A CARDINAL WORTH HIS NAME

We are standing at the Southern end of an immense square, rather narrow, but at least half a kilometer long. In its interior, fountains and an obelisk are its main accoutrements, whereas its longsides are embellished with churches and other elaborate buildings from the baroque and renaissance epochs. What on earth are we doing here, on this slightly cloudy day of April?

This rectangular vastness is called “Piazza de Navona” and is located amidst the myriad of buildings and small streets constituting the Renaissance quarters of Rome; the most charming part of the eternal city, if you query my views. We are here on a quest, to locate the estate of a formidable Vatican fonctionnaire, Cardinal Merk Sittich III von Ems (1533-95), one of the richest and most influential cardinals of his time.  You are of course already familiar with this Emser cardinal, from an earlier post in this series (Celestial Protection). But now is the time to add some facts to fiction!

If you look carefully into the above picture, you can just barely glimpse from afar (within the red circle) the façade of Merk Sitttich’s town palace, called Palazzo Altemps, nowadays a museum. It beckons to us, so we hasten  to get a closer look at the Cardinal’s lodgings. To race along the vast square is only fitting, considering the fact that Piazza de Navona used to be the city’s track for horse races in Roman times.

Piazza di Sant’Appolinare. Palazzo Altemps to the left
in G. Vasi (1759), Sulle magnificenze di Roma ..., Book 9    Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Before coming to Rome, I had never been able to get a full grasp of the palace’s expanse, whether from old pictures or more recent photographs downloaded from Internet. As an example, have a look at this old etching from the 18th century. We see a large tower to the left, but that is about it. What we see more fully, rather, is the nice façade of the Collegium Germanicum, a priest seminar for German pupils facing the palace, which the Cardinal had co-financed in his times.  

Well arrived on the Northern end of the race track, and standing in front of the palace, I manage to take a picture that shows the complex in its full expanse. It encompasses a full town block! The Cardinal had acquired a smaller palace, which he hastened to rebuild, adding a new wing as lodgings for his son, Roberto Altemps, Duke of Gallese, as well as a huge tower on top of the original building. The famous architect Martino Longhi the Elder (1534-91) built this for him, as he did the corresponding palace in Hohenems, Vorarlberg. 

It turned out that the new tower was too massive and heavy for the old building, so it had to be reconstructed from the bottom up. Longi managed to hide this fact in an artful manner so as to give the impression of a nice and lofty gazebo on top of the old building.

With the new wing added to the complex, a beautiful inner court yard was also created, which includes an impressive colonnade on the first floor that the Cardinal knew to embellish with his most precious collections: portrait sculptures of Roman Emperors. 

This colonnade happens to be the best preserved part of the original palace, as intended by the Cardinal himself. With its colourful wall paintings and the Imperial portraits, it provides a rare insight into interior design envisaged by a rich church potentate in Renaissance times.

Merk Sittich von Ems was an avid collector of antique sculptures. Part of his collection has been preserved and is exhibited on the palace premises. Unfortunately, the palace interior has, with few exceptions, not been preserved from his times. His descendants sold the Palace to the Vatican, who used it as a priest seminar for more than a century. Only recently was it acquired by the Italian State, who refurbished it into a museum of antique sculptures, adding other collections to the remainders of Merk Sittich’s treasures. 

We are only left with rare traces of the original wall painting and, above all, the original ceilings, painted on rare woods, which remind us of the corresponding ceilings in Palace Hohenems in Vorarlberg.

An original indoors stove with the Cardinal’s portrait in ivory on top may suffice as round-up of our short review. It also contains the family shield of the Emser, with its yellow capricorn on blue background.

With this, we leave Palazzo Attempts to its numerous other visitors, who may keep strolling around the premises to admire the multitude of antique sculptures exhibited therein. For us, another landmark connected to the worthy Cardinal awaits our inspection. It lies quite a distance away, and we have to cross the river Tiber to gain access to it. In addition, it is far older than Merk Sittich's Renaissance Palace; in fact, we are looking for one of the oldest churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Trastevere.

Santa Maria in Trastevere
in G. Vasi (1753), Sulle magnificenze di Roma ..., Book 3    Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

In contrast to Palacio Altemps, the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere can be clearly discerned on many an old and newer depiction, as it is a most famous edifice among the architectonic treasures of Rome. No need to present it to you as a photograph, the above etching from the 18th century provides us with a clear view of its front and tower. But, why should we pursue this venerable church, and what does it have to do with the Cardinal, the main subject of our visit to Rome? It turns out, quite a lot!

Santa Maria in Trastevere was the Titular Basilica of Merk Sittich von Ems, in his capacity of Cardinal Priest. It was assigned to him in 1579, upon the death of his predecessor and mentor, the Polish Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius (1504-79). We find it only fitting that one of the oldest churches in Rome be affiliated with one of the richest and most influential cardinals of his time. 

Cardinals throughout the ages made haste to refurbish the church thus affiliated to them, in order to leave their mark on history. We are fortunate that Merk Stitch did not attempt such a disruptive action. Thus, we are able to admire still an interior, which, at least around the altar, is preserving pictures and accoutrements more than a thousand years old. Instead, Merk Sittich added a side ship to the church, the so called Capella Altemps, without otherwise interfering with the venerable edifice. 

And an impressive side ship it is! It was built by Martino Longhi the Elder, the same architect who re-built Merk Sittich's Palazzo. The whole chapel is dedicated to the memory of the Council of Trent, which started the catholic counter reformation and was finalised in 1563 under the Cardinal's uncle, Pope Pius IV. The prominent picture on the roof,  painted by Pasquale Cati and presented enlarged below, shows Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, Merk Sittich’s cousin (later sanctified), handing over the Council's final articles to the Pope. 

