Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
ERCOLE See also:CONSALVI (1757-1824)
, See also:Italian See also:cardinal and states-See also:man, was See also:born at See also:Rome on the 8th of See also:June 17 57
.
His grandfather, Gregorio Brunacci, of an See also:ancient See also:family of See also:Pisa, had changed his name in See also:order to become See also:heir to a certain See also:
As secretary to the See also:conclave which assembled in the monastery of See also:San Giorgio See also:Maggiore at See also:Venice, Consalvi had the difficult task of corresponding with the various governments and organizing the See also:assembly at a time when the Revolution had confused allissues and reduced the individual cardinals to beggary
.
In this his See also:diplomatic ability was conspicuously evident, and it was also largely+owing to his See also:influence that Cardinal Chiaramonte was elected as Pius VII
.
(March 14, 1800)
.
On the 3rd of June the new pope re-entered Rome; on the rith of See also:August Consalvi was appointed cardinal-See also:deacon and secretary of See also:state, or See also:prime See also:minister
.
The See also:appointment was an admirable one; for Consalvi possessed just the qualities necessary to supplement those of Pius
.
The pope was above all a religious man, of a See also:gentle and contemplative See also:character; the cardinal was pre-eminently a man of affairs
.
Their personal sympathy for each other continued to the end, though at the outset at least their See also:political views differed
.
Pius, who had openly expressed sympathy with the new liberties of See also:France, was accused of " Jacobinism "; Consalvi, brought up in the legitimist See also:atmosphere of the entourage of Cardinal York, was a convinced supporter of the divine right of See also:kings generally and of See also: In June 18oi he arrived in See also:Paris, where his handsome presence, urbane See also:manners, and conspicuous ability made him a general favourite . Even See also:Napoleon, though enraged at the firmness with which he maintained the papal claims, could not resist his personal See also:fascination . It was largely owing to Consalvi's combined firmness and tact that the Concordat, as ultimately signed, was See also:free from the objectionable clauses on which the First See also:Consul had at first insisted . During the pope's See also:absence in Paris, at the See also:coronation of Napoleon, Consalvi remained as virtual See also:sovereign in Rome; and his regency was rendered remarkable by a See also:great inundation, caused by the overflow of the See also:Tiber, during which he exposed himself with heroic humanity for the preservation of the sufferers . Not long after the return of the pope the amity between the Vatican and the Tuileries was again broken . Rome was full of See also:anti-revolutionary and anti-See also:Napoleonic strangers from all parts of See also:Europe . The See also:emperor was irritated; and his See also:ambassador, Cardinal See also:Fesch, kept up the irritation by perpetual complaints directed more especially against Consalvi himself . " Tell Consalvi," wrote the conqueror, still flushed with See also:Austerlitz, " that if he loves his See also:country he must either resign or do what I demand." Consalvi did accordingly resign on the 17th of June 1807, and when in i8o8 General Miollis entered Rome, and the temporal See also:power of the pope was formally abolished, he See also:broke off all relations with the French, though several of them were his intimate See also:friends . In 1809 he was at Paris, and, in a remarkable interview, received from Napoleon's own lips an See also:apology for the treatment he had received . With unbending dignity, however, he retained his antagonism; and shortly afterwards he was one of the thirteen cardinals who refused to attend the ceremony of the emperor's See also:marriage with See also:Marie See also:Louise . For this display of See also:independence he was imprisoned at See also:Reims, and not released till some three years later, when Napoleon had extorted terms from the See also:captive pope at See also:Fontainebleau . On his See also:release Consalvi hastened to his See also:master's assistance; and he was soon after allowed to resume his functions under the restored pontificate at Rome .
In 1814 Consalvi went, as the pope's representative, to See also:England to meet and confer with the allied sovereigns, and later in the year was sent as papal plenipotentiary to the See also:congress of See also:Vienna
.
Here he was successful in obtaining the restitution to the pope of the See also:Marches (See also:Ancona, Treviso and See also:Fermo) and Legations (See also:Bologna, See also:Ferrara and See also:Ravenna), but he failed to prevent See also:Austria from annexing the ancient papal possessions on the left See also:bank of the Po and obtaining the right to See also:garrison Ferrara and See also:Comacchio
.
This led to his presenting at the See also:close of the congress
a formal protestatio, in which he not only denounced the failure of the See also:Powers to do See also:justice to the See also: He died on the 24th of See also:January 1824 . By his will he directed that all the presents he had received should be sold, and the proceeds applied to the completion of See also:Thorwaldsen's See also:monument of Pius VII. in St See also:Peter's . Consalvi, besides being a statesman, was a man of wide and varied interests . As a See also:young abate he had followed the See also:fashion of See also:writing verses, and to the end he remained a notable See also:patron of the arts and sciences, See also:music being his See also:main See also:passion . For the See also:city of Rome he did much; ancient buildings were excavated and preserved by his direction; chairs of natural See also:science and See also:archaeology were founded in the university; and extensive purchases were made for the Vatican museum, which was augmented by the addition of the beautiful Braccio Nuovo, or new wing . Cardinal Consalvi's Memoires were published in two vols. by S . Cretineau-Joly (Paris, 1864) . Other collections of documents are:—C. von Duerm, Correspondance du Cardinal Consalvi avec le See also:Prince C. de Metternich, 1815 (See also:Louvain and See also:Brussels, 1899); S . Rinieri, Correspondenza inedita dei Cardinali Consalvi e Pacca, 1814–1815 (See also:Turin, 1903) . See J . L . Bartholdy, Ziige aus dem Leben See also:des Cardinal Hercule Consalvi (See also:Stuttgart, 1824) ; Cardinal See also:Wiseman, Recollections of the Last Four Popes (See also:London, 1858) ; Cretineau-Joly, L'Eglise romaine en See also:face de la Revolution (1859) ; Ernest See also:Daudet, Le Cardinal Consalvi (Paris, 1866) ; E . L . See also:Fischer, Cardinal Consalvi (Mainz, 1899) ; Dr Fredrik Nielsen, See also:bishop of See also:Aarhus, Hist. of the Papacy in the lgth See also:Century (2 vols., Eng. trans. by A . J . See also:Mason, D.D., London, 1906), which treats of Consalvi's work in great detail . For other general authorities see See also:Cambridge See also:Modern See also:History, See also:bibliographies to vol. ix. See also:chap. vii., by L . G . Wickham-Legg, and vol. x. chap. v., by See also:Lady See also:Blennerhassett . |
|
|
[back] CONRART (or CONRARD), VALENTIN (1603-1675) |
[next] CONSANGUINITY, or KINDRED |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.