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URBAN VIII
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See also:URBAN VIII . (Maffeo See also:Barberini), See also:pope from 1623 to 1644, was See also:born in 1568, of a wealthy Florentine See also:family. He See also:early entered the prelacy, became See also:prefect of See also:Spoleto, twice See also:nuncio to See also:France, See also:cardinal (16o6), and finally, on the 6th of See also:August 1623, succeeded See also:Gregory XV. as pope. Urban was vain, self-willed and extremely conscious of his position; he accepted the papacy chiefly as a temporal principality, and made it his first care to provide for its See also:defence and to render it formidable. He built See also:Castelfranco on the See also:northern frontier; fortified the See also:port of Civita Vecchia; and strengthened the See also:Castel Sant' Angelo, equipping it with See also:cannon made from the See also:bronze of the See also:Pantheon, an See also:act of vandalism which the See also:Romans punished by the See also:epigram, " Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini." He also established an See also:arsenal and a factory of arms. But all this See also:provision was to no purpose. The only territory gained during Urban's pontificate, the duchy of See also:Urbino, the last addition to the papal states, was acquired by reversion (1631); and in his one See also:war, with the See also:duke of See also:Parma, for the See also:district of See also:Castro, he met defeat and humiliation (1644). The See also:Thirty Years' War Urban professed to regard as waged for See also:political, not for religious, ends. He therefore took counsel merely with his See also:interest as a temporal See also:prince, threw in his See also:lot with France, supported the duke of See also:Nevers in the Mantuan See also:Succession, and, under stress of fear of See also:Habsburg supremacy, suffered himself to be See also:drawn into closer relations with the Protestants than beseemed his See also:office, and incurred the reproach of rejoicing in the victories of heretics. Later, in keeping with his position, he opposed all concessions to the Protestants; but still showed himself so vacillating that the papacy ceased to be regarded as a serious political See also:factor, and was entirely ignored in the final See also:settlement of See also:Westphalia, 1648. Urban was the last pope to practise nepotism on a See also:grand See also:scale. He failed to found a princely See also:house; but he enriched his family to an extent that astonished even the Romans. Urban See also:bore a See also:hand in the condemnation of Galileo. He acknowledged the See also:genius of the astronomer, and had not approved of the See also:action of the See also:Inquisition in 1616; but subsequently, believing himself to have been caricatured in the Dialogo, he. permitted the Inquisition to have its way and to compel an See also:abjuration (1633). Urban also denounced the doctrines of See also:Jansen, 1644 (see See also:JANSENISM). He promulgated the famous See also:bull In Coena Domini in its final See also:form, 1627; published the latest revision of the See also:Breviary, 1631; founded the See also:College of the Propaganda for the See also:education of missionaries, 1627; and accorded the See also:title of " See also:eminence " to the cardinals, 163o. Urban did much to embellish the See also:city. Conspicuous among his See also:works are the Barberini See also:Palace, the College of the Propaganda, the See also:Fountain of the See also:Triton, and the baldachin of St See also:Peter's. His See also:hymns and poems, which have frequently been published, are See also:evidence of his See also:literary See also:taste and ability. Urban died on the 29th of See also:July 1644, and was succeeded by See also:Innocent X. the See also:French cardinals in See also:Italy, he at length announced his intention of returning to France, avowedly to See also:settle trouble between France and See also:England. He took See also:ship at Cometo on the 5th of See also:September 1370, and, arriving at See also:Avignon on the 24th of the same See also:month, died on the 19th of See also:December. Urban was serious and humble, opposed to all nepotism, See also:simony, and See also:secular pomp. He was himself of blameless morality and reformed many abuses in the See also:curia. He was honoured as a See also:saint immediately after his See also:death, and beatified by See also:Pius IX. in 187o. Urban's successor was Gregory XI. See H. J. Tomaseth, " See also:Die See also:Register u. Secretare Urbans V. u. Gregors XI." in Mitteilungen See also:des Instituts See also:fur osterreichische Geschichtsforschung (1898); Baluzius, Vitae Pap. Avenion., vol. 1 (See also:Paris, 1693); L. Pastor, See also:History of the Popes, vol. 1, trans. by F. I. Antrobus (See also:London, 1899) ; F. See also:Gregorovius, See also:Rome in the See also:Middle Ages, vol. 6, trans. by Mrs G. W. See also: Magnan, Histoire d' Urbain V. (2nd ed., Paris, 1863) ; H. J. Wurm, Cardinal See also:Albornoz (Paderborn, 1892); H. H. See also:Milman, Latin See also:Christianity, vol. 7 (London, 1896) ; J. B. Christophe, Histoire de la papaute See also:pendant le XIVe'' siecle, vol. 2 (Paris, 1853). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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