Girolamo Mattei (160616 January 1676) was an Italian nobleman of the

House of Mattei The House of Mattei was one of the most powerful noble families of Rome during the Middle Ages and early modern period, early modern era, holding high positions in the papal curia and government office. The family amassed significant art collectio ...

and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Giove ; ), or Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element, is the name for two satellites built for the European Space Agency (ESA) to test technology in orbit for the Galileo (satellite navigation), Galileo positioning system. The name was chosen as a tribut ...

. Mattei was born in 1606, the son of Asdrubale Mattei, ''Marquis di Giove'', and his wife Costanza Gonzaga (of the

House of Gonzaga The House of Gonzaga (, ) is an Italian princely family that ruled Mantua in Lombardy, northern Italy from 1328 to 1708 (first as a captaincy-general, then Margraviate of Mantua, margraviate, and finally Duchy of Mantua, duchy). They also ruled M ...

). He was the older brother of Luigi Mattei; Marquis di Belmonte and military ally of the

Barberini The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...

and

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

. He was a nephew of Ciriaco Mattei and Cardinal Girolamo Mattei. In 1643, Pope Urban VIII issued a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

recognising Giove as a

Duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...

of the Mattei, thus making Girolamo Mattei, ''Duca di Giove''. His bull was issued with the words, ''affinché la terra sia adorna al titolo più degno'' (roughly: ''that the earth is adorned with those more worthy of title'').

Family

In 1666 he married Eugenia Spada (1639-1717), sister of Cardinal Fabrizio Spada.Testamenti Spada
/ref> He had at least one child, Alessandro Mattei (1670-1729), who inherited his father's titles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattei, Girolamo, Duca di Giove 1606 births 1676 deaths Dukes in Italy Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown