Contributo-2018

 

 

Maria-Teresa-Guerra-MediciTHE QUEEN OF SWEDEN, CARDINAL GIOVANBATTISTA DE LUCA, AND THE

MODERNIZATION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE*

 

Maria teresa guerra Medici

Rome

University of Camerino

 

 

CONTENTS: 1. Christina of Sweden. Queen of Rome. – 2. Giovan Battista De Luca. The pope’s jurist. – 3. A cordial friendship. – 4. Abstract.

 

 

1. – Christina of Sweden. Queen of Rome

 

Christina had become queen at six years of age, upon the death of her father, Gustavus Adolphus the Great; at eighteen, she became Queen of Sweden in her own right. It is our good fortune to have an account of her early years in her own voice[1]. Although she had received a good political education, as she showed at the start of her reign, her interests were focused above all on letters, the arts, and philosophy. She had studied Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and German. Unable to rival the military genius of her father, one of the great commanders of his time, she believed she could equal him through culture. She invited to court some of Europe’s most eminent philosophers, scientists, and men of letters. Her cultural interests kept her away from politics and the labours of government, causing discontent among her subjects, who also accused her of overspending and of surrounding herself with incompetent favourites.

In 1654, against the resistance of family members, the Court, and her councillors, she renounced the throne; at any rate, she believed women were “unable to rule,” as she was to write in her autobiography – perhaps an a posteriori justification of so sensational a gesture. However, her proclaimed conviction that women were unfit to govern did not prevent her from unsuccessfully vying for the crown of Naples and that of Poland when the circumstance arose. Perhaps it was Lutheran Sweden that was too confining for her; in fact, she had begun to move closer to Catholicism, in the growing conviction that a broader intellectual freedom was possible within the context of the Catholic religion. In this, she was also influenced by Descartes, himself a fervent Catholic.

With her abdication she had obtained a good appanage and the right to retain the title of queen. Having yielded the crown to her cousin Charles Gustav, she left Sweden and undertook the long journey to Italy, a country for which she had always harboured admiration. It was a physical journey, a political journey, but above all a spiritual journey that brought the new convert to her natural home. By way of the Netherlands, she reached Innsbruck where, in the Royal Chapel, she was baptized. The queen added Alexandra to her name in honour of Pope Alexander VII.

On 03 December 1655, Cristina made her solemn entry into the Eternal City, where she was welcomed with all honours. A few months later, the Pope had the queen sent the medal “showing her entry into Rome”[2].

The Queen had reached Rome accompanied by her not unearned renown as an outlandish person of bizarre and unconventional character. Upon reaching the Eternal City, she maintained her unusual habits, such as riding in male garb, which most people found disconcerting. [3] Moreover, the daily life of rosaries, mass, and prayers was rather tiresome for the restless guest who showed her impatience on more than one occasion. Her art acquisitions also raised some eyebrows: Alexander VII wrote that the knight Michelangelo Vanni had shown him the Queen’s Paolo Veronese paintings that were “the least lewd”[4].

In Palazzo Farnese, where she established her first Roman residence, and then at Palazzo Riario-Corsini, she gathered together an Academy, later to be named Arcadia[5], frequented by musicians, men of letters, and poets: whoever could satisfy the curiosities and interests that earned Christina the tile of Minerva of the North[6].

Meetings were held in a room beside the library in the magnificently restored and renovated Palazzo Riario[7]. The palace was enriched by a large, luxuriant park quite dear to the queen, who devoted herself to it with skill and passion; the park is Rome’s present-day Botanical Garden. The queen loved music and owned a certain number of excellent instruments. Alessandro Scarlatti was her maestro di cappella and he dedicated his second opera to her. Christina also penned the libretto for an opera she would have liked Scarlatti to compose the music for – an honour the maestro refused. Arcangelo Corelli also played for her and her guests. The beautiful and greatly talented virtuoso Angelica Quadrelli performed for her, both as singer and on the harpsichord, lute, and oboe. Women were prohibited from performing in public in Rome, and Quadrelli, joined by her mother and sister, was housed at Palazzo Riario against the orders of the Pope, who wanted to see the beautiful artist “sheltered” in a convent. Christina was in fact often accused of harbouring single women of reproachable conduct: women who had fled their homes, theatre performers, intellectuals; all brought together under the broad and reprehensible category of “free women,” as the queen herself liked to be considered, faithful to what she had been taught by her friend and mentor Descartes. Her interests in the esoteric disciplines and her “suspected” alchemy were also cause for discontent[8].

