Giovanni BoccamazzaBoccamiti; John of Tusculum (Tusculum is the old Roman name for the city later known as Frascati), a name also applying to Antipope Benedict X. (died 1309) was an Italian Cardinal. He was from the Roman nobility,Sandro Carocci, Baroni di Roma (Roma: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo, 1993), pp. 321-326. and was a nephew of Cardinal Giacomo Savelli,:it:Savelli (famiglia) who had been an important figure in the Roman Curia since his creation as cardinal in 1261.Bernhard Pawlicki, Papst Honorius IV. Eine Monographie (Münster 1896), pp. 7-13.
Early career
On 14 May 1264, Giovanni was granted the benefice of the church of S. Fortunato de Vernot in the Diocese of Sens.Ingeborg Walter,"Boccamazza, Giovanni," Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 11 (1969). In 1285, Giovanni's uncle, Cardinal Savelli, was elected Pope Honorius IV. Giovanni Boccamazza began his career in the Church as a Canon of the Vatican BasilicaJohrendt, Die Diener des Apostelfürsten, 451-452. and Chaplain of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280).
Bishop of Monreale
He was made Archbishop of Monreale, near Palermo, by Pope Nicholas III on 15 August 1278.Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I, editio altera (Monsterii 1913), p. 348. He had not, however, been the original choice as bishop. The Chapter of the Cathedral of Monreale had originally and unanimously chosen Guillaume, Bishop of Potenza, but he declined the position and resigned the election into the hands of the Pope. The matter was referred to the usual committee of cardinals on episcopal elections, in this case composed of Cardinals Latino Malabranca Orsini, Guillaume de Bray, and Matteo Rosso Orsini. Nicholas then received the bishop's resignation of the election to Monreale and sought to appoint Bernard de Montemirato, OSB, the Abbot of Montismajoris in the Diocese of Arles.Denis Sammarthani (editor), Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), p. 610. But he flatly refused. Nicholas then chose his Chaplain, Giovanni Boccamazza.Jules Gay (editor), Registres de Nicolas III (Paris 1898), no. 120, pp. 38-39. He was there at the time of the Sicilian Vespers (1282). It was Cardinal Boccamazza who delivered the news of the Sicilian Vespers to King Charles I of AnjouV. D'Avino, Cenni storici sulle chiese arcivescovili, vescovili e prelatizie (nullius) del Regno delle Due Sicilie (Napoli 1848), 359. After fleeing Sicily,Steven Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers. he was made cardinal-bishop of Frascati on 22 December 1285—the only cardinal created by Pope Honorius.Eubel, pp. 10-11.
Legate in Germany
As soon as Honorius IV became pope, he was approached by King Rudolf of Germany, King of the Romans, with regard to his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. This honor had been promised him by Gregory X in 1275, but succeeding popes had not authorized the coronation. Now he approached the new pope through the new Archbishop of Mainz, Heinrich de Isnay, O.Min. (1286-1288). In reply Honorius sent Cardinal Giovanni Boccamazza as Apostolic Legate to Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Sweden to engage in conversations with Rudolf.The continuator of Martinus Polonus, in G. Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica Vol. 22 (Hannover 1872), p. 482. Cardinal Giovanni attended the significant synod of March 1287 in Würzburg, considered as a German national council.Pawlicki, pp. 81-88. Georg Freiherr von Gaisberg-Schöckingen, Das Konzil und der Reichstag zu Würzburg im Jahre 1287 (Stuttgart: J. Fink, 1928). Theodor Lindner, Deutsche Geschichte unter den Habsburgern und Luxemburgern, 1273-1437 Vol. II (Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta, 1890), pp. 64-68. On 22 July 1287, during the Sede Vacante following the death of Honorius IV (1285-1287), he was at Cambrai, where he issued orders for Dacia and Suecia.Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), no. 22598. While he was at Cambrai the Legate, Cardinal Giovanni was attacked by a nobleman, Nicholas, his brothers and sons, and his retainers, while he was in church. When that attempt failed, they followed him to his house, where there was a riot. The bishop of Cambrai, who held both spiritual and temporal power in the city, was excommunicated by Cardinal Giovanni, and the city was placed under interdict. When Cardinal Giovanni returned to Rome and explained the whole affair to Pope Nicholas personally, the Pope cited the Bishop, the Archdeacon, the Bailli, the Chapter of the Cathedral, and numerous others, to appear before his court in Rome.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 582, p. 116-117. The case was finally disposed of on 3 October 1291 with the suspension of the Bishop from his pontifical powers and right to collate to benefices for three years.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 6140, p. 827-828. Also, during the same Legatine assignment, Cardinal Giovanni became involved in strife between the Dominicans and the people of Strasbourg, and he felt compelled to lay the city under the Interdict.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 2683, pp. 447-448. On 16 September 1287 Cardinal Giovanni was at Clairvaux,Potthast, no. 22599. and he was still there on 8 November, when he wrote to the Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden (Suecia),Potthast, no. 22601. and 6 December 1287, when he wrote to the Dominicans of Hungary and Poland.Potthast, no. 22602. He wrote from Novaevallis, on 14 December, to all of the clergy in his Legation for the benefit of the Cistercians.Potthast, no. 22603. He did not, therefore, attend the Conclave of 1287-1288.
