Editing Pope Urban VIII (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
[[File:Caravaggio Maffeo Barberini.jpg|thumb|left|200px|{{circa|1598}} [[Portrait of Maffeo Barberini|painting]] of Maffeo Barberini at age 30 by [[Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio|Caravaggio]].]]
Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini was born in April 1568, the son of Antonio [[Barberini]], a Florentine nobleman, and Camilla Barbadoro.{{sfn|Barton|1964|p=115}} He was born at [[Barberino Val d'Elsa]] in "Tafania" house. His father died when he was only three years old and his mother took him to [[Rome]], where he was put in the charge of his uncle, Francesco Barberini, an [[apostolic protonotary]].{{sfn|Ott|1912}} At the age of 16, he became his uncle's heir.{{sfn|Keyvanian|2005|p=294}} He was educated by the [[Society of Jesus]] ("Jesuits"), and received a doctorate of law from the [[University of Pisa]] in 1589.

In 1601, Barberini, through the influence of his uncle, was able to secure from [[Pope Clement VIII]] appointment as a [[papal legate]] to the court of King [[Henry IV of France]]. In 1604, the same pope appointed him as the [[Archbishop of Nazareth]],{{sfn|Ott|1912}} an office joined with that of Bishop of the suppressed Dioceses of Canne and Monteverde, with his residence at [[Barletta]]. At the death of his uncle, he inherited his riches, with which he bought a palace in Rome, which he made into a [[Palazzo Barberini|luxurious Renaissance residence]].

[[Pope Paul V]] also later employed Barberini in a similar capacity, afterwards raising him, in 1606, to the order of the [[Catholic Cardinal|Cardinal-Priest]], with the [[titular church]] of [[San Pietro in Montorio]] and appointing him as a [[papal legate]] of [[Bologna]].{{sfn|Ott|1912}}