Giovanni Battista Ferrari (Modena, around 1450 – Rome, 20 July 1502) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop.

Biography

Son of the notary Giovanni Ferrari and Verde Alberghetti, he dedicated himself from a very young age to an ecclesiastical career. After obtaining a doctorate in law at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

, he took up a position as Protonotary apostolic in Rome. Under the patronage of Cardinal

Rodrigo de Borja Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

, he was

Abbreviator An abbreviator (plural "abbreviators" in English, ''abbreviatores'' in Latin) or breviator was a writer of the Papal Chancery who adumbrated and prepared in correct form Papal bulls, briefs, and consistorial decrees before these were written out ' ...

and secretary to King

John II of Aragon John II (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Juan II'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Joan II'', Aragonese language, Aragonese: ''Chuan II'' and ; 29 June 1398 – 20 January 1479), called the Great (''el Gran'') or the Faithless (''el Sense Fe''), was ...

.Treccani: FERRARI, Giovanni Battista
/ref> His career was boosted by the rise to the Papacy of his mentor Cardinal Borja: in 1495 he was named

Referendary Referendary is the English form of a number of administrative positions, of various rank, in chanceries and other official organizations in Europe. Pre-modern history The office of ' (plural: ', from the Latin ', "I inform") existed at the Byza ...

and assistant to Cardinal

Ascanio Sforza Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti (3 March 1455 – 28 May 1505) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church. Generally known as a skilled diplomat who played a major role in the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope A ...

in the issuance of papal bulls. In that same year, he also became

Bishop of Modena A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, succeeding the deceased Giovanni Andrea Boccacci, although he never resided in the see, governing it through vicars from Rome, first Giovanni de Viscatis and then Antonio Calori. He was representative of Duke

Ercole I d'Este Ercole I d'Este (English: ''Hercules I''; 26 October 1431 – 25 January 1505) was Duke of Ferrara from 1471 until 1505. He was a member of the House of Este. He was nicknamed ''North Wind'' and ''The Diamond''. Biography Ercole was born in 143 ...

in Rome, and regent of the

Apostolic Chancery The Apostolic ChanceryCanon 260, ''Code of Canon Law'' of 1917, translated by Edward N. Peters, Ignatius Press, 2001. (; also known as the "Papal" or "Roman Chanc(ell)ery") was a dicastery of the Roman Curia at the service of the pope. The princ ...

for a brief period, and played a prominent role in the marriage of

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

Alfonso I d'Este Alfonso d'Este (21 July 1476 – 31 October 1534) was Duke of Ferrara from 1504 to 1534, during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai. Biography He was the son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Eleanor of Naples and became du ...

and in the organization of the

Holy Year A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins, debts and universal pardon. In the Book of Leviticus, a jubilee year is mentioned as occurring every 50th year (after 49 years, 7x7, as per Leviticus 25:8) during which slaves and prisoners would ...

of 1500. In the Consistory of September 1500 he was created cardinal, receiving the title of

San Crisogono San Crisogono is a church in Rome (rione Trastevere) dedicated to the martyr Saint Chrysogonus. It was one of the tituli, the first parish churches of Rome, and was probably built in the 4th century under Pope Sylvester I (314–335). T ...

, and in August 1501 he received the

Archdiocese of Capua The Archdiocese of Capua () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Capua, in Campania, Italy, but its archbishop no longer holds metropolitan rank and has no ecclesiastical province.Juan López, retaining the Bishopric of Modena.Catholic Hierarchy
/ref>

Apostolic Dataria

However, it was his activity at the head of the

Apostolic Dataria The Apostolic Datary (Latin: ''Dataria Apostolica'') was one of the five ''Ufficii di Curia'' ("Offices of the Curia") in the Roman Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was instituted no later than the 14th century AD. Pope Paul VI abolished it ...

from 1496 onwards that made him famous: at a time when the Papal States were engaged in their struggle against the Ottoman Empire of

Bayezid II Bayezid II (; ; 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid dynasty, Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne ...

and the Borgias were attempting to control

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

in the

Italian Wars of 1499–1504 The Italian Wars of 1499–1504 are divided into two connected, but distinct, phases: the Second Italian War (1499–1501), sometimes known as Louis XII's Italian War, and the Third Italian War (1502–1504) or War over Naples. The first phase ...

, Ferrari's ability to procure money for the coffers of the Holy See made him an indispensable figure in the politics of Alexander VI. Although the methods he used to do so made him abhorrent among his contemporaries: the practice of

Venal office In the context of the French Ancien Régime, a venal office refers to an office sold by the state to raise money. These offices, which were mostly in areas of the judicial system, were retained in exchange for an annual tax of one-sixtieth of the ...

s - although it was a practice inherited from the Middle Ages and accepted in his time - reached disproportionate dimensions during Ferrari's Dataria until it became an everyday custom, earning him a reputation as an implacable and greedy man, to the point that most of his contemporaries and historians who later dealt with his life pointed him out for his bad example.

Death

He died in Rome in 1502 at the age of 51 after several days of illness. According to most of his biographers, he was poisoned by his assistant Sebastiano Pinzoni, who is supposed to have acted at the instigation of

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was a Cardinal (Catholic Church)#Cardinal_deacons, cardinal deacon and later an Italians, Italian ''condottieri, condottiero''. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI of the Aragonese ...

or Pope Alexander VI, although some authors doubt this, attributing his death to fever. Immediately after his death, numerous satirical epigrams appeared in the city criticizing his greed. His body was initially deposited in St. Peter's Basilica and shortly after transferred to Modena and buried in the cathedral of this city. His fortune, estimated at 80,000 gold ducats and various ecclesiastical benefits that brought in another 6,400 annually went to the coffers of the Holy See by virtue of a provision signed by Ferrari shortly before his death that contradicted his previous will in which he bequeathed his estate to his relatives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrari, Giovanni Battista 1450s births 1501 deaths 16th-century Italian cardinals 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops People from Modena Deaths by poisoning Cardinals created by Pope Alexander VI