The Academy was also frequented by some cardinals, with Cardinal Decio Azzolini soon gaining prominence among them: young, brilliant, cultured, intelligent and highly capable, he had risen quickly at the Vatican[9]. A profound friendship grew between the queen and the young cardinal, raising quite a bit of gossip. No one could ever prove the existence of a sexual relationship between them, and the cardinal himself, when the Pope recommended prudence, replied to the pontiff with assurances that his actions were wholly proper. At the time of the Counter-Reformation, the prelates’ behaviour had to be above reproach. The cardinal was charmed by the queen’s blue eyes, by her complex personality marked by intelligence and intense emotion, by her learned flamboyance, and by her political utility. He remained by her side for thirty years, and spurred her to write her autobiography.

Among the learned men who frequented the Academy, Giovanni Battista de Luca held a pre-eminent position.

 

 

2. – Giovan Battista De Luca. The pope’s jurist

 

Giovan Battista De Luca took up residence in Rome in 1644. Born in 1614 in Venosa, a town in Lucania[10], he began his studies in Salerno under Salimbene da Siena, who taught lessons in the most elegant Latin followed by discussion with his students in Italian – a method his young pupil greatly appreciated. In 1631, he moved to Naples where he earned his doctorate in law and devoted himself to the legal profession at the most important Neapolitan courts, and where he established close relationships with the Society of Jesus. Settling definitively in Rome, his fame as jurist and the protection of the Ludovisi family gained him entry into the most important circles of the pontifical court. The great legal competence that had secured his important position allowed him to skilfully negotiate the twists and turns, the intrigue, and the traps of the Curia he had joined[11].

A highly successful lawyer, he practised the profession for about thirty years. His office, where numerous employees and collaborators worked, was famed for its rich library. Derived from his practice was Theatrum Veritatis et Iustitiae[12], an impressive, multi-volume work collecting an enormous mass of opinions in the most varied fields of law: civil, canon, and feudal. The Theatrum was followed by a sort of compendium in Italian, Il Dottor Volgare, which had the virtue of founding the Italian legal lexicon. In 1658, he was made the King of Spain’s advocate in Rome.

De Luca had joined the circle of cardinals created by Innocent X and later also earned the esteem of Alexander VII, Cardinal Fabio Chigi, who was made pope in 1655. That same year, De Luca took the minor orders, and in 1676 was ordained priest. The jurist, who had for some time devoted his efforts, with commitment and competence, to furthering his studies on the system, administration, and political and legal organization of the Papal State, became one of the new pontiff’s closest collaborators. Appointed auditor and secretary for defence statements, he was tasked with following, day by day, the complex political and diplomatic manoeuvrings in Italy and Europe.

The new Pope was a profoundly devout man, a scholar who led an ascetic life. An intense lover of the arts, he dedicated his efforts to the urban renewal of Rome, which he enriched with notable architectural works: among other things, he was responsible for the colonnade at St. Peter’s. When the Counter-Reformation was in full swing, enlarging and adorning the city was also a way to manifest the strength and vitality of the Catholic Church. The attention that Alexander VII dedicated to the operation is shown by his diary in which he notes the almost daily relations with “his” artists: Bernini, Borromini, Pietro da Cortona, and so on[13]. Immensely cultured, he left a rich library named for him: Biblioteca Alessandrina; his tomb at St. Peter’s is the work of Bernini.

