Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807) was a Roman Catholic

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

, as well as the fourth and final

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

heir to publicly claim the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother,

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

, Henry made no effort to seize the thrones. After Charles's death in January 1788 the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of Great Britain and Ireland, but referred to him as the Cardinal Duke of York. He spent his life in the Papal States and had a long career in the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, rising to become the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. At the time of his death he was (and still is) one of the longest-serving cardinals in the Church's history. In his youth, Henry's father made him

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

(in the Jacobite Peerage), and it was by this title that he was best known. Upon the death of his brother in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX, although publicly he referred to himself as Cardinal ''called'' Duke of York (to indicate that while he was ''called'' Duke of York, he actually held another title).

Early life

Henry was born in exile at the Palazzo Muti in Rome on 6 March 1725 and baptised on the same day by Pope Benedict XIII, 37 years after his grandfather

James II and VII James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

lost the thrones, and ten years after his father's failed attempt to regain it. His father was James Francis Edward Stuart, known to his opponents as "the Old Pretender". His mother was the Princess

Maria Klementyna Sobieska Maria Clementina Sobieska ( pl, Maria Klementyna Sobieska; 18 July 1702 – 18 January 1735) a titular queen of England, Scotland and Ireland by marriage to James Francis Edward Stuart, a Jacobite claimant to the British throne. The granddaughte ...

, granddaughter of the Polish King and

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

Grand-Duke,

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...

. Henry was apparently an intelligent child who could spell and write better than his older brother Charles. More introverted than Charles and more cautious in his approach to problems, Henry is described as pious and mild-mannered. Henry went to France in 1745 to help his brother, Prince

("Bonnie Prince Charlie", or "the Young Pretender") prepare the Jacobite rising of 1745. Attached to the French army, he was in nominal command of a cross-channel invasion force of some 10,000 men that never made it out of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Maurice de Saxe at the siege of Antwerp. After the defeat at Culloden, Henry Stuart returned to Italy.

Ecclesiastical career

On 30 June 1747 Pope Benedict XIV conferred the tonsure on him and created him Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Campitelli in a special consistory held on 3 July 1747. On 27 August 1747 he was promoted through the four minor orders by Benedict. He received the subdiaconate on 18 August 1748 and diaconate on 25 August 1748. His elder brother Charles, who was in France at the time, was not in favor of the ecclesiastical honors as he believed they would only serve to further religious prejudice against the Stuarts. As the cardinalate was a rank rather than one of the priestly orders, Charles hoped that Henry might yet make a politically advantageous marriage, and was dismayed to discover that his brother had been ordained a priest on 1 September 1748. Later that month, Henry was made Cardinal-Priest, retaining his diaconal church. In 1751, he was made Arch-Priest of the Vatican Basilica. Louis XV of France bestowed on the Cardinal the abbeys of Auchin and St. Amand as compensation for having had to evict his brother pursuant to the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In December 1752 his titular seat was changed to Santi Apostoli; and in 1758 the Pope named him

Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals The Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals was the treasurer of the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church. The title is based on an Italian word for chamberlain, a word no longer used in secular contexts. The position existed from at ...

. The responsibilities of this office included administering all property, fees, funds and revenue belonging to the College of Cardinals, celebrating the requiem Mass for a deceased cardinal, and charge of the registry of the ''Acta Consistoralia''. He participated in the conclave of 1758, which elected Pope Clement XIII. In October of that year he was made titular Archbishop of Corinth. The following year, he resigned the title of Santa Maria in Campitelli to assume that of Santa Maria in Trastevere; however, he retained the Church of Santi Apostoli ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

''. He was made

Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati The Diocese of Frascati (Lat.: ''Tusculana'') is a suburbicarian see of the Holy Roman Church and a diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy, based at Frascati, near Rome. The bishop of Frascati is a Cardinal Bishop; from the Latin name of the are ...

on 13 July 1761. He was appointed Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals on 26 September 1803, then also succeeding to the See of Ostia and Velletri. He lived and worked in Frascati for many years, descending each afternoon in his carriage to Rome, where his position as vice-chancellor entitled him to the Palazzo della Cancelleria. Henry was the last claimant to the British throne to touch the sick to cure them from the

King's Evil The disease mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis, also known as scrofula and historically as king's evil, involves a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis as well as nontuberculous (atypical) mycobacteria. Disea ...

. Henry is described as a beatific, abstemious, wealthy, celibate aesthete who lived to a great age, 'inoffensive and respectable' to the end.

French Revolution and later life

Maurice Quentin de La Tour Prince Henry Benedict Clement Stuart

At the time of the French Revolution, he lost his French Royal benefices and sacrificed many other resources to assist

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...

. This, in addition to the seizure of his Frascati property by the French, caused him to descend into poverty. The British Minister in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

arranged for Henry to receive an annuity of £4,000 from George III of Great Britain. Although the British government represented this as an act of charity, Henry and the Jacobites considered it to be a first installment on the money which was legally owed to him. (For many years the British government had promised to return the English dowry of his grandmother,

Mary of Modena Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the young ...