Work in the Roman Curia
He was back in Italy, at Rieti, in September, 1288, when he subscribed a bull for Pope Nicholas IV.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 243 (3 September 1288). Later in the year, in Rome, he was a member of an examination committee of an abbot-elect.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 397 (31 October 1288). On 28 January 1289 he is mentioned as having been an Auditor in the case involving the canonical election of a bishop of Avignon.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 532, p. 104. Two days later he was assigned the task of consecrating the newly approved Archbishop of Crete.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 541. In September 1290 Cardinal Giovanni served on the examination committee that investigated the contested election to the Bishopric of Alatri.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 3316, p. 525 (Orvieto, 16 September 1290). In March 1291, he was a member of the committee that reviewed the election of the Abbot of S. Albans.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 4638, p. 667. At nearly the same time, he did the same in the case of the monastery of S. Pietro in Perugia.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 4911, p. 694.
On 5 March 1291, Pope Nicholas granted Cardinal Giovanni Boccamazza the power to investigate and reform the apparently large number of encroachments and illegal occupations made by various persons upon the properties belonging to the Lateran Basilica. The Senators and other magistrates of Rome were ordered to assist the Cardinal in restoring the properties of S. Giovanni Laterano.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 4557-4558, p. 657. The same service was imposed on Cardinal Giovanni with respect to the Premonstratensian monastery of S. Quirico de valle introducti in the diocese of Reate.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 6521, p. 871 (13 January 1292). He was then empowered to do the same for the Monastery of Farfa.E. Langlois (editor), Les registres de Nicolas IV (Paris 1905) no. 6948, p. 928 (18 March 1292).
At the end of November 1295, Cardinal Giovanni was present and working in the Roman Curia, and was one of eighteen cardinals who received a distribution from the funds of the Treasury of the College of Cardinals.Johann Peter Kirsch, Die FInanzverwaltung des Kardinalkollegiums im XIII. und XIV. Jahrhundert (Münster 1895), p. 98. On 12 March 1296, he was one of twenty-one cardinals who received a 1/18 share in the payment of 2000 livres Tournois presented by the Procurators of the Abbot of Cluny.Kirsch, p. 112-113. At Easter 1296, he had his share of 600 gold florins presented by the Archbishop of Florence; and likewise a share in the 400 gold florins presented by the Bishop of Tortona in Lombardy.Kirsch, p. 113. On 29 April, he shared in the 600 florins paid by the Bishop of Famagusta. At Pentecost 1296, eighteen cardinals shared in the 1900 florins presented by the Bishop of Séez; and a distribution of the 500 livres Tournois paid by the Archbishop of Rouen; and a 1/23 share in the 50 livres of the Bishop of Teramo.Kirsch, p. 115. On 29 June 1296, there was a distribution of 500 florins paid by the Bishop of Patras. Around the Feast of S. Michael, 29 September 1296, he received a share of the payment made through the bankers of the Abbot of S. Victor of Marseille.Kirsch, p. 112. On 10 May 1297, he was present at the degrading of Cardinals Jacobus and Petrus Colonna, from whose confiscated income Pope Boniface VIII granted a half to the cardinals, nineteen of whom are named, included Giovanni of Tusculum.Kirsch, p. 102. He also participated in a distribution of 5 gold pieces which had been offered by the Archbishop of Strigonia at his ad limina visit. On 24 June 1297, he was one of twenty-two cardinals who received his share of the money offered by the Abbot of S. Justinus in Padua; of the money offered by the Bishop of Padua; and of the money brought by the Proctor of the Bishop of Siena.Kirsch, p. 103.
At Easter 1298, the Archbishop of Tours visited Rome, and presented the College of Cardinals with 200 livres Tournois, which was divided among fourteen cardinals, including Giovanni of Tusculum. At the same time, the sum of 2500 florins out of the payment of the Bishop of Zaragoza was distributed to the same cardinals; and a distribution from the sum of 2000 florins paid by the Bishop of Pamiers.Kirsch, p. 120. On 20 May 1298, the 500 florins brought by the Bishop of Lodève was shared by eighteen cardinals in the Curia; at the same time there was a distribution of the 1000 gold florins paid by the Bishop of Urgel; and a distribution from the 500 livres Tournois presented by the Archbishop of Rouen. On 2 June 1298, the Abbot of Subiaco paid 300 gold florins owed by his predecessor, which was shared by twenty cardinals.Kirsch, p. 121. On 5 September 1298, there was a distribution of the payment of 180 livres Tournois made by the Abbot of the Major Monasterium in Tours, with a 1/15 share coming to Cardinal Giovanni of Tusculum.Kirsch, p. 124. These are only examples, showing the very large, if irregular, income of a cardinal at the time, and indicating that a cardinal was present in the Roman Curia at the time. Cardinals who were not present in the Curia (except occasionally deceased cardinals, whose estates benefitted from a late payment of dues) did not share in the distributions; this applied to Papal Legates, who had to be paid by the Pope through the Apostolic Camera, not by the Camera of the College of Cardinals.