With Il Principe cristiano[14], written at the request of the Queen of Sweden and a work of seventeenth-century treatise writing, De Luca had initiated a reflection on the meaning of State, and on the obligation and duties of the Prince and of his subjects. Law, as a bearing structure of civil society, is the linchpin of government action for the public good. Lastly, the jurist dealt with the theme of the Christian Prince’s proper attitude towards religion[15] and the relationships between secular jurisdiction and ecclesiastical power.

In 1676, Benedetto Odescalchi became Pope Innocent XI: young, vigorous, and essentially extraneous to the factions clashing at the pontifical court. The ceremonies for the coronation were of the utmost simplicity. The pope took up lodging in a modest building inside the Quirinal Palace. De Luca was among his closest collaborators, as part of a “triumvirate” that aided the Pope for whom he served as interpreter and advisor, tasked with proposing a programme of reforms necessitated above all by the financial disarray in a delicate and difficult phase of reordering and reorganizing the Church of Rome.

The jurist had identified the internal problems and the singularity of the Church, of the sovereignty of the Pope, universal bishop and temporal prince[16], and of its consequences on the concrete life of the state: a possible model for a modern State structure. For some time, he devoted his efforts to studying the organization and administration of the pontifical State, analyzed its singular nature, and acutely grasped its problems, specialties, and anomalies, but also the possible form of a “modern” State administered by officials rather than by the sovereign’s family members. He had emphasized particular juridical aspects – the problems of the courts – and was at the centre of the congregation of the Reform of the courts. In the pontifical State, multiple juridical sources overlapped and became confused with one another, in a tangle that at times grew inextricable, suggesting and permitting interpretations that often disagreed or conflicted with one another. In 1681, the Pope made him Cardinal. In support of the Pope’s action to promote the reordering of the judicial system and the discipline of the clergy, he wrote that the prince’s laws praevalere debent[17].

The cardinal devoted his efforts above all to the great themes of currency and of an administrative reform that was to lead to the construction of a new State figure: both as a moral and social body, and as an economic and financial one. He clearly distinguished the spiritual sphere from the temporal one which enjoyed greater autonomy with the reorganization of the central offices and the solution of questions of immunity and jurisdiction. The transformation of the State in a “secular” sense dealt with the issue of the “franchises” and of the “immunities” that were enjoyed – by the patent holders of the various offices[18], and by churchmen in general – suggesting measures and provisions that attracted to him the aversion of those who, in the current system, enjoyed lucrative or prestigious positions and privileges. The limitation or regulation of the privileged regime in force derived from a profound awareness of the institutional and constitutional consequences not only within the Papal State but also in its relations with foreign potentates. In contrast with France, which boasted the age-old regalie[19], he expressed intolerance for secular claims to interfere with issues of pertinence to the Church[20] and with the privileges and immunities of ambassadors and of representatives of foreign powers in general[21]. In this sense, his work provided a sound theoretical background for defining the frequent disputes among states, before the need was felt elsewhere to establish new rules of international law. His plans for reform, and the work he carried out with the strong determination of a brusque and impetuous character not prone to compromise, giving him the reputation of a haughty and unpleasant man, resulted in difficult relations with the Curia, and in strong enmities and a sort of persecution on the part of those who feared losing their positions of privilege. Among the proposed reforms, the one abolishing the role of the Cardinal-Nephew was particularly opposed.

Although the popes declared they wished to be more loved than feared, in government work they were not far from secular monarchs who gave to family members – who were (not always justifiably) held to be more faithful – important and delicate roles and positions. The figure of the Cardinal-Nephew fits into the European monarchies ’family model’ for managing power. The papal monarchy lacked a stable link between the family’s sovereign and the State. The Sovereign Pontiff had no dynastic base; he was an elected sovereign, usually rather elderly, who through the strengthening of his family, and the marriages of his nephews and nieces, secured a power base and the support of the local oligarchies: a model not unlike that of all the European monarchies. «The office of Cardinal–Nephew or Master responded to the pope’s need to be able to count on the permanent aid of a safe person, of whose confidentiality he could be certain»[22]. But times were changing. The great monarchies were placing less and less reliance on the bonds of family relationship, to the benefit of a class of professional administrators and bureaucrats. Alexander VII himself had opposed nepotism and limited its effects. The office of Cardinal-Nephew was banned by Innocent XII in 1692.

