Rodolfo Pio di Savoia (22 February 1500 – 2 May 1564), often referred to as Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, was an Italian cardinal, humanist and patron of the arts. The nephew of a diplomat, he himself became a diplomat by the age of thirty, and came to know both Emperor Charles V and King Francis of France, and he negotiated with both on behalf of the pope. His uncle, Alberto III Pio, was Pico della Mirandola's maternal nephew, had been educated by Aldus Manutius and had become a noted humanist scholar. These associations formed Rodolfo's background and education. He formed a notable library and participated in the humanist studies of 16th-century Rome; he also served on the Roman Inquisition. His colleagues as supremi giudici nel Tribunale del Sancto Officio were: Cardinals Giovanni Pietro Carafa (Pope Paul IV, 1555–1559), Marcello Cervini (Pope Marcellus II, 1555), and F. Giovanni of Toledo. He helped to establish the Inquisition at Milan.
Biography
Family The lords of Carpi of the Pio di Savoia family first made a position for themselves in the 14th century. After having long contended for the city of Modena with the House of Este, in 1336 they eventually surrendered it, on condition that they retained the smaller domain of Carpi for themselves, with which they were later enfeoffed by the Holy Roman Empire. They maintained control of Carpi for nearly 200 years and in 1518 they were also invested by Pope Leo X, with the subsidiary papal fiefs of Meldola and Sarsina in the Romagna.
Many members of the family continued in the family tradition as condottieri: obtained from the house of Savoy in 1450, for himself, his brothers and their descendants, the privilege of adding the style "di Savoia" to their surname, as a reward for his military services. Others besides Cardinal Carpi made careers in diplomacy: his oncle Alberto III, who was Imperial ambassador in RomeHe had taken refuge in France after the Sack of Rome, but from 1527 to 1529 was the major intermediary between the French Court and the Papal Court: Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxiii. won fame as a man of learning. Ascanio Pio (d. 1649) was a dramatic poet.
In the latter half of the 15th century, the family split into three different lines, which derived their names from three brothers who had peacefully shared the lordship for a long time. The Alberto branch (linea albertina), to which Cardinal Rodolfo belonged, maintained control of Carpi until 1525 and of Meldola and Sarsina until 1597, after which it became extinct in the male line. The Giberto branch (linea gibertina), which was ousted from Carpi in 1499, ruled the Este fiefdom of Sassuolo for almost all of the following century, until it was stripped by Cesare d'Este. The above-mentioned Ascanio and the two cardinals Carlo Emanuele and Carlo (Juniore) belonged to this branch, which was entitled to boast the principality of San Gregorio in the Papal State from 1655, following its purchase by the latter for his two half-brothers. The more important part of this branch settled in Spain at the end of the 17th century, reaching even the rank of Grandee,The Príncipe Pío hill and the nearby multimodal train station Príncipe Pío in Madrid are named after the most prominent member of this family line, Francisco Pío de Saboya y Moura. but its male line died out in 1776. The third branch, called the Galasso branch (linea galassina), was deprived of its sovereign rights over Carpi for alleged indignity in 1469, but stubbornly managed to survive in Carpi itself and is the only one that still thrives in Rome, in Great Britain and in the United States.
Education and early career Rodolfo Pio di Savoia was born in Carpi near Modena, where his uncle Alberto III was joint Lord of Carpi. His father was and his mother was Maria daughter of Bernardino da Martinengo. In 1516 he was a Chevalier of the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem and Commendatory of the church of S. Lorenzo di Colorno in the diocese of Parma. Pope Leo X granted him the church of the Holy Trinity in Ferrara, clearly as a favor to his uncle rather than an acknowledgment of his own achievements. Rodolfo was sent to study at the University of Padua, where he became Doctor of Philosophy,Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxiii. and at Rome, where he took up an ecclesiastical career as a Papal Chamberlain under Pope Clement VII, who made him bishop of Faenza in 1528. There Carpi presided over a synod in 1533. He was absent, however, during most of the sixteen years of his episcopate, and therefore the duties of his office were performed by his brother Teodoro and by Segicellus of Faventia. Giovanni Battista Sighiselli was Bishop Teodoro Pio da Carpi's successor as Bishop of Faenza: Gulik and Eubel, p. 194.
Carpi's first mission to France took place between 26 July and 28 November 1530.Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxiii, points out that under Paul III there were at least 26 extraordinary envoys to France. He was back in France as a special envoy in the summer of 1533, charged with arranging a personal meeting between Francis I and Pope Clement VII. He was received by Francis at Lyon on 11 June. The pope wanted to meet at Nice, but eventually the meeting took place in Marseille, where the marriage of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici was solemnized, and where Pope Clement was able to engage in negotiations with both Francis I and Charles V.Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxiii-xxxiv.
