, September 10, 1558, fol. 340r. The translation from Italian is mine..