The plan to reform the state of the Church from within, and to transform it into a modern State as had taken place in the other European countries including Sweden, was followed attentively by Queen Christina who, although she had left the throne, observed with interest what was taking place on the European political landscape. Her interests in politics, and those of the Papal State in particular, were shared by Cardinal Azzolini.

 

 

3. – A cordial friendship

 

The cardinal and the jurist had the same interests, moved in the same environments, and were acquainted with, esteemed, and appreciated each other. In all likelihood, it was Azzolini who introduced the esteemed jurist into the circle of the Queen of Sweden, who appreciated him. De Luca stayed quite close to the queen, and assiduously frequented the academy and the private meetings taking place at Palazzo Riario, where academic entertainments proposed by the Queen on the pre-eminence of justice were held – a theme to which Christina, although she herself had abdicated the affairs of government, devoted great attention.

To his royal friend, the jurist dedicated Il Cavaliere e la Dama (“the knight and the lady”), a tract reflecting Baroque thinking, based on the court and its rules and addressing a courtly, city-dwelling, and cosmopolitan elite. The author introduced new elements, like the strong claim for jurisprudence: and it could not be otherwise; along with the precepts of daily life, and the value of honour and respect, the jurist emphasized the virtues necessary for the “civil and political government” of the public affairs.

In his dedication «To the Holy Majesty of Queen Christina Alexandra of Sweden», we read: «to your majesty, more than any other, the protection of this work Il Cavaliere e la Dama is suited, because included in your royal person are both qualities, as Queen and Lady by nature of your sex; as King and Knight in virtus, soul, intellect, and in a more than virile strength and courage …»[23].

This identification with the two figures – of the lady and of the knight – appears to herald the resurgence of the that androgynous human being, both male and female, described by Plato, that Zeus had separated, fearing the excessive power of a presence that included within itself so many qualities and such strength[24].

The duality of knight and lady in the person of the Queen of Sweden had been sensed by Azzolini: the shrewd cardinal saw the effect the paternal figure, the great warrior, had on his daughter. The king had chosen to raise his heiress as a male, ready to succeed him on the throne. The girl had made her father’s ambitions her own: when she became a woman, she identified with them without hesitation, developing a rather ambiguous personality that was to influence her entire life to come. In Christina, we see two different personalities come together – one of which, of course unwittingly, foreshadowing Virginia Woolf’s fascinating Orlando[25].

Il cavaliere e la dama and Il principe cristiano are from the same year, 1675, and are the result of the Ozi tusculani[26]; the erudite and pleasant conversations held in the Queens’s lush, perfumed garden on the slopes of Janiculum. The conversation discussed the obligations of knights, the qualities of ladies, the tasks of the Christian prince, and the nature of the ecclesiastical State and of its independence from the pressing influences of the French and Spanish crowns. The Queen, the Cardinal, and the jurist were convinced that the higher interests of the Church should prevail over any other.

A close group of eleven cardinals had gathered around Cardinal Azzolini, with the purpose of influencing the Sacred Council, the Pope’s Senate, during the Conclave. The declaredly neutral cardinals proposed determining the pope’s election thanks to the ability to shift their votes from one position to another. Independence from foreign influences allowed them to condition the Conclave[27]. The election of Alexander VII (Fabio Chigi) in 1655 had marked the group’s victory. Thanks to its action, the influences of Spain and France weighed on the pontiff’s election far less than they did in the past.

The Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Terranova, called the group the “flying squadron” (“lo squadrone volante”). The election of Alexander VII had increased the prestige of Azzolini and of the squadrone volante, also called fazione di Dio (the “faction of God”) or setta libertina (the “libertine sect”). The squadrone had found a patroness in the Queen of Sweden, who shared its ideas and, on the strength of her diplomatic relationships, acted as its ambassador[28].

