Orvieto Papacy
Encyclopedia
Orvieto
, Umbria
, Italy
, was the refuge of five popes during the 13th century: Pope Urban IV
(1261-1264), Pope Gregory X
(1271-1276), Pope Martin IV
(1284-1285), Pope Nicholas IV
(1288-1292), Pope Boniface VIII
(1294-1303). During this time, the popes took up residence in the Papal Palace of Orvieto (also known as Palazzo Soliano), which was adjacent to the Orvieto Cathedral and expanded onto the bishop's residence. None of these popes died in Orvieto, and thus no papal elections took place in there, nor are there any papal tombs.
Political and strategic reasons motivated the frequent moves of the pope and Roman Curia
during this period, and other destinations include Viterbo
and Perugia
. Urban IV and Martin IV resided in both Viterbo and Orvieto. During the period from the reign of Nicholas IV to Benedict XI (1303-1304), Orvieto hosted the pope more frequently than Rome.
Art historian Gary M. Radke notes that "the papal palaces in Viterbo and Orvieto are the most extensive thirteenth-century papal palaces to survive to our own day." He dates the frescoes in the palace to the 1290s, during the reign of Nicholas IV or Boniface VIII. They display naturalistic impulses in the Gothic
style.
(590-604). Pope Adrian IV
(1154–59) was the first pope to spend significant time in Orvieto. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "on account of its position, Orvieto was often chosen by the popes as a place of refuge and Adrian IV fortified it." His successor, Pope Innocent III
(1198–1216), was a militant opponent of the Cathar heresy, which had infiltrated the city, and took measures to eradicate that heresy; Innocent III sent Pietro Parenzo to govern the city, who was quickly martyred. In 1227, Pope Gregory IX
(1227-1241) confirmed the Dominican studium generale
in Orvieto, a school of theology, one of the first in Europe.
(1261-1264), but the "northwest hall must have been built earlier." Urban IV was French and had been crowned in Viterbo, but spent most of his papacy in Orvieto. The structure became a papal palace during Urban IV's two-year stay in Orvieto, starting October 18, 1262, although it may not have been completed until Pope Gregory X
(1271-1276) took up residence there on July 26, 1272. Urban began construction in 1263, the year he consecrated a new Dominican church in Orvieto. The first mention of the papal palace in contemporary documents dates to April 1, 1273.
Pope Martin IV
(1284-1285) was in Orvieto between March 23, 1281 and June 24, 1282, and then nearby in Montefiascone
in the summer and fall of 1282. He returned to Orvieto from December 25, 1282 until June 27, 1284. He likely chose to reside in his fortress in Montefiascone while the Orvieto residence was being expanded. The modern Cathedral of Orvieto itself was begun in 1285.
Pope Nicholas IV
(1288-1292) was in Orvieto from June 13, 1290 to October 19, 1291. Although Nicholas IV was Roman by birth, he brought the Curia with him to Orvieto. Nicholas IV was elected Podestà
and Capitano del Popolo of Orvieto, the first pope to hold civic offices in the city. Pope Boniface VIII
(1294-1303) arrived in Orvieto on June 6, 1297 and left that same month. During his stay, the Commune placed his coat of arms on the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, erected statutes of him on two gates of the city, and unveiled frescoes on the gates and paintings inside the Palazzo del Populo. Boniface VIII was elected Capitano and Podestà in 1297, and Capitano again in 1298.
Pope Nicholas V
(1447–55) in a 1449 letter gave money for the restoration of the Episcopal Palace and authorized Fra Angelico
to begin painting in the Cappella Nuova of the Cathedral.
During the Sack of Rome (1527)
, Pope Clement VII
(1523-1534) took refuge at Orvieto. Preparing for a possible siege of the city, he ordered the Pozzo di S. Patrizio
("Well of St. Patrick) constructed by architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
. Of course, the pope and emperor had reconciled long before the well was completed. Pope Sixtus V
(1585-1590) drained the swamps around the city.
Ownership of the palace passed from the pope to the cathedral in 1550, and the structure became a museum in 1896. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "in the palace of the popes, built by Boniface VIII, is the civic museum, which contains Etruscan antiquities and works of art that are, for the greater part, from the cathedral."
Orvieto
Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
, Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, was the refuge of five popes during the 13th century: Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV , born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope, from 1261 to 1264. He was not a cardinal, and there have been several Popes since him who have not been Cardinals, including Urban V and Urban VI.-Biography:...
(1261-1264), Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X
Pope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....
(1271-1276), Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV, born Simon de Brion held the papacy from February 21, 1281 until his death....
(1284-1285), Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and...
(1288-1292), Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...
(1294-1303). During this time, the popes took up residence in the Papal Palace of Orvieto (also known as Palazzo Soliano), which was adjacent to the Orvieto Cathedral and expanded onto the bishop's residence. None of these popes died in Orvieto, and thus no papal elections took place in there, nor are there any papal tombs.
