Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III (Latin: Paulus III; Italian: Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549.
"Paul III" redirects here. For the patriarch of Constantinople, see Patriarch Paul III of Constantinople.
Paul III
13 October 1534
10 November 1549
26 June 1519
2 July 1519
by Leo X
20 September 1493
by Alexander VI
10 November 1549 (aged 81)
Rome, Papal States
Silvia Ruffini (mistress)
Pier Luigi II Farnese
Paolo Farnese
Ranuccio Farnese
Costanza Farnese
Lucrezia Farnese
- Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano (1493–1503)
- Bishop of Corneto and Montefiascone (1499–1509)
- Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Eustachio (1503–1519)
- Archpriest of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (1508–1534)
- Bishop of Parma (1509–1534)
- Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals (1516–1519)
- Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati (1519–1523)
- Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina (1523)
- Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina (1523–1524)
- Cardinal-Bishop of Porto (1524)
- Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia (1524–1534)
- Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals (1524)
Your Holiness
Holy Father
None
He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church as the Protestant Reformation progressed. His pontificate initiated the Catholic Reformation with the Council of Trent in 1545, and witnessed wars of religion in which Emperor Charles V launched military campaigns against the Protestants in Germany. He recognized new Catholic religious orders and societies such as the Jesuits, the Barnabites, and the Congregation of the Oratory. His efforts were distracted by nepotism to advance the power and fortunes of his family, including his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese.
Paul III was a significant patron of artists including Michelangelo, and it is to him that Nicolaus Copernicus dedicated his heliocentric treatise.
Biography[edit]
Early career and family[edit]
Born in 1468 at Canino, Latium (then part of the Papal States), Alessandro Farnese was the oldest son of Pier Luigi I Farnese, Signore di Montalto (1435–1487) and his wife Giovanna Caetani,[1][2] a member of the Caetani family which had also produced Pope Gelasius II and Pope Boniface VIII. The Farnese family had prospered over the centuries but it was Alessandro's ascendency to the papacy and his dedication to family interests which brought about the most significant increase in the family's wealth and power.
Alessandro was given a humanist education at the University of Pisa and the court of Lorenzo de' Medici.[3] Initially trained as an apostolic notary, he joined the Roman Curia in 1491 and in 1493 Pope Alexander VI appointed him Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano. Alessandro's sister, Giulia, was reputedly a mistress of Alexander VI, and might have been instrumental in securing this appointment for her brother. For this reason, he was sometimes mockingly referred to as the "Borgia brother-in-law," just as Giulia was mocked as "the Bride of Christ." Much later (in 1535) the Venetian nobleman Soriano recorded that Alessandro was called cardinale Fregnese (Cardinal Pussy, or Cardinal Cunt) on account of the relationship between his sister and Alexander VI.[4]
As a young cleric, Alessandro lived a notably dissolute life, taking a mistress, Silvia Ruffini. Between about 1500 and 1510 she gave birth to at least four children: Costanza,[1] Pier Luigi (who was later created Duke of Parma),[5] Paolo, and Ranuccio. In July 1505, Pope Julius II legitimated the two eldest sons so that they could inherit the Farnese family estates.[6] On 23 June 1513, Pope Leo X published a second legitimation of Pier Luigi, and also legitimated Ranuccio (the second son Paolo had already died).[7]
On 28 March 1509 Alessandro was named Bishop of Parma - although he was not ordained a priest until 26 June 1519 and not consecrated a bishop until 2 July 1519. As Bishop of Parma, he came under the influence of his vicar-general, Bartolomeo Guidiccioni. This led to Alessandro breaking off the relationship with his mistress and committing himself to reform in his diocese.[8] Under Pope Clement VII (1523–34) he was named Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Fictional portrayals[edit]
Stendhal's novel La Chartreuse de Parme was inspired by an inauthentic Italian account of the dissolute youth of Alessandro Farnese.[34]
The character of Pope Paul III, played by Peter O'Toole in the Showtime series The Tudors, is loosely inspired by him. The young Alessandro Farnese is played by Diarmuid Noyes in the StudioCanal serial Borgia, and Cyron Melville in Showtime's The Borgias. His image is portrayed in a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, placed inside of the Frank Zappa Mothers of Invention We're Only In It For the Money album.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : K. Benrath (1914). "Paul III". In Jackson, Samuel Macauley (ed.). New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. p. 395.
