Editing Pope Clement VII (section)

== Cardinal ==
===Under Pope Leo X===
[[File:Portrait of Pope Leo X and his cousins, cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi (by Raphael).jpg|thumb|left|Giulio Cardinal de' Medici, left; with his cousin [[Pope Leo X]], center; and Luigi Cardinal de' Rossi, right; by [[Raphael]], 1519]]

Giulio de' Medici appeared on the world stage in March 1513, at the age of 35,<ref name="catholic-hierarchy.org"/> when his cousin Giovanni de' Medici was elected Pope, taking the name Leo X. Pope Leo X reigned until his death on 1 December 1521.

"Learned, clever, respectable, and industrious",{{attribution needed|date=March 2024}} Giulio de' Medici's reputation and responsibilities grew at a rapid pace, unusual even for the Renaissance.<ref name="newadvent.org"/> Within three months of Leo X's election, he was named [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence|Archbishop of Florence]].<ref name=":1">Guilelmus Gulik and Conradus Eubel, {{lang|la|Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi}}, volume III, revised ed. (Monasterii 1923).</ref>{{rp|197}} Later that autumn, all barriers to his attaining the Church's highest offices were removed by a papal dispensation declaring his birth legitimate. It stated that his parents had been betrothed {{lang|la|per sponsalia de presenti}} (i.e. "wed according to the word of those present").<ref name="newadvent.org"/> Whether or not this was true, it allowed Leo X to create him [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] during the first papal consistory on 23 September 1513.<ref name="newadvent.org"/> On 29 September, he was appointed Cardinal Deacon of [[Santa Maria in Domnica]]—a position that had been vacated by the Pope.<ref name="catholic-hierarchy.org"/>

Cardinal Giulio's reputation during the reign of Leo X is recorded by contemporary Marco Minio, the Venetian ambassador to the Papal Court, who wrote in a letter to the Venetian Senate in 1519: "Cardinal de' Medici, the Pope's [[cardinal nephew]], who is not legitimate, has great power with the Pope; he is a man of great competence and great authority; he resides with the Pope, and does nothing of importance without first consulting him. But he is returning to Florence to govern the city."<ref>Gar, p. 64: {{lang|it|"Il cardinal de' Medici, suo nepote, che non è legittimo, ha gran potere col papa; è uomo di gran maneggio e di grandissima autorità; tuttavia sa vivere col papa, nè fa alcuna cosa di conto se prima non domanda al papa. Ora si ritrova a Fiorenza a governare quella città"}}.</ref>

====Statesmanship====
While Cardinal Giulio was not officially appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Church (second-in-command) until 9 March 1517, in practice Leo X governed in partnership with his cousin from the beginning.<ref name="newadvent.org"/> Initially, his duties centered primarily on administering Church affairs in Florence and conducting international relations. In January 1514, [[Henry VIII of England]] appointed him [[Cardinal protector of England]].<ref name="reformation500.csl.edu">{{cite web|url=https://reformation500.csl.edu/bio/pope-clement-vii/|title=Pope Clement VII|date=5 February 2014|access-date=12 March 2018|archive-date=22 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922141228/https://reformation500.csl.edu/bio/pope-clement-vii/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The following year, [[Francis I of France]] nominated him to become [[Archbishop of Narbonne]], and in 1516 named him cardinal protector of France.<ref name="reformation500.csl.edu"/> In a scenario typical of Cardinal Giulio's independent-minded statesmanship, the respective kings of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]], recognizing a conflict of interest in Giulio protecting both countries simultaneously, brought pressure to bear on him to resign his other protectorship; to their dismay, he refused.<ref name="auto7" />

