URBAN VII  . (Giovanni Battista Castagna), successor of Sixtus V., was born on the 4th of August 1521 . He became governor of Bologna, archbishop of Rossano, and was long nuncio to Spain . Gregory XIII. made him a cardinal, 1583; and in 1590 he was elected pope by the Spanish faction, but died twelve days later, on the 27th of September 1590, and was succeeded by Gregory XIV . See Ciaconius, Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontiff . Rom . (Rome, 1601—2) ; Cicarella, continuator of Platina, De vitis Pontiff . Rom . (both contemporary; the latter prolix and tedious); Arrigho, Vita Urbani VII . (Bologna, 1614); and Ranke, Popes (Eng. trans., Austin), ii . 227 .