Carpi attracted further notice in papal diplomacy when he was established as papal nuncio at the court of Francis I (1535–1537). His commission was dated 9 January 1535; he joined the Court at Saint-Germain on 17 February.Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxiv. There he negotiated a peace between King Francis and the Emperor Charles V, who was pleased enough to appoint him "protector of the Holy Roman Empire". While Carpi was in France in 1533, there were rumors being spread around Rome, suggesting that Carpi was furnishing information to the Imperialists. Carpi was advised about these rumors by Pope Paul's secretary, Ambrogio Ricalcato, who also indicated that they were being circulated by agents of the Cardinal de Lorraine. Evidently King Francis heard about these rumors as well, since, in the middle of the night of 26 January 1536 he summoned Carpi to tell him that he deplored these rumors and considered Carpi a good servant. The king wrote to the pope, asking for a red hat for Carpi; the pope replied that it would be a subject for the next consistory for the creation of cardinals.Lestocquoy, "Introduction," p. xxxv. Carpi also initiated discussions about having a general council of the Church to address the problems of heresy and church reform, though it became clear immediately that the king and the emperor had entirely different views as to how, and where, and what. Lestocquoy, "Introduction", pp. xix-xx. He left France in July 1537, having already been appointed Cardinal.
Cardinalate
Pope Paul III created Rodolfo Pio da Carpi a cardinal in the Consistory of 22 December 1536, and on 23 July 1537 he was given his cardinal's ring and the titulus of Santa Pudenziana.Wilelmus Gulik and Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi Tomus III, editio altera (Monasterii 1923) p. 25. He exchanged S. Pudenziana for Santa Prisca on 28 November 1537. On 19 December 1537 Cardinal Carpi was named Legatus a latere to King Francis I of France.Hoffmann, p. 18. He travelled to France in the company of Cardinal Cristoforo Jacobazzi, who had been named Legate to the Imperial Court in Spain. Both cardinals had a personal interview with King Francis at Montpellier in mid-January 1538.Hoffmann, p. 19. His purpose, and Jacobazzi's, was to bring together Francis I and Charles V in a meeting with Pope Paul III. The meeting duly took place in May, though at Nice rather than at Montpellier,De Leva, III, pp. 237-241. but Cardinal Carpi did not attend. He had been sent to Rome, to act as the pope's prefect and Legate of the City in the pope's absence.
On 21 April 1539,Hoffmann, p. 22, with note 76a. Gulik and Eubel, p. 27, note 11. Carpi was appointed Legate to the March of Ancona; he served until 1542.He was still in office on 30 October 1542: Hoffmann, pp. 24–25. The province was in disarray, due to the repeated campaigns of the French and Imperialists. After restoring order, Carpi's most important work in that office was the revision of the Aegidian Constitutions, by which the March had been governed since 1357. Carpi's work, into which he drew the assistance of fourteen experts, was finally given approval and authorization by Pope Paul III in September 1544.
In 1543, Cardinal Carpi composed a Memorandum for the Emperor Charles V, entitled "Discorso del rev. card. di Carpi del 1543 a Carlo V Cesare del modo di dominare". The manuscript has never been published, but brief quotations have been published by Ludwig Pastor.Hoffmann, pp. 25-26. The subject was the Duchy of Milan, which the Emperor Charles had taken from Francis I, and the content was advice on how to retain it. On no account should it be returned to Francis I.
Cardinal Carpi, as he now was, made his presence felt in the Roman Curia as a member of the Roman Inquisition and a defender of the new orders, the Capuchins and the Jesuits.J. Wicki, "Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, erster und einziger Kardinalprotektor der Gesellschaft Jesu," Miscellanea Historiae Pontificiae (1959), pp. 243–267.
Cardinal Pio da Carpi became Cardinal Priest of San Clemente on 24 September 1543, which he exchanged for Santa Maria trans Tiberim on 17 October 1544.Gulik and Eubel, pp. 62 and 66.
In 1544 he was offered the See of Agrigentum (Girgenti) in Sicily by Charles V, and he was approved as Administrator of Girgenti by Pope Paul III on 10 October 1544. He held the post until his death. He never went to Girgenti, of course, since the appointment was only a financial benefit.Gulik and Eubel, p. 99. Cardella, p. 174. In 1544, the Cardinal presided over the establishment of the Accademia degli Imperfetti in Meldola, the tiny lordship of which his uncle Alberto Pio da Carpi had been the first ruler. This academy for the encouragement of cultured persons; the stimulation of culture itself was another of those multitudinous clubs that were formed in cities and towns throughout Italy for the pursuit of intellectual growth.L' Accademia degli Imperfetti, Meldola. There was a more famous academy of the same title in Venice.
Conclave of 1549–1550