A crown-cardinal () was a cardinal protector of a Catholic nation, nominated or funded by its monarch to serve as their representative within the College of CardinalsReinerman, Alan J. 1989. Austria and the Papacy in the Age of Metternich. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. p. 59. and, on occasion, to exercise the right claimed by some monarchs to veto a candidate for election to the papacy. More generally, the term may refer to any cardinal significant as a secular statesman or elevated at the request of a monarch.
Francis Burkle-Young defines a crown cardinal as one "elevated to the cardinalate solely on the recommendation of the European kings and in many cases without having performed any service at all for the advancement of the Church."Francis A. Burkle-Young. 1998. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Papal elections in the Fifteenth Century: The election of Pope Eugenius IV (1431)."
According to conclave historian Frederic Baumgartner, the crown-cardinals "rarely came to Rome except for the conclaves, if then, and they were largely unknown to the majority of the College. Usually unable to take part in the pratiche, they were not papabili and rarely received more than one or two votes".Baumgartner, 2003, p. 150. Crown-cardinals generally opposed the election of crown-cardinals from other kingdoms, although they tended to unite against the election of cardinal-nephews.
Opposition to national cardinal protectors arose in the fifteenth century due to the perceived conflict of interest, and Pope Martin V attempted to forbid them entirely in 1425. A reform of Pope Pius II dated 1464 regards national cardinal protectors as generally inconsistent with curial responsibility, with several exceptions. Such protectorships were first openly permitted by popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, both of whom required the explicit written consent of the pontiff for a cardinal to take up a "position of service to a secular prince".Wilkie, 1974, p. 9. An unnamed cardinal even suggested elevating national cardinal protectors to a full and official position in the Roman Curia, equivalent to an ambassador.
History The institution of a cardinal protector of a nation-state may have originated in the 14th century, serving as a predecessor for the diplomatic institutions of the Holy See developed in the 16th century.Bireley, Robert. 2007. Book Review. The Catholic Historical Review. 93, 1: 172–173. A manuscript list of cardinals appointed at the request of Crowns can be found in the Vatican Library in the Borghese collection, Borg. lat. 376, pp. 131-141: Pietro Francesco de Rossi, De cardinalibus electis ad preces Principum, ab anno 1294 usque in finem pontificatus Pauli III. The institution of the crown-cardinal first became a dominant one within the College of Cardinals with the consistory of Pope Eugene IV on December 18, 1439 (on the heels of the election of Antipope Felix V by the Council of Basel), which nominated an unprecedented number of cardinals with strong ties to European monarchs and other political institutions.Burkle-Young, Francis A. 1998. "The election of Pope Nicholas V (1447)." Monarch/Nation Cardinal NotesCharles VII of FranceRenaud de ChartresChancellor of FranceCharles VII of FranceGuillaume d'EstoutevilleRoyal cousin, constructor of Mont Saint-MichelHenry VI of EnglandLouis de Luxembourg de BeaurevoirChancellor for FranceHenry VI of EnglandJohn Kempformer chancellor of England and archbishop of YorkAfonso V of PortugalAntónio Martins de ChavesBishop of Porto Kingdom of Hungary (interregnum)Dénes SzécsiPrimate-designate of HungaryWładysław III of PolandZbigniew OleśnickiArchbishop of KrakówHoly Roman Empire (interregnum)Petrus de SchaumburgImperial CounsellorRené I of NaplesNiccolo d'AcciapaccioArchbishop of CapuaMilanGerardo Landriani CapitaniBishop of ComoGenoaGiorgio Fieschi di LavagnaArchbishop of GenoaPhilip the GoodJean Le JeuneAmbassador to the Council of Ferrara-Florence
The first explicit reference to protectorship pertaining to a nation-state dates to 1425 (the Catholic Encyclopedia says 1424) when Pope Martin V forbade cardinals to "assume the protection of any king, prince or commune ruled by a tyrant or any other secular person whatsoever."Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 161 This prohibition was renewed in 1492 by Pope Alexander VI. This prohibition was not renewed by Pope Leo X in the ninth session of the Lateran Council of 1512.
