Content area
Full Text
The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet, Together with Materials for a History of the House of Ciocchi del Monte San Savino. By Francis A. Buckle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer. [Renaissance Studies, Volume 2.) (Lewiston, NewYork: The Edwin Mellen Press. 1997. Pp. xii, 244. $89.95.)
This study is a remarkable collaboration between a freshman in an English composition class at George Washington University (Doerrer) and a scholar of Renaissance ecclesiastical history at the Library of Congress (Burkle-Young). While trying to reconstruct the life and career of Innocenzo del Monte (1532-1577), "the last of the unregenerated, unreformed cardinals" (p. vii), they have pieced together a history of the del Monte family especially of its clerical members, and have provided in appendices English translations of important documents. Their study tries to answer the question of whether Julius III (15501555) raised an illegitimate, adolescent beggar to the second highest office in the Church, that of principal cardinal-nephew and Chancellor, because he was his homosexual lover, as alleged by contemporaries and many historians, or because of high hopes later proven ill-founded.
To understand Julius III and his possible motivations, the authors examine his family background, training, and career prior to his becoming pope. The del Montes came from the obscure village of Monte San Savino near Arezzo in Tuscany and rose to prominence by leaving that place and distinguishing themselves for their legal expertise. Fabiano (1421-1498) attained the office of consistorial advocate in Rome and changed the family name from Giocchi (joksters) to del Monte. His son Antonio Maria (c. 1462-1533) embraced the clerical career and, because of his remarkable legal skills and dedicated service to whoever was in authority, was eventually promoted to the cardinalate in 1511 by Julius II. Antonio used his position to provide for his relatives, most notably his nephew Gian Maria (1487-1555). Although born in Rome, the son of a wellrespected consistorial advocate, Gian Maria retained the...