Cardinal Giulio's foreign policy was shaped by the idea of {{lang|it|la libertà d'Italia}}, which aimed to free Italy and the Church from French and Imperial domination.<ref name="auto7"/> This became clear in 1521, when a personal rivalry between King Francis I and [[Holy Roman Emperor Charles V]] boiled over into war in northern Italy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_first_hapsburg_valois.html|title=First Hapsburg-Valois War (1521–26) / Fourth Italian War|website=Military History Encyclopedia on the Web}}</ref> Francis I expected Giulio, France's cardinal protector, to support him; but Giulio perceived Francis as threatening the Church's independence—particularly the latter's control of [[Lombardy]], and his use of the [[Concordat of Bologna]] to control the Church in France. At the time, the Church wanted Emperor Charles V to combat [[Lutheranism]], then growing in Germany. So Cardinal Giulio negotiated an alliance on behalf of the Church, to support the Holy Roman Empire against France.<ref name="csun.edu">{{cite web|url=https://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1521.html|title=Sede vacante 1521–1522|first=John P. |last=Adams |publisher=California State University, Northridge}}</ref> That autumn, Giulio helped lead a victorious Imperial-Papal army over the French in Milan and Lombardy.<ref name="csun.edu"/> While his strategy of shifting alliances to liberate the Church and Italy from foreign domination proved disastrous during his reign as Pope Clement VII, during the reign of Leo X it skillfully maintained a balance of power among the competing international factions seeking to influence the Church.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reston |first=James |date= 5 May 2015 |title=Luther's Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege |location=United States |publisher= Hachette |isbn= 978-0465063932 }}</ref>

====Armed conflicts====

Giulio de' Medici led numerous armed conflicts as a cardinal. Commenting on this, his contemporary [[Francesco Guicciardini]] wrote that Cardinal Giulio was better suited to arms than to the priesthood.<ref>Sidney Alexander, Introduction to Francesco Guicciardini, ''The History of Italy'', (Princeton, 1969)</ref> He served as papal legate to the army in a campaign against Francis I in 1515, alongside inventor [[Leonardo da Vinci]].<ref name="Strathern">{{cite book|last=Strathern|first=Paul|title=The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance|date=7 March 2016|publisher=Pegasus|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-60598-966-2}}</ref>

====Achievements====
[[File:Transfiguration Raphael.jpg|thumb|''The Transfiguration'', by [[Raphael]], 1520. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici]]
Cardinal Giulio's other endeavors on behalf of Pope Leo X were similarly successful, such that "he had the credit of being the prime mover of papal policy throughout the whole of Leo's pontificate".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/clement-vii-pope|title=Clement VII, Pope |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> In 1513, he was member of the [[Fifth Lateran Council]], assigned the task of healing the schism caused by [[conciliarism]].<ref name="auto7"/> In 1515, his "most significant act of ecclesiastical government" regulated prophetic preaching in the manner of [[Girolamo Savonarola]].<ref name="auto7"/> He later organized and presided over the Florentine Synod of 1517, where he became the first member of the Church to implement the reforms recommended by the Fifth Lateran Council.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> These included prohibiting priests from carrying arms, frequenting taverns, and dancing provocatively – while urging them to attend weekly confession.<ref name="Ashgate"/> Similarly, Cardinal Giulio's artistic patronage was admired (e.g., his commissioning [[Raphael]]'s ''[[Transfiguration (Raphael)|Transfiguration]]'' and [[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[Medici Chapels|Medici Chapel]]'', among other works), particularly for what goldsmith [[Benvenuto Cellini]] later called its "excellent taste".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3029|title=Pope Clement VII |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |via=Catholic Online}}</ref>

===Gran Maestro of Florence===
Cardinal Giulio governed Florence between 1519 and 1523, following the death of its civic ruler, [[Lorenzo II de Medici]], in 1519. There "he was permitted to assume almost autocratic control of State affairs", and "did very much to place public interests upon a firm and practical basis".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10877/10877-h/10877-h.htm|title=The Tragedies of the Medici |first=Edgcumbe |last=Staley |via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> U.S. [[President John Adams]] later characterized Giulio's administration of Florence as "very successful and frugal".<ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/> Adams chronicles the cardinal as having "reduced the business of the magistrates, elections, customs of office, and the mode of expenditure of public money, in such a manner that it produced a great and universal joy among the citizens".<ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/><ref name="Ashgate"/>

On the death of Pope Leo X in 1521, Adams writes there was a "ready inclination in all of the principal citizens [of Florence], and a universal desire among the people, to maintain the state in the hands of the Cardinal de' Medici; and all this felicity arose from his good government, which since the death of the Duke Lorenzo, had been universally agreeable."<ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/>