Also the side walls of the chapel are dedicated to the same Council. In a monumental fresco, due to Cati as well and occupying fully one third of one wall, the Council is depicted in session, whilst being accompanied by a colourful manifold of allegorical maidens. 

Taking a closer look at the Council Assembly, we can discern its Presidium, consisting of the Papal Legates. Of these, we gather the second and third from the left to be Merk Sittich III and Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, both in their late twenties. One of the elderly patriarchs must surely be Cardinal Hosius, who was one of the more mature leaders of the Council, sitting aside Cardinals Seripando and Gonzaga.

If truth be told, Merk Sittich’s role at the Council was close to nil. He was sorely deficient in matters theological, did not speak a word of Latin and was belittled for his shortcomings by the hardened church veterans. In consequence, he was soon recalled by his uncle, the Pope, and employed in matters more suitable to his talents. At that stage of his career, he was useful to the Pope mainly as the only important German church official in Rome and thus sent as legate, together with Hosius, to the Emperor on diplomatic missions. This proved very successful for both his principal and himself; Emperor Ferdinand I elevated him and his hole family to high Imperial nobility. Later on, an uncanny talent for finance and collegial diplomacy brought Merk Sittich yet more success in the Vatican hierarchy. 

Leaving the chapel and re-entering the church proper, we throw another glance at the glorious altar. On either side of it, one can observe a tombstone in elegant marble, of a style far different from, and much more recent than the glowing frescoes and mosaics adorning the cupola. Looking first at the monument to the right of the altar, we observe that this is a tombstone pertaining to a great cardinal, none other than Stanislaus Hosius, Merk Sittich’s predecessor as titular to the church. It appears that this memorial was built by Merk Sittich in honour of his forbearer and mentor. 

It’s counterpart to the altar’s left must surely be the tombstone of Merk Sittich himself, we may think, built to underpin his own importance as successor cardinal to the great Polish cleric. But we would be wrong in this presumption. Instead, the bust on the memorial shows us a young man, with almost boyish features, far from the mature age which could qualify for a senior church position. 

Why on Earth did this anonymous youngster wind up on one of the most prominent places in the venerable basilica? Why did the Cardinal yield this site to a young boy, whilst placing his own corpse to rest under a humble marble slate on the capella's floor? An intriguing enigma indeed! To resolve this, a short story has to be told, so permit me to digress briefly to explain the circumstances.

The story is both telling and touching. The bust represents young Roberto, Merk Sittich’s illegitimate son, who was born in 1566, just before his father was ordained to cardinal priest. The loving father had great ambitions for his descendant, seeing in him a promising bud of a new dynastic branch of Emser in Italy. Hardly even a teenager, the boy was legitimised with the assistance of Pope Gregory XIII. The Pope was Merk Sittich’s good friend, since the Cardinal had helped elevate him to his exalted position. Soon after, large swathes of land in the Papal provinces were acquired in the boy’s name, which the Pope was pleased to invest with the newly invented title of Duchy of Gallese. 

In other words, boy Roberto the Duke was pre-ordained for a brilliant future. But, as so often the case with spoiled brats of well endowed parents, he did not exactly live up to his father’s ambitions. Even if already being in marriage with  a young maiden of high noble standing (Cornelia Orsini) he lusted for more. Hardly twenty years old, he abducted and seduced/raped another young maiden of noble standing. 

Roberto Altemps, a spoiled brat                         Pope Sixtus V, his Nemesis
    Source: Selkirkauctions.com                          Source: Catholictradition.org

To his great misfortune, a new Pope had just succeeded the gregarious Gregor, being of a disposition quite opposite that of his predecessor. Sixtus V (1521-90), that was his name and “The Iron Pope” his nickname, had been bitterly opposed by Mark Sittich at the Conclave. No wonder that he considered the Cardinal to be his adversary, both politically and morally. Roberto’s crime gave Sixtus an excellent opportunity to strike at his opponent. The brat was taken to court and execution by the sword appeared imminent. Only after a substantive amount of Florins had been paid into the Papal coffers, and a similar amount been handed over to the maiden’s parents, was Sixtus prepared to relent and be content with exiling Roberto to the Papal Enclave in Avignon. 

Alas, already after half a year in Avignon, Roberto was allowed to return to Italy, provided that he reside henceforth in his ducal domains. Unfortunately, his time there was measured. Soon after his arrival in Soriano, he expired under mysterious circumstances. We may safely assume that his demise was caused by the wronged maiden’s relatives taking revenge for a misdeed not deemed redeemed enough through mere Florins.

The touching part of the story is to note that Merk Sittich was expressing great love for his son, by yielding him the memorial. The telling part is, of course, that he got away with placing such a memorial, which after all contained an abductor and rapist, and son of a Cardinal at that, right beside the altar in one of the most venerable churches in Rome! Only a very influential church official could get away with such an apparent affront to the Holy See. 

After the visit to the church of Santa Maria, I had the remainder of the afternoon free. Deep in thoughts about the fate of the Emser Cardinal and his ill-fated son, I spanculated through Rome, only to wind up, eventually, in front of the oldest well preserved monument in Rome: the Pantheon, being alighted by the rays of the dying sun. The Pantheon has persevered since almost two millenia back. Did the death of Roberto mean the end of the Cardinal’s vision of a new Emser dynasty in Italy? Far from it! Roberto had managed to sire a legitimate son just before his death. This posthumus off-spring, baptised Giovan Angelo Altemps, Duke de Gallese (1587-1620), carried the family forward. In fact, the last male heir to the title died as recently as in 1964, leaving behind two daughters who, to the best of our knowledge, may still dwell among us! So the Altemps dynasty also persevered, counting the Cardinal as it’s origin, even if only for half a millenium!