Pope Urban VIII (Latin:Urbanus VIII;Italian:Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), bornMaffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of theCatholic Church and ruler of thePapal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. Aspope, he expanded the papal territory by force of arms and advantageous politicking, and was also a prominent patron of the arts, commissioning works from artists likeGian Lorenzo Bernini and a reformer of Church missions. His papacy also covered 21 years of theThirty Years' War.
The massive debts incurred during his pontificate greatly weakened his successors, who were unable to maintain the papacy's longstanding political and military influence inEurope. He was also an opponent ofCopernicanism and was involved in theGalileo affair, which saw the astronomer tried for heresy. He is the last pope to date to take thepontifical nameUrban.
Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini was born in April 1568, the son of AntonioBarberini, a Florentine nobleman, and Camilla Barbadoro.[1] He was born atBarberino Val d'Elsa in "Tafania" house. His father died when he was only three years old and his mother took him toRome, where he was put in the charge of his uncle, Francesco Barberini, anapostolic protonotary.[2] At the age of 16, he became his uncle's heir.[3] He was educated by theSociety of Jesus ("Jesuits"), and received a doctorate of law from theUniversity of Pisa in 1589.
In 1601, Barberini, through the influence of his uncle, was able to secure fromPope Clement VIII appointment as apapal legate to the court of KingHenry IV of France. In 1604, the same pope appointed him as theArchbishop of Nazareth,[2] an office joined with that of Bishop of the suppressed Dioceses of Canne and Monteverde, with his residence atBarletta. At the death of his uncle, he inherited his riches, with which he bought a palace in Rome, which he made into aluxurious Renaissance residence.
Barberini was considered someone who could be elected as pope, though there were those such as CardinalOttavio Bandini who worked to prevent it. Throughout 29–30 July, the cardinals began an intense series of negotiations to test the numbers as to who could emerge from the conclave as pope, with CardinalLudovico Ludovisi dismissing Barberini's chances as long as Barberini remained a close ally of CardinalScipione Borghese, whose faction Barberini supported. Ludovisi had discussions with CardinalsOdoardo Farnese,Carlo de' Medici andIppolito Aldobrandini on 30 July about seeing to Barberini's election. The three supported his candidacy and went about securing the support of others, which led to Barberini's election just over a week later.[4] On 6 August 1623, at the papal conclave following the death ofPope Gregory XV, Barberini was chosen as Gregory XV's successor and took the name Urban VIII. His coronation had to be postponed until 29 September 1623 since the new pontiff was ill at the time of his election.
Upon Pope Urban VIII's election, Zeno, the Venetian envoy, wrote the following description of him:[5]
The new Pontiff is 56 years old. His Holiness is tall, dark, with regular features and black hair turning grey. He is exceptionally elegant and refined in all details of his dress; has a graceful and aristocratic bearing and exquisite taste. He is an excellent speaker and debater, writes verses and patronises poets and men of letters.
Urban VIII's papacy covered 21 years of theThirty Years' War (1618–1648), and was an eventful one, even by the standards of the day.
Despite an early friendship and encouragement for his teachings, Urban VIII was responsible for summoning the scientist and astronomerGalileo to Rome in 1633 to recant his work. Urban VIII was opposed toCopernican heliocentrism and he orderedGalileo's second trial after the publication ofDialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which Urban's point of view is argued by the character "Simplicio".
Urban VIII was a skilled writer of Latin verse, and a collection ofscriptural paraphrases as well as original hymns of his composition have been frequently reprinted.
The 1638 papal bullCommissum Nobis protected the existence ofJesuitmissions inSouth America by forbidding the enslavement of natives who were at theJesuit Reductions.[8][9] At the same time, Urban VIII repealed the Jesuit monopoly on missionary work inChina andJapan, opening these countries to missionaries of other orders and missionary societies.[10]
In response to complaints in theDiocese of Seville, Urban VIII issued the letterCum Ecclesiae, dated 30 January 1642, that made use oftobacco in holy places punishable by excommunication.[11] While often described as a papal bull, the document was not filed as such and was more than likely anencyclical;Pope Benedict XIII eventually abrogated the tobacco ban, preferring other methods to ensuring the cleanliness of church facilities.[12]
The icon of the La Madonna della Febbre which was crowned in 1631 making it as the first Marian image to receive apontifical coronation.
Pope Urban VIII is also known as the first pope who granted acanonical coronation towards a Marian icon. The first icon that was crowned was the La Madonna della Febbre which is enshrined at the sacristy ofSt. Peter's Basilica. The coronation took place on 1631 making it as the first coronation in the world.
The pope created 74 cardinals in eight consistories throughout his pontificate, and this included his nephewsFrancesco andAntonio, cousinLorenzo Magalotti, and the pope's own brotherAntonio Marcello. He also created Giovanni Battista Pamphili as a cardinal, with Pamphili becoming his immediate successor,Pope Innocent X. The pope also created eight of those cardinals whom he had reservedin pectore.