Political and strategic reasons motivated the frequent moves of the pope and Roman Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
during this period, and other destinations include Viterbo
Viterbo Papacy
With a long history as a vantage point for anti-papal forces threatening Rome, Viterbo became a papal city in 1243. During the later thirteenth century, the ancient Italian city of Viterbo was the site of five papal elections, the residence of seven popes and their Curias, and remains the location...
and Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
. Urban IV and Martin IV resided in both Viterbo and Orvieto. During the period from the reign of Nicholas IV to Benedict XI (1303-1304), Orvieto hosted the pope more frequently than Rome.
Art historian Gary M. Radke notes that "the papal palaces in Viterbo and Orvieto are the most extensive thirteenth-century papal palaces to survive to our own day." He dates the frescoes in the palace to the 1290s, during the reign of Nicholas IV or Boniface VIII. They display naturalistic impulses in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style.
Background
The city is mentioned in the writings of Pope Gregory IPope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
(590-604). Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV , born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.Adrian IV is the only Englishman who has occupied the papal chair...
(1154–59) was the first pope to spend significant time in Orvieto. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "on account of its position, Orvieto was often chosen by the popes as a place of refuge and Adrian IV fortified it." His successor, Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
(1198–1216), was a militant opponent of the Cathar heresy, which had infiltrated the city, and took measures to eradicate that heresy; Innocent III sent Pietro Parenzo to govern the city, who was quickly martyred. In 1227, Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...
(1227-1241) confirmed the Dominican studium generale
Studium Generale
Studium generale is the old customary name for a Medieval university.- Definition :There is no clear official definition of what constituted a Studium generale...
in Orvieto, a school of theology, one of the first in Europe.
History
The palace was expanded during the reign of Pope Urban IVPope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV , born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope, from 1261 to 1264. He was not a cardinal, and there have been several Popes since him who have not been Cardinals, including Urban V and Urban VI.-Biography:...
(1261-1264), but the "northwest hall must have been built earlier." Urban IV was French and had been crowned in Viterbo, but spent most of his papacy in Orvieto. The structure became a papal palace during Urban IV's two-year stay in Orvieto, starting October 18, 1262, although it may not have been completed until Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X
Pope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....
(1271-1276) took up residence there on July 26, 1272. Urban began construction in 1263, the year he consecrated a new Dominican church in Orvieto. The first mention of the papal palace in contemporary documents dates to April 1, 1273.
Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV
Pope Martin IV, born Simon de Brion held the papacy from February 21, 1281 until his death....
(1284-1285) was in Orvieto between March 23, 1281 and June 24, 1282, and then nearby in Montefiascone
Montefiascone
Montefiascone is a town and comune of the province of Viterbo, Italy, located on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, 95 km north of GRA .-History:...
in the summer and fall of 1282. He returned to Orvieto from December 25, 1282 until June 27, 1284. He likely chose to reside in his fortress in Montefiascone while the Orvieto residence was being expanded. The modern Cathedral of Orvieto itself was begun in 1285.
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and...
(1288-1292) was in Orvieto from June 13, 1290 to October 19, 1291. Although Nicholas IV was Roman by birth, he brought the Curia with him to Orvieto. Nicholas IV was elected Podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...
and Capitano del Popolo of Orvieto, the first pope to hold civic offices in the city. Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...
(1294-1303) arrived in Orvieto on June 6, 1297 and left that same month. During his stay, the Commune placed his coat of arms on the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, erected statutes of him on two gates of the city, and unveiled frescoes on the gates and paintings inside the Palazzo del Populo. Boniface VIII was elected Capitano and Podestà in 1297, and Capitano again in 1298.
Later papal ties
Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
(1447–55) in a 1449 letter gave money for the restoration of the Episcopal Palace and authorized Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
to begin painting in the Cappella Nuova of the Cathedral.
During the Sack of Rome (1527)
Sack of Rome (1527)
The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States...
, Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII
Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
(1523-1534) took refuge at Orvieto. Preparing for a possible siege of the city, he ordered the Pozzo di S. Patrizio
Pozzo di S. Patrizio
The Pozzo di San Patrizio is a historical structure in Orvieto, Umbria, central Italy. It was built by Antonio da Sangallo of Orvieto, between 1527 and 1537, at the behest of Pope Clement VII....
("Well of St. Patrick) constructed by architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
thumb|250px|The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the [[Trajan's Market]] in [[Rome]], considered Sangallo's masterwork.thumb|250px|View of St. Patrick's Well in [[Orvieto]]....
. Of course, the pope and emperor had reconciled long before the well was completed. Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
(1585-1590) drained the swamps around the city.
Ownership of the palace passed from the pope to the cathedral in 1550, and the structure became a museum in 1896. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "in the palace of the popes, built by Boniface VIII, is the civic museum, which contains Etruscan antiquities and works of art that are, for the greater part, from the cathedral."