Some crown-cardinals were cardinal-nephews or members of powerful families; others were selected solely on the recommendation of European monarchs, in many cases with little previous ecclesiastical experience.Miranda, Salvator. 1998. "The election of Pope Eugenius IV (1431)." During the reigns of Avignon Pope Clement VI and Pope Urban VI in particular, it was acknowledged that monarchs could select retainers and expect them to be elevated to the College of Cardinals. The going rate for the creation of a crown-cardinal was about 2,832 scudi.
Pope Alexander VII had to elevate crown-cardinals in pectore.Pastor, 1940, p. 133. Pope Urban VI (1378–1389) forbade crown-cardinals from receiving gifts from their respective sovereigns.
World War I cemented the decline of the institution of the crown cardinal, as many monarchies either became extinct or declined in power.
Role in conclaves
In the case of Spain, France, and Austria, from the 16th to 20th centuries, crown-cardinals claimed the prerogative to exercise the jus exclusivae, that is, to veto a candidate for the papacy deemed "unacceptable" by their patron. Crown-cardinals usually arrived with a list of such candidates but often had to confer with their patrons during conclaves via messengers and attempt, with varying degrees of success, to delay the conclave from proceeding until they received a response. For example, Pope Innocent X (elected 1644) and Pope Innocent XIII (elected 1721) survived late-arriving veto instructions from France and Spain respectively. Austrian crown-cardinal Carlo Gaetano Gaisruck reached the papal conclave of 1846 too late to exercise the veto against Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, who had already been elected and taken the name Pius IX.
List of cardinal protector crown-cardinals The following includes a complete list of crown cardinal-protectors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries:Wodka, Josef. Zur Geschichte der nationalen Protektorate der Kardinäle an der römischen Kurie. [publisher omitted]: Innsbruck and Leipzig, 1938, 46–130.
Of Hungary Pietro Isvalies (1507–1511) Giulio de Medici (?– 1523)
Of Austria
Protectors:
1523–1531: Lorenzo Pucci 1532–1535: Giovanni Salviati 1540–1542: Girolamo Aleandro 1542–1555: Marcello Cervini 1555–1580: Giovanni Girolamo Morone 1580–1600: Andreas von Österreich 1603–1634: Franz von Dietrichstein 1635–1638: Ippolito Aldobrandini 1638–1642: Maurizio di Savoia 1655–1667: Ernst Adalbert von Harrach Federico Sforza (1664–1666, substitute protector of Habsburg hereditary lands) 1673–1689: Carlo Pio di Savoia 1689–1701: Francesco Maria de' Medici 1701–1707: Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch 1707–1712: Johann Philipp von Lamberg 1712–1725: Christian von Sachsen-Zeitz 1726–1738: Wolfgang von Schrattenbach 1738–1751: Sigismund von Kollonitsch 1751–1758: Ferdinand Julius von Troyer 1779–1800: František Herczan 1823–1834: Giuseppe Albani 1858–1867: Pietro de Silvestri
Vice-protectors and co-protectors
1536–1541: Alessandro Cesarini 1560–1565: Cristoforo Madruzzo 1571–1571: Marco Antonio Colonna 1574/ 1580/81: Tolomeo Galli 1581–1603: Alfonso Gesualdo 1584–1587: Antonio Carafa 1604–1607: Alfonso Visconti 1607–1611: Ottavio Paravicini 1612–1621: Pietro Aldobrandini 1621–1632: Ludovico Ludovisi 1629–1631: Cosimo de Torres 1635–1641: Carlo Emanuele di Savoia 1642–1644: Alfonso de la Cueva 1644–1655: Ernst von Harrach 1645–1664: Girolamo Colonna 1664–1667: Federico Sforza 1667–1675: Friedrich von Hessen-Darmstadt 1690–1693: José Saenz d'Aguirre 1694–1700: Francesco del Giudice 1701/02/ 1706–1710: Vincenzo Grimani 1703–05/ 1708–12: Fabrizio Paolucci 1713–1719: Wolfgang von Schrattenbach 1719–1722: Michael Friedrich von Althan 1722–1726: Juan Álvaro Cienfuegos Villazón 1735–1743: Niccolò del Giudice 1743–1779: Alessandro Albani
Of England
Of Ireland Girolamo Ghinucci (1539–1541) Rodolfo Pio di Carpi (1545–1554) Giovanni Girolamo Morone (1555? – 1574?) Francesco Alciati (1574–1580) Flavio Orsini (1580–1581) Nicholas Pelleve (1582–1594) Girolamo Mattei (1594? – 1603) Pompeo Arrigoni (1605–1616) Fabrizio Verallo (1616? – 1624) Ludovico Ludovisi (1625–1632)Gillis, Clive. 2004. "Days of Deliverance Part 9: Rome makes the New Irish Confederation invincible." Antonio Barberini (1633? – 1671) Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni (1671–1698) Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1706–1737) Neri Maria Corsini (1737–1770) Mario Marefoschi (1771–1780) Gregorio Salviati (1781–1794) Carlo Livizzani Forni (1794–1802)
Of Scotland
Of France
The King of France historically had only one cardinal protector at a time, chosen by a complicated process that involved the King, the secretary of state for foreign affairs, the French ambassador to Rome, and other French power brokers, but not the Pope.Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 164. The crown-cardinal of France was also abbot in commendam of several French abbeys.Salvator, Miranda. 1998. "Consistory of November 7, 1689."