In the papal bullSanctissimus Dominus Noster of 13 March 1625, Urban instructed Catholics not to venerate the deceased or represent them in the manner of saints without Church sanction. It required a bishop's approval for the publication of private revelations. Since the nineteenth century, it has become common for books of popular devotion to carry a disclaimer. One read in part: "In obedience to the decrees of Urban the Eighth, I declare that I have no intention of attributing any other than a purely human authority to the miracles, revelations, favours, and particular cases recorded in this book..."[13][14][15]
For the purposes of making cannon and thebaldacchino in St Peter's, massive bronze girders were pillaged from the portico of thePantheon leading to the well known lampoon:quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini, "what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did."[10]
Another such acquisition, in a vast collection, was the purchase of the 'Barberini vase'. This was allegedly found at the mausoleum of the Roman EmperorSeverus Alexander and his family at Monte Del Grano. The discovery of the vase is described byPietro Santi Bartoli and referenced on page 28 of a book on The Portland Vase.[17] Pietro Bartoli indicates that the vase contained the ashes of the Roman Emperor. However, this together with the interpretations of the scenes depicted on it are the source of countless theories and disputed 'facts'. The vase remained in the Barberini family collection for some 150 years before passing through the hands of SirWilliam Hamilton Ambassador to the Royal Court in Naples. It was later sold to theDuke of Portland, and has subsequently been known as thePortland Vase. Following catastrophic damage, this glass vase (1-25BC) has been reconstructed three times and resides in theBritish Museum. The Portland vase itself was borrowed and near copied byJosiah Wedgwood who appears to have added modesty drapery. The vase formed the basis ofJasperware.
A consequence of these military and artistic endeavours was a massive increase in papal debt. Urban VIII inherited a debt of 16 millionscudi, and by 1635 had increased it to 28 million.
According to contemporaryJohn Bargrave, in 1636 members of theSpanish faction of theCollege of Cardinals were so horrified by the conduct of Pope Urban VIII that they conspired to have him arrested and imprisoned (or killed) so that they could replace him with a new pope; namelyLaudivio Zacchia.[18] When Urban VIII travelled toCastel Gandolfo to rest, the members of the Spanish faction met in secret and discussed ways to advance their plan. But they were discovered and the pope raced back to Rome where he immediately held aconsistory and demanded to know who the new pope was. To put an end to the conspiracy, the pope decreed that all Cardinal-Bishops should leave Rome and return to their own churches.[18]
With the Spanish plan having failed, by 1640 the debt had reached 35 million scudi, consuming more than 80% of annual papal income in interest repayments.[19]
Bust byGiovanni GonnelliConstitutio contra astrologos iudiciarios, 1631
Urban VIII's death on 29 July 1644 is said to have been hastened by chagrin at the result of theWars of Castro. Because of the costs incurred by the city of Rome to finance this war, Urban VIII became immensely unpopular with his subjects.
On his death, the bust of Urban VIII that lay beside thePalace of the Conservators on theCapitoline Hill was rapidly destroyed by an enraged crowd, and only a quick-thinking priest saved the sculpture of the late pope belonging to theJesuits from a similar fate.[20]
Following his death, international and domestic machinations resulted in the papal conclave not electing CardinalGiulio Cesare Sacchetti, who was closely associated with some members of the Barberini family. Instead, it elected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, who took the name ofInnocent X, as his successor at thepapal conclave of 1644.
Urban VIII is a recurring character in theRing of Firealternative history hypernovel byEric Flint et al. where he is favorably portrayed. He is especially prominent in1634: The Galileo Affair (in which he makes the fictional Grantville priest, Larry Mazzare, a cardinal), and in1635: The Cannon Law,1635: The Papal Stakes, and1636: The Vatican Sanction. He is somewhat less favorably presented inGalileo's Dream byKim Stanley Robinson. He is a sinister character in the radio playIn Praise of Evil by David Pownall, first broadcast on BBC Radio in 2013. The play features an imaginary meeting between the Pope and the composerMonteverdi.
Barton, Eleanor Dodge (1964). "Further Notes on the Barberini Tapestries".Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts.62 (329). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:114–118.
Collins, Roger (2009).Keepers of the Keys of Heaven: A History of the Papacy. Basic Books.
Keyvanian, Carla (2005). "Concerted Efforts: The Quarter of the Barberini Casa Grande in Seventeenth-Century Rome".Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.64 (3):292–311.doi:10.2307/25068166.JSTOR25068166.
Italian Academies Themed Collection—British Library. Includes information about Barbernini's membership of Italian academies, and of his links with other intellectuals of his time
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