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GIULIO ALBERONI (1664-1752)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 493 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GIULIO See also:

ALBERONI (1664-1752)  , See also:SpanishSee also:Italian See also:cardinal and statesman, was See also:born near See also:Piacenza, probably at the See also:village of See also:Fiorenzuola, on ' the 31st of May 1664 . His See also:father was a gardener, and he himself became first connected with the See also:church in the humble position of See also:verger in the See also:cathedral of Piacenza.' Having gained the favour of See also:Bishop Barni he took See also:priest's orders, and afterwards accompanied the son of his See also:patron to See also:Rome . During the ' See also:war of the Spanish See also:succession See also:Alberoni laid the See also:foundation of his See also:political success by the services he rendered to the See also:duke of See also:Vendome, See also:commander of the See also:French forces in See also:Italy; and when these forces were recalled in 1706 he accompanied the duke to See also:Paris, where he was favourably received by See also:Louis XIV . Ins 1711 he followed Vendome into See also:Spain as his secretary . Two years later, the duke having died in the See also:interval, Alberoni was appointed consular See also:agent for See also:Parma at the See also:court of See also:Philip V. of Spain, being raised at the same See also:time to the dignity of See also:count . On his arrival at See also:Madrid he found the princesse See also:des See also:Ursins all but omnipotent with the See also:king, and for a time he judged it expedient to use her See also:influence in carrying out his plans . In See also:concert with her he arranged the king's See also:marriage with See also:Elizabeth See also:Farnese of Parma, . The influence of the new See also:queen being actively exerted on Alberoni's behalf, he speedily See also:rose to high position . He was made a member of the king's See also:council, bishop of See also:Malaga, and in 1715 See also:prime See also:minister, and was raised to the dignity of cardinal in 1717 . ' His See also:internal policy was exceedingly vigorous . The See also:main purpose he put before himself was to produce an economic revival in Spain by abolishing internal See also:custom-houses, throwing open the See also:trade of the Indies and reorganizing the finances . With the resources thus gained he undertook to enable King Philip V. to carry out an ambitious policy both in Italy and in See also:France .

The impatience of the king and his wife gave the minister no time to mature his plans . By provoking See also:

England, France, See also:Holland and the See also:Empire at once it brought a See also:flood of disaster on Spain for which Alberoni was held responsible . On the 5th of See also:December 1719 he was ordered to leave Spain, Elizabeth herself having taken an active See also:part in procuring the See also:decree of banishment . He went to Italy, and there had to take See also:refuge among the See also:Apennines, See also:Pope See also:Clement XI., who was his See also:bitter enemy, having given strict orders for his See also:arrest . On the See also:death of Clement, Alberoni boldly appeared at the See also:Conclave, and took part in the See also:election of See also:Innocent XIII . (1721), after which he was for a See also:short time imprisoned by the pontiff on the demand of Spain . At the next election (1724) he was himself proposed for the papal See also:chair, and secured ten votes at the Conclave which elected See also:Benedict XIII . Benedict's successor, Clement XII . (elected 1730), named him See also:legate of See also:Ravenna, in which capacity he incurred the pope's displeasure by the strong and unwarrantable See also:measures he adopted to reduce the little See also:republic of See also:San See also:Marino to subjection to Rome . He' was consequently replaced by another legate in 1740, and soon after he retired to Piacenza . Clement XII. appointed him See also:administrator of the See also:hospital of San Lazzaro at Piacenza in 1730 . The-hospital was a See also:medieval foundation for the benefit of lepers .

The disease having disappeared from Italy, Alberoni obtained the consent of the pope to the suppression of the hospital, which had fallen into See also:

great disorder, and replaced it by a See also:college for the See also:education of seventy poor boys for the priesthood, under the name of the Collegio Alberoni, which it still bears . He died on the 16th of See also:June 1752, leaving a sum of 600,000 ducats to endow the See also:seminary he had founded, and the See also:residue of the immense See also:wealth he had acquired in Spain to his See also:nephew . Alberoni See also:left a large quantity of See also:manuscripts; but the genuineness of the Political Testament, published in his name at See also:Lausanne in 1753, has been questioned . An Histoire du Cardinal Alberoni up to 1719 was published by See also:Jean Rousset de Missy at the See also:Hague in 1719 . A laudatory See also:life, Storia del Cardinale Giulio Alberoni, was published by Stefano Bersani, a priest educated at his college, at Piacenza, in, 1861 . Giulio Alberoni e ii suo secolo, by Giovanni Bianchi (1901), is briefer and more See also:critical . See also Lettres intimes de J . Alberoni, edited by M . E . See also:Bourgeois (1892) .

End of Article: GIULIO ALBERONI (1664-1752)
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