Editing Pope Marcellus II (section)

==Papacy==
[[File:Pope Marcellus II.PNG|thumb|left|Marcellus II depicted in an engraving by Philippe Soye after [[Onofrio Panvinio]], published in 1568 by [[Antonio Lafreri]]]]
[[File:Tomb of Marcellus II.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[List of extant papal tombs|tomb of Pope Marcellus II]] in the grottoes of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in [[Vatican City]]]]
Though Marcellus II desired to reform many of the inner workings of the Church, his feeble constitution succumbed to the fatigues of the [[papal conclave|conclave]], the exhausting ceremonies connected with his accession, the anxieties arising from his high office, and overexertion in his performance of the pontifical functions of the [[Holy Week]] and [[Easter]].<ref>Panvinio, "Life of Marcellus II", 430: Quum satis (ut dixi) firmus non esset viribus, & propterea anno superiori diu etiam febre laborasset, corpore quoque tam comitiorum incommodis, quam obeundis publicis muneribus, quae vetere Christiani populi instituto, annuis Dominici Cruciatus [Good Friday] & Resurrectionis [Easter] diebus per Maximum Pontificem fieri consuerunt, fatigato, duodecimo pontificatus die gravius e pituita, & non levi febre decubuit.</ref> He quickly fell ill.

He was bled, and appeared to begin to recover. In an audience he gave to the cardinals, who wanted him to sign the Electoral Capitulations from the conclave and to guarantee that he would make no more cardinals than those agreements allowed, he refused to sign, stating that he would show his intent by deeds not words. In his first audience with the ambassadors of France and Spain, he warned the ambassadors that their monarchs should keep the peace that had been agreed upon, and that if they did not, not only would they be sent nuncios and legates, but that the pope himself would come and admonish them. He wrote letters to Emperor Charles V, to Queen [[Mary I of England]], and to Cardinal [[Reginald Pole]] (in which he confirmed Pole as legate in England).<ref>Paul Friedmann (editor), ''Les dépêches de Giovanni Michiel, Ambassadeur de Venise en Angleterre pendent les années 1554–1557'' (Venice 1869), p. 36, dispatch of 6 May 1555. This is confirmed by Sir [[John Mason (diplomat)|John Mason]], the English ambassador in Brussels: William B. Turnbull (editor), ''Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Mary, 1553–1558'' (London 1861), p. 164 #348 (26 April 1555).</ref> When the Spanish ambassador asked for pardon for having killed a man, Marcellus replied that he did not want to start his reign with such auspices as absolution from homicide, and ordered the appropriate tribunals to observe the law.

He did not want his relatives descending on Rome, nor did he want them to be enriched beyond the station of a member of the nobility, and he did not allow his two nephews, Riccardo and Herennius (sons of his half-brother Alexander), who lived in Rome under his care, to have formal visits. He instituted immediate economies in the expenditure of the Holy See. On 28 April, he was able to receive Duke [[Guidobaldo II della Rovere]] of Urbino in audience, and on 29 April, [[Ercole II d'Este]], duke of Ferrara. He also gave audience to four cardinals, Farnese, D'Este, [[Louis I de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise|Louis de Guise]] and [[Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora|Ascanio Sforza]], the leaders of the French faction in the recent conclave. That night he had difficulty sleeping. On the morning of the 30th he suffered a stroke (''hora XII apoplexi correptus'') and slipped into a coma. That night he died, on the 22nd day after his election.<ref name="Priere"/>