, but never did so.) The Vatican had recognised James Francis Edward Stuart as James III and VIII as the King of Great Britain and Ireland. After his death in 1766 the Vatican did not recognise his son (Henry's brother) Charles, who had converted to Anglicanism in 1750. The Vatican had not, however, overtly recognised the Hanoverian monarchs. However, in November 1792 the Vatican first referred to George III as the King of Great Britain and Ireland instead of the Elector of Hanover. This resulted in a protest by Henry who suggested the insult would result in him not visiting Rome again. Despite their general anti-clericalism and hostility to the Bourbon monarchy, the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...

suggested to the United Irishmen in 1798 to elevate Henry as King of the Irish (Henry IX). This was in the course of General Humbert landing a force in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

for the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and trying to rally the Catholic population: a significant number of Irish priests supported the Rising, even though Humbert's army had been veterans of the anti-clerical campaign in Italy. The French hoped Henry could lead a French client state in Ireland; however, Wolfe Tone, the Protestant republican leader, vetoed the scheme. Henry returned to Frascati in 1803. In September of that year he became the Dean of the College of Cardinals and hence

Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Ostia is an ecclesiastical territory located within the Metropolitan City of Rome in Italy. It is one of the seven suburbicarian dioceses. The incumbent Bishop is cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. Since 11 ...

, though he still lived in the episcopal palace at Frascati. He died there on 13 July 1807, aged 82.

Personal relationships

Historians have explored whether Henry was

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. Contemporary accounts include the writings of Hester Lynch Thrale (1741–1821), and the diplomat and writer (1740–1819). Gorani admitted to having gathered evidence insufficient to confirm his suspicions either way, but drew attention to the number of handsome clerics that were to be found in Henry's palace. The historian Andrew Lang alluded to James's comment that his younger son would never marry although many marriages had been planned for him. The writer

Gaetano Moroni Gaetano Moroni (17 October 1802, Rome – 3 November 1883, Rome) was an Italian writer on the history and contemporary structure of the Catholic Church and an official of the papal court in Rome. He was the author of the well-known ''Diziona ...

provides the lengthiest account of Henry's close attachment with his

majordomo A majordomo is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a large ...

Monsignor (1722–1802), whom Henry was said to have "loved beyond measure". This led to serious tensions between the cardinal and his father James, who in 1752 tried to have Lercari dismissed from Rome. Henry reacted by attempting to secure his financial independence, and refused to return to Rome from Bologna without Lercari by his side. A public scandal was narrowly avoided by the intervention of Pope Benedict XIV. It was agreed that Lercari would leave the household, and he was later made Archbishop of Genoa. Things became easier after the death of James in 1766. From 1769 onwards Henry remained close to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, a nobleman from Perugia, who under Henry's protection won various honours, was made canon of the cathedral in Frascati, and in 1801 became Bishop of Milevi. Henry died with Cesarini at his side, as for the past 32 years. Cesarini was later buried in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. These relationships may have had a romantic element.

Legacy

Under his will, which he signed as "Henry R" (i.e. Rex or king), he was succeeded in all his claimed British rights by his nearest blood-relative and friend, Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia. Like his successors, Charles neither asserted nor renounced his Jacobite claims. Charles Emmanuel and the succeeding kings of Sardinia had other vital interests in Italy which would have been harmed by pursuing a hopeless cause in Britain. Contrary to popular belief, he did not leave the Crown Jewels to the Prince of Wales, afterwards

George IV of the United Kingdom George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. All his property was entrusted to Monsignor Angelo Cesarini for distribution. Cesarini sent the Prince of Wales several jewels from Henry's private collection. These included a " Lesser George" (thought to have been worn by Charles I at his execution, and now at Windsor Castle) and a St Andrew's Cross (now at

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

), which are insignia of the orders of the Garter and the Thistle, and also a ruby ring. Nevertheless, this gift was not a formal renunciation of the Jacobite claim. Henry, his brother, his father and his mother are buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. There is a monument to the Royal Stuarts on one of the columns in the basilica proper, designed by

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

. The monument was originally commissioned by Monsignor Angelo Cesarini, executor of Henry Benedict's estate. Among the subscribers, curiously, was George IV, who became an admirer of the Stuart legend. The monument was restored at the expense of the late

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles as cardinal

During his life, Cardinal Stuart was assigned the following '' Diaconia'' and ''

Tituli :''See also Titulus (Roman Catholic) for Roman churches called tituli, or titulus (disambiguation) for more meanings.'' ''Titulus'' (Latin "inscription" or "label", the plural ''tituli'' is also used in English) is a term used for the labels or ...

'': * 13 July 1747 Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico * 16 September 1748 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Portico * 18 December 1752 Cardinal Priest of Santi XII Apostoli * 12 February 1759 Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere * 13 July 1761 Cardinal Bishop of Frascati * 14 January 1763 ''Comendatario'' of San Lorenzo in Damaso (proper of the cardinal vice-chancellor, held in addition to the suburbicarian sees) * 26 September 1803 Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri (proper of the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals) In March 1774 he became Sub-dean, and on 15 September 1803 – Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. He was a cardinal elector in the

papal conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the Apostolic succession, apostolic successor of Saint ...

s of

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

1769 Events January–March * February 2 – Pope Clement XIII dies, the night before preparing an order to dissolve the Jesuits.Denis De Lucca, ''Jesuits and Fortifications: The Contribution of the Jesuits to Military Architecture in ...

, 1774–75 and 1799–1800.

Arms

During the pretence of his father and brother, Henry claimed a coat of arms consisting of those of the kingdom, differenced by a ''crescent argent'' or white crescent.

Ancestors

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * Reprinted: * *

External links

* *
Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart
Catholic Encyclopedia article *
Stuart of York, Henry Benedict Mary Clement (1725–1807)
Salvador Miranda. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Henry Benedict 1725 births 1807 deaths 18th-century Italian cardinals 18th-century Jacobite pretenders 19th-century Italian cardinals Burials at St. Peter's Basilica Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Cardinal-bishops of Ostia Clergy from Rome Deans of the College of Cardinals York, Henry Benedict, Duke of Henry Benedict Latin archbishops of Corinth Peers created by James Francis Edward Stuart Henry Benedict Stuart Henry Benedict Stuart Scottish cardinals