There was traditionally at least one resident French cardinal in the Roman Curia during the first half of the sixteenth century, but Louis XII and Francis I chose three successive Italian cardinals as protector of France thereafter. 1513–1516: Federico di Sanseverino 1516–1523: Giulio de Medici 1523–1548: Agostino Trivulzio Niccolò Gaddi (vice-protector from 1533)Miranda, Salvator. 1998. "Consistory of May 3, 1527 (I)." 1549–1572: Ippolito II d'EsteSignorotto and Visceglia, 2002, pp. 164–165.Yardley, Jonathan. 2005, June 26. "The Cardinal's Hat." Washington Post. BW02. 1573–1586: Luigi d'Este 1587–1615: François de Joyeuse Vice-protector Arnaud d'Ossat (1599–1604) Vice-protector François de La Rochefoucald (October 1609–May 1611)Miranda, Salvator. 1998. "Consistory of December 10, 1607 (III)." 1616–1620: Alessandro Orsini Guido Bentivoglio (vice-protector from 1621 until 1636) 1621–1636: Maurizio di Savoia 1636–1644: Antonio Barberini 1645–1672: Rinaldo d'Este Alessandro Bichi (vice-protector 1645 until 1657) 1672–1676: Virginio Orsini (from 1646 acted as co-protector) 1676–1701: César d'Estrées 1702–1709: Francesco Maria de’Medici 1709–1740: Pietro Ottoboni Pierre Guérin de Tencin, acting protector until 1758 1758–1765: Prospero Colonna di Sciarra 1769–1792/4: François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis
Of the Holy Roman Empire
The protector of the Holy Roman Empire was often the protector of the Austrian hereditary lands.
1492–1503: Francesco PiccolominiSignorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 29 1518–1539: Lorenzo Campeggio 1540–1540: Pedro Fernández Manrique 1540–1542: Girolamo Aleander 1542–1550: Innocenzo Cibo 1550–1557: Juan Álvarez de Toledo 1557–1573: Otto Truchsess von Waldburg 1573–1600: Ludovico Madruzzo 1603–1611: Ottavio Paravicini 1611–1633: Scipione Borghese 1635/36: Franz von DietrichsteinMiranda, Salvator. 1998. "Consistory of March 3, 1599 (IV)" 1636–1642: Moritz von Savoyen 1644–1666: Girolamo Colonna 1666–1682: Friedrich von Hessen-Darmstadt 1682–1689: Carlo Pio di Savoia 1689–1701: Francesco Maria de' MediciMiranda, Salvator. 1998. "September 2, 1686 (II)" 1701–1707: Leopold von Kollonitsch 1707–1712: Johann Philipp von Lamberg 1712–1725: Christian August von Sachsen-Zeitz 1726–1738: Wolfgang von Schrattenbach 1738–1751: Sigismund von Kollonitsch 1751–1758: Ferdinand Julius von Troyer 1758–1765: vacant 1765–1779: Alessandro Albani 1779–1800: Franziskus Herzan von Harras
Vice-protectors and co-protectors 1517–1530: Lorenzo Pucci 1530–1532: Wilhelm van Enkevoirt 1534–1539: Alessandro Cesarini 1538–1540: Girolamo Ghinucci