Editing Gerolamo Cardano (section)

== Later years and death ==
Two of Cardano's children — Giovanni Battista and Aldo Urbano — came to ignoble ends. Giovanni Battista, Cardano's eldest and favourite son was arrested in 1560 for having poisoned his wife,<ref name=":0" /> after he had discovered that their three children were not his. Giovanni was put to trial and, when Cardano could not pay the restitution demanded by the victim's family, was sentenced to death and [[death penalty|beheaded]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schaefer |first1=John |title=Cardano's Demons: Renaissance Demonology and Divination |url=https://www.harvardsynthesis.com/post/cardano-s-demons-renaissance-demonology-and-divination |website=Harvard Synthesis Journal |date=26 April 2021 |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref> Gerolamo's other son Aldo Urbano was a gambler, who stole money from his father, and so Cardano disinherited him in 1569.

Cardano moved from Pavia to Bologna, in part because he believed that the decision to execute his son was influenced by Gerolamo's battles with the academic establishment in Pavia, and his colleagues' jealousy at his scientific achievements, and also because he was beset with allegations of sexual impropriety with his students.<ref name="Maggi2001"/> He obtained a position as professor of medicine at the [[University of Bologna]].

Cardano was arrested by the [[Inquisition]] in 1570 after an accusation of heresy by the Inquisitor of Como, who targeted Cardano's ''De rerum varietate'' (1557).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Valente|first=Michaela|date=2017|title=Facing the Roman Inquisition: Cardano and Della Porta|journal=Bruniana e Campanelliana|volume=23|issue=2|pages=533–540|doi=10.19272/201704102017}}</ref> The inquisitors complained about Cardano's writings on [[astrology]], especially his claim that self-harming religiously motivated actions of martyrs and heretics were caused by the stars.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Regier|first=Jonathan|date=2019|title=Reading Cardano with the Roman Inquisition: Astrology, Celestial Physics, and the Force of Heresy|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8608904/file/8651154.pdf|journal=Isis|volume=110|issue=4|pages=661–679|doi=10.1086/706783|hdl=1854/LU-8608904|s2cid=201272821}}</ref> In his 1543 book ''De Supplemento Almanach'', a commentary on the astrological work ''[[Tetrabiblos]]'' by [[Ptolemy]], Cardano had also published a horoscope of [[Jesus]]. Cardano was imprisoned for several months and lost his professorship in Bologna. He abjured and was freed, probably with help from powerful churchmen in Rome.<ref name=":1" /> All his non-medical works were prohibited and placed on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Index]].<ref name=":1" />

He moved to Rome, where he received a lifetime [[Annuity (financial contracts)|annuity]] from [[Pope Gregory XIII]] (after first having been rejected by [[Pope Pius V]], who died in 1572) and finished his autobiography. He was accepted into the Royal College of Physicians, and as well as practising medicine he continued his philosophical studies until his death in 1576.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Smoller |first1=Laura |title=CARDANO'S COSMOS: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer |url=https://www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/undefined/cardanos-cosmos-worlds-and-works-renaissance-astrologer |access-date=26 January 2025 |website=Wilson's Quarterly}}</ref>