===Under Pope Adrian VI===
[[File:Paus Adrianus VI (1459-1523) Rijksmuseum SK-A-513.jpeg|thumb|Portrait of Pope Adrian VI in the [[Rijksmuseum]]]]

When Pope Leo X died on 1 December 1521, Cardinal Giulio was "widely expected to succeed him"—but instead, during the conclave of 1522, the College of Cardinals elected a compromise candidate, [[Adrian VI]] of the Netherlands.<ref name="Strathern"/> Of why this happened, historian [[Paul Strathern]] writes, "it was common knowledge that [Cardinal Giulio] had been Leo X's most able adviser, as well as manager of the pope's financial affairs. The fact that Leo X had blithely ignored his cousin's advice, on so many occasions, was widely seen as being responsible for the plight of the papacy—not the influence of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici. On the contrary, Cardinal Giulio appeared to be everything that Leo X was not: he was handsome, thoughtful, saturnine and gifted with good taste. Despite this, many remained steadfast in their opposition to his candidacy."<ref name="Strathern"/>

In conclave, Cardinal Giulio controlled the largest voting bloc, but his enemies forced the election to a stalemate.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1521.html|title = Sede Vacante 1521–1522}}</ref> Among them were Cardinal [[Francesco Soderini]], a Florentine whose family had lost a power struggle to the Medici "and held a grudge"; Cardinal [[Pompeo Colonna]], a Roman nobleman who wanted to become Pope himself; and a group of French cardinals who "were unwilling to forget Leo X's treachery to their King".<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="Strathern"/>

Realizing that his candidacy was in jeopardy, "Cardinal Giulio now chose to make an astute tactical move. He declared modestly that he was unworthy of such high office; instead, he suggested the little-known Dutch scholar Cardinal Adriaan Boeyens, an ascetic and deeply spiritual man who had been tutor to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Cardinal Giulio was sure that Cardinal Boeyens would be rejected—on the grounds of his obscurity, his lack of political expertise and the fact that he was not Italian. The selfless suggestion that had been made by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici would then demonstrate to all that he was in fact the ideal candidate. But this move backfired badly, Cardinal Giulio's bluff was called and Cardinal Boeyens was elected as Pope Adrian VI."<ref name="Strathern"/>
 
During his 20-month papacy, Adrian VI "seemed to set great store by Cardinal Medici's opinions&nbsp;... And all the other cardinals were kept distinctly at arm's-length."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/triple-crown-adrian-vi.htm|title = Pope Adrian VI: Proceedings of the Conclave that led to his election}}</ref> In this way, Cardinal Giulio "wielded formidable influence" throughout Adrian's reign.<ref>{{cite web |first=J. P. |last=Adams |url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1521.html |title=Sede Vacante and Conclave of 1521–1522 |publisher=California State University, Northridge |access-date=2016-03-27}}</ref> Splitting time between the Palazzo Medici in Florence and the [[Palazzo della Cancelleria]] in Rome, Cardinal Giulio "lived there as a generous Medici was expected to live, a patron of artists and musicians, a protector of the poor, a lavish host".<ref>{{cite book|first=Christopher|last=Hibbert|author-link=Christopher Hibbert|title=The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall|year= 1999}}</ref>

====Assassination plot of 1522====
In 1522, rumors began to swirl that Cardinal Giulio—lacking legitimate successors to rule Florence—planned to abdicate rule of the city and "leave the government freely in the people".<ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/> When it became clear that these rumors were untrue, a faction of mostly elite Florentines hatched a plot to assassinate him and then install their own government under his "great adversary", Cardinal [[Francesco Soderini]].<ref name="webdept.fiu.edu">{{Cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1503.htm#Soderini |first=Salvador |last=Miranda |work = The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Biographical Dictionary |title=SODERINI, Francesco (1453-1524)}}</ref><ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/> Soderini encouraged the plot, exhorting both Adrian and [[Francis I of France]] to strike against Giulio and invade his allies in Sicily. This did not happen. Instead of breaking with Giulio, Adrian had Cardinal Soderini imprisoned.<ref name="webdept.fiu.edu"/> Afterward, the principal conspirators were "declared rebels", and some were "apprehended and beheaded; by which means Giulio was again secured [as leader of Florence]."<ref name="oll.libertyfund.org"/>