The squadrone was decisive in the election of Giulio Rospigliosi; during his long diplomatic activity, Clement IX had been in contact with the Queen of Sweden, with whom he shared interests and frequent encounters with poets and men of letters. Himself the authors of dramas to be set to music, the Pope played a decisive role in the development of the Roman musical theatre[29].

The role of the squadrone volante later started to fade.

 

 

Abstract

 

La regina di Svezia, che aveva rinunciato al trono e si era convertita al cattolicesimo, stabilì la sua residenza a Roma nel palazzo Riario-Corsini.

Donna di grande cultura e curiosità per ogni aspetto del sapere umano , raccolse intorno a sé una scelta Accademia di letterati, artisti, musicisti e quanti potevano soddisfare la sua vorace ansia di conoscenza. Tra i frequentatori dello dotto circolo troviamo il più illustre giurista della sua epoca: il cardinale Giovannni Battista de Luca. Il cardinale fu legato da una vera amicizia alla regina che intratteneva, nella quiete del giardino del palazzo, con argomenti per lo più legati all’ arte di governo.La regina che condivideva, con il dotto giurista, il progetto di modernizzazione dello stato pontificio.

 

 



 

* Paper for the 70th conference of the ICHRPI (International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions), Wien 10th. 13th of September 2018.

[1] CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN, La vita scritta da lei stessa, Napoli 1998. The bibliography on Christina is endless, and here we provide only some indications for reference: J. ARCKENOLTZ , Memoires concernant Christine reine de Suede, pour servir…, Amsterdam 1751-1760; V. BUCKLEY, Christina Queen of Sweden, New York 2005. Also interesting is the recent, G. PLATANIA (ed.), Roma e Cristina di Svezia. Una irrequieta sovrana, Ebook, Viterbo 2016.

[2] R. KREUHEIMER - R. B. S. JOINES, “The Diary of Alexander VII. Notes on Arts; Artists and Buildings, Excerpts”, Romisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschicthe 15, 1975, 199-233; 1656, June, 30. N. 27, «to send the Queen the medal showing her entry, for M. Niani». E. BORSELLINO, Alessandro VII e Cristina di Svezia, A. ANGELINI et AA (eds.) Alessandro VII Chigi (1559-1667). Il papa senese di Roma moderna, Comune di Siena 2000, 202-209; I. FOSI, Fabio Chigi e la corte di Roma, Alessandro VII Chigi, 3-25. The issue of the costs of the Queen’s long journey/pilgrimage to Rome was dealt with exhaustively by G. PLATANIA, Viaggio a Roma, sede d’esilio. Sovrane alla conquista di Roma, secoli XVII-XVIII, Roma 2002.

[3] M. CAFFIERO, Un’amazzone tra i prelati,  Atlante storico della letteratura Italiana, 3 vols., Torino 2010- 2012, vol. II, (E. IRACE ed.) Dalla Controriforma alla Restaurazione, 515-521.

[4] KREUHEIMER-JOINES, The Diary, 1660, n. 411, June 21 «after lunch, Cavaliere Vanni Michelangelo with the Queen of Sweden’s Paul Veronese paintings says they are the least lewd».

[5] G. M. CRESCIMBENI, L’ Arcadia del can. Gio. Maria Crescimbeni, Roma 1708.

[6] A. LAURO, Il Cardinale Giovan Battista De Luca: diritto e riforme nello Stato della Chiesa (1678-1683), Napoli 1991, p. L, no. 44 lists the members’ names.

[7] The palace was later included in the Palazzo Corsini building complex on Via della Lungara, the current home of Accademia dei Lincei. The Queen’s bedroom, in which she died, is part of Galleria Corsini.

[8] A. PATINI, Cristina di Svezia e il suo cenacolo alchemico, Roma 2010.

[9] Decio Azzolini (Fermo 1623-1689) had quickly risen through all the degrees of the pontifical administration. Appointed cardinal by Innocent X in 1654, he became Secretary of State in 1667.

[10] A. MAZZACANE, De Luca, Giovanni Battista, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Roma 1990, V. 38, ad indicem.

[11] A. DANI, Giovan Battista De Luca divulgatore del diritto, Roma 2012.

[12] G. B. DE LUCA, Theatrum veritatis et justitiae Cardinalis De Luca eiusque ….for one of the best editions, see P. Baglioni, Venezia 1716. In 1690, seven years after the author’s death, the Congregation of the Index initiated a revision of some books of the Theatrum: the investigation concluded with a nihil obstat.

[13] KREUHEIMER-JOINES, The Diary. The diary bears direct witness to the pontiff’s constant attention to the construction of works – monumental and otherwise – to the honour and glory of the Catholic Church.

[14] G. B. DE LUCA, Il principe cristiano abbozzato nell‘ozio tusculano autunnale del 1675; Accresciuto e ridotto a diversa forma né spazi estivi, avanzati alle occupazioni del Quirinale nel 1679. In Roma, Stamperia della Rev. Camera Apostolica, MDCLXXX.

[15] Ib. c. XLIX, nn. 6- 9, pp. 685- 688. c. L, pp. 698-714.

[16] Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Bib. Ap. Vat.), Ottob. Lat. 1945, ff. 161-179, Sull’ origine del dominio Temporale del Papa.

[17] DE LUCA, Theatrum, see XV, De Iudicii, Disc. 35, n. 20, Roma 1673. On the issue, M. T. GUERRA MEDICI, L’esclusione delle donne dalla successione legittima e la constitutio super statutariis successionibus di Innocenzo XI, Rivista di Storia del Diritto Italiano 56, 1983, 261-294.

[18] Archivio Segreto. Vaticano (ASV). Fondo Carpegna, vol. 167, Con scritture sull’uso dei patentati e ministri del S. Offizio con annotazioni sulle esecuzioni e le immunità: ff. 2-8. Dell’ uso di Patentati e ministri del S. Offizio nello stato Ecclesiastico: ff. 246-250, De ministri et Patentati del Santo Offizio.

[19] Bib. Ap. Vat. Vat. Lat., 13422, Scrittura del cardinale De Luca sopra la Regalia pretesa dal re di Francia.

[20] Bib. Ap. Vat. Ottob. Lat., 989, f. 82, “…Pontifice Innocentio XI regnante pro pastoralis debito…non tollerante ut laicalis potestas licentiam sibi assumat …”

[21] Bib. Ap. Vat. Ottob. Lat. 1945, cc. 1-121, Vaticana lucubratione de oratoribus, vulgo ambasciatoribus principum.

[22] M. T. GUERRA MEDICI, Donne di Governo nell’Europa moderna, Roma 2005, 17-23.

[23] G. B. DE LUCA, Il cavaliere e la dama; ovvero discorsi familiari nell’ozio tuscolano autunnale dell’anno 1674…, pubblicato a Roma da Dragoncelli nel 1675. See R. CAIRA, “Il cavaliere e la Dama di Giovan Battista De Luca”, D. Poli (ed.) Cristina di Svezia e la cultura delle accademie, Roma 2005.

[24] Platone, Simposio, XIV.

[25] V. WOOLF, Orlando, Milano 1980 (1928).

[26] Marcus Tullius Cicero Tusculane disputationes, in the proem we read that otium fosters the study of philosophy and provides distance from public life and from civic commitments.

[27] M. A. VISCEGLIA, Morte ed elezione del papa, riti e conflitti. L’Età moderna, Roma 2013.

[28] M. L. RODEN, Cardinal Decio Azzolino, Queen Christina of Sweden and the Squadrone Volante. Political and Administrative Development at the Roman Curia (1644-1662), Ann Arbor 1992.

[29] The collection of his manuscripts for the theatre and of his poetic compositions may be found in the Archivio Rospigliosi-Pallavicini, now at Biblioteca Apostolica Romana, Vat. Lat, 13.362-13.367.