Napoleone Orsini (1263 – 24 March 1342) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

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 ...

. His ecclesiastical career lasted 57 years, 54 of them as a cardinal, and included six conclaves. Born in Rome to Rinaldo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and of Marino, son of

Matteo Rosso Orsini Matteo Rosso Orsini (1178–1246), called the Great, was an Italian politician, the father of Pope Nicholas III. He was named ''senatore'' of the City of Rome by Pope Gregory IX in 1241: in this capacity he took a firm stand against the ventur ...

'il Grande'; and Ocilenda, perhaps the daughter of Stefano II Conti, perhaps of a member of the house of Boveschi. Rinaldo was a brother of Pope Nicholas III and of Cardinal Giordano Orsini. Napoleone took holy orders in 1285 and was named a papal sub-chaplain by Honorius IV. He is attested as papal chaplain on February 18, 1286. He rose quickly in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and in a consistory held by Pope Nicholas IV on 16 May 1288, he was appointed a cardinal deacon and assigned the Deaconry of

S. Adriano Sant'Adriano al Foro was a church in Rome, formerly in the Curia Julia in the ''Forum Romanum'' and a cardinal-deaconry (a titular church for a Cardinal-deacon). The church The Church of Sant'Adriano al Foro (Italian for St. (H)Adrian at ...

. During the pontificate of Boniface VIII his gift for diplomacy was put to wide use and he was named

legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

and

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

on 27 May 1300. In this capacity, in 1301, he retook the city of

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

, which had rebelled against the

Papal State The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. An opponent of the

Colonna The House of Colonna, also known as ''Sciarrillo'' or ''Sciarra'', is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Martin V) and many other church and politica ...

family, he was a supporter of Boniface' Italian

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. From 1303 to 1341 Cardinal Napoleone was Prebend of Sutton cum Beckingham in the diocese of Lincoln. He was appointed Canon and Prebend of Suthcave in the Church of York (before September 21, 1304), a benefice which he held until 1342. In 1305, after the conclave of 1304–1305 and two weeks after his coronation, the new pope, Clement V, made him Archpriest of S. Peter's Basilica in Rome''. During the Avignon Papacy Napoleone realigned himself with the Colonna and testified against Boniface at the latter's

posthumous trial A posthumous trial or post-mortem trial is a trial held after the defendant's death. Posthumous trials can be held for a variety of reasons, including the legal declaration that the defendant was the one who committed the crime, to provide justice ...

. Cardinal Napoleone Orsini participated prominently in the long conclave of 1 May 1314 to 5 September 1316, following the death of Clement V. There was, to be sure, a long intermission in the proceedings, caused by multiple forces which began with dissensions among the retinues of the cardinals, included an attempt to set fire to the conclave, and the direct involvement of the royal family of France. The conclave finally elected a Gascon, Cardinal Jacques Duèse, on 7 August 1316. He was crowned in the Cathedral of S. Etienne in Lyon on 5 September 1316. Immediately after the election, even before the coronation, Cardinal Napoleone managed to obtain from the new pope for the benefit of his cousin Paul de Comite, a papal chaplain, the reversion of a canonry and prebend in the Church of Lichfield; and for the benefit of another cousin Peter de Comite the confirmation of a canonry and prebend in the Church of London. In the conclave of 1334, following the death of

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...

, he participated as senior cardinal deacon, ''prior Diaconum''. The conclave began on 13 December 1334 in the Apostolic Palace in Avignon with twenty-four cardinals in attendance. On the evening of 20 December 1334, they chose Cardinal Jacques Fournier, O.Cist., of Savardun near Toulouse, in the Diocese of Pamiers, who adopted the name

Benedict XII Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful p ...

. On 8 January 1335, he was crowned by Cardinal Napoleone Orsini in the Dominican Church in Avignon. Cardinal Napoleone was diplomatically active during the pontificates of Pope Clement V and Pope John XXII. He wrote his Testament at Avignon on 13 April 1337, and revised it on 13 February 1342.[
Orsini di Monterotondo
" Libro d'Oro della Nobilta mediterranea, no. A 1. He died at the age of seventy-nine in 1342, at Avignon, only one month before the death of Pope Benedict XII. He had participated in six conclaves, and narrowly missed his seventh.

References

Bibliography

* Stephanus Baluzius (Etienne Baluze), ''Vitae Paparum Avenionensium'' Volume I (Paris 1693). * Augustinus Theiner (Editor), ''Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, Od. Raynaldi et Jac. Laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici'' Tomus Vigesimus Quartus 1313–1333 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1872); Tomus Vigesimus Quintus 1334–1355 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1872). * F. Savio, "Le tre famiglie Orsini di Monterotondo, di Marino, e di Manoppello," ''Bolletino della societa umbra di storia patria'' 2 (Perugia 1896), 89–112.

n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

* Albert Huyskens, ''Kardinal Napoleon Orsini'' (Marburg: J. A. Koch 1902).

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

* Raffaello Morghen,
Orsini, Napoleone
" ''Enciclopedia Italiana'' (1935).

* Sandro Carocci, ''Baroni di Roma. Dominazioni signorili e lignaggi aristocratici nel Duecento e nel primo Trecento'' (Roma: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo 1993).

* G. Tabacco, "Papa Giovanni XXII e il cardinale Napoleone Orsini di fronte alla Cristianità europea," in: C. Alzati (ed.), ''Cristianità ed Europa. Miscellanea di studi in onore di L. Prosdocimi'' (Roma-Freiburg-Wien 1994), pp. 155–173.

* Christian Trottmann,
Giovanni XXII
" ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'' (2000).

* Giulia Barone,
Orsini, Napoleone
" ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' Volume 79 (2013).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orsini, Napoleone 1263 births 1342 deaths Nobility from Rome 14th-century Italian cardinals 13th-century Italian cardinals 13th-century Italian diplomats Diplomats from Rome Clergy from Rome 14th-century Italian diplomats