Cardinals occupied a unique place in the world of early modern
Europe, their distinctive red hats the visible signs not only of
impressive careers at the highest rank the pope could bestow, but
also of their high social status and political influence on an
international scale. Appointed for life, these princes of the
Church played a key role in the dramatic events of a period in
which both the power and the authority of the papacy were
challenged.
Cardinals crossed the ambiguous boundaries then existing between
religious and secular power. Granted unparalleled access to Church
and private property, they spent considerable time, money, and
effort on making the best collections of art and antiquities. Some
commissioned artworks in churches that advertised their monastic or
national connections, while others took Rome and the papacy abroad
to enrich their own cities and countries. But theirs was a
precarious dignity: while cardinals could thrive during one papacy,
they could suddenly fall from power during the next. The new
research represented by the sixteen case studies in The Possessions
of a Cardinal reveals how cardinals used their vulnerable position
and spent their often substantial wealth on personal and religious
interests. As a result, the tensions inherent in their position
between the spiritual and the